The River City Men's Chorus's Sunday performance was certainly aptly named.
The concert, which director-conductor David Glaze titled "New Beginnings," represented not only the raising of the curtain on its 2016-17 season but the move to a new venue, west Little Rock's Second Presbyterian Church, after a 14-year run at Trinity United Methodist.
It also nicely fit the program of inspirational hymns, songs and show tunes, first-half uplifters and second-half expressions of hope.
And it also fit the new venue, tall where Trinity is wide, with plenty of hard surfaces -- wood, brick, stained glass -- and with plenty of nice reverb.
That made spot-on diction, always one of this ensemble's hallmarks, additionally important; every word from beginning to end was as clear as the proverbial bell, and harmonies blended as well as they ever have.
That showed especially in Z. Randall Stroope's "Homage,", a stirring memorial setting of a text by the composer's father, W.L. Stroope; "How Can I Keep From Singing?" a Gwyneth Walker arrangement of a Quaker hymn; "When I Hear Her I Have Wings," Mark D. Templeton's setting of a text by Mary Coleridge; and the rousing first-half closer, "Alleluia" by Paul Basler.
The second half veered more toward Broadway, including fine performances of "I, Don Quixote" and "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha and Glaze's arrangement of "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, so uplifting it raised the capacity crowd right out of their seats. Tenor Kirt Thomas channeled his inner Dolly Parton in an almost gospel-like arrangement of "Light of a Clear Blue Morning."
Glaze et al. will repeat the program at 7 p.m. today and Thursday at Second Presbyterian, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. Admission is free.
More information is available by calling (501) 377-1080 or online at rivercitymenschorus.com.
Metro on 09/19/2016