The Palouse Choral Society hosts four concerts every year, including a Valentine’s Day-themed cabaret titled “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”
PCS conductor Matthew Myers said there is a small group of 32 singers and a larger group of about 110 singers from all over; the larger group performs the other three concerts throughout the year, but the Valentine’s-themed concert will be performed by the smaller choir.
The concert will feature several singers who chose a variety of pieces about love from romantic areas, Myers said. All types of music will be represented in five pieces from this small choir, and a children’s choir will be performing for the rest of the concert.
PCS children’s conductor Stephanie Sant said the performance is focused around love because of Valentine’s Day and is a fun show for the choir because it includes both traditional pieces as well as solos, ensembles and duets featuring multiple genres of music.
“We really like doing it because as much as we love our choral music, this gives us a chance to perform other things that we know how to do like jazz, pop and country,” Sant said. “We all sing multiple genres of music on our own, and then we come together to sing in Palouse Choral Society every Monday, so it’s just a really cool opportunity.”
As the conductor for the children’s choir, she works with children from fourth through eighth grade, and the choir pulls in students from all over the Palouse to meet once a week for just over an hour, she said.
Sant said she is excited about the concert because the children have been working hard on the two songs they are performing, one being “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”
“What’s really exciting is we’re adding a drum kit to ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’ so it sounds like a rock song, which is super fun for the kids. They love it,” she said.
Sant said she enjoys being able to work with the children every week because of their personalities, and they bring different gifts and talents to the choir and they all sound good together.
People will join a choir for multiple reasons, including the social aspect and just to learn how to sing, she said.
“I am a vocalist, so I can give them a lot of vocal training early in their lives so they can start off singing healthy before they develop bad habits,” Sant said. “I love to sing myself, and for me to see the joy they have when they sing is just great. It’s the best.”
Myers said he enjoys working with the group because there are so many people from the Palouse area who love making music and can come together every week to find joy in the music-making community.
A lot of people involved in the choir have careers that have nothing to do with the arts, but they come together to build a community through music, he said.
“That’s always something particularly special,” Myers said. “I think what’s fun about this concert, in particular, is that some people who might not audition for solos on the classical pieces or in the choir music are able to select one of their favorite songs about love and bring that in, so having an element of their own choice is a really fun thing.”
There are two showings for “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” this weekend, he said. Saturday’s performance will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Silverthorne Theater at Lewis-Clark State College, and Sunday’s performance will be at 4 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Moscow.
Tickets are free for WSU students and regular tickets cost $20, but Myers said he recommends buying tickets in advance on the Palouse Choral Society website.
