Kona Choral Society celebrates 25 years of music

The 90-member Kona Choral Society will honor 25 years of musical heritage during a 25th Anniversary Celebration Mahalo Party slated Saturday evening at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel.

The event, which recognizes the organization’s historical musical presence and live classical performance, will provide current and past members, as well as chorus supporters, the chance to gather, reminisce and share stories. It all begins at 5 p.m.

“It’s a time to get together and see old friends,” said Susan McCreary Duprey, artistic director. “We wanted to celebrate all the wonderful people who have supported the chorus throughout the years.”

The Kona Choral Society came to fruition in September 1990 after Shirley McCoy, who sang in her high school chorus and later with the University of Hawaii at Hilo community chorus, moved to Kona and learned that Ken Staton, her former voice teacher at UH-Hilo, was planning a choral group. The group attracted more than 50 vocal veterans and novice chorus participants.

Saturday’s celebration will begin with an opening pule and oli by alto Honeybea Ravenscraft as guests are welcomed to a no-host cocktail reception serenaded by the string trio of Ursula Vietze, Joel Gimple and Julie Salis. Through dinner, the entertainment will center on revisiting the history of the group through a slideshow of photographs and music, led by long-time Kona resident and former Kona Choral Society member, Master of Ceremonies Dick Hershberger.

Both the presentation and ballroom display of photographs will visually unfold the 25 years of rich, memorable experiences held by musicians of the Kona Choral Society. The group’s tour of China in 1997, a favorite concert in the spring of 1991 in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, and the collaboration of working with the Aloha Performing Arts Company to present Menotti’s one-act opera Amahl and the Night Visitors are just some of the memories that will be recollected.

Founding member Alice Daniel, along with past society historian Judy Rothstein, have been instrumental in keeping the choral society’s history alive in both narrative form and from images collected by photographers who have captured countless moments over the years.

“Our communal chorus experience has been a long, winding road featuring many enjoyable encounters with wonderful musical works, musicians and audiences, along the way,” said Daniel, who is an alto.

During the event, past directors Ken Staton, Mark Barville, and current director Duprey, as well as the seven founding singers still active in the society Alice Daniel, Lydia Weiss, Joan Parker, Kathy Ogata, Shirley McCoy, C. J. Kimberly, Gloria Juan, and Roger Weiss, an original singer and administrative support, will be recognized.

The evening concludes with choral members singing “Na Ke Akua,” a song written by Duprey’s late father John McCreary, and recently performed with the Stanford University Chamber Chorale in Kailua-Kona.

For more information or to make reservations, visit konachoralsociety.org or call 334-9880.