The Sedalia Symphony Orchestra will present the last concert of the season Monday evening with special guest artists including the 2017 Harold J. Johnston Memorial Scholarship winners.
The Sedalia Chorale will perform during the concert as well as Candy Edwards, of Sedalia, a lyric coloratura soprano. Winners of the Memorial Scholarship this year — Hannah Wagenknecht, the daughter of Kevin and Robin Wagenknecht, and Mariam Pitsul, the daughter of Ivan and Lily Pitsul — will also perform.
Sedalia Chorale Director Britt Faaborg said the group will sing one number with the symphony, “You Raise Me Up.”
“It’s one of the songs that we are going to be doing in our program in May,” he added. “It’s got this orchestral arrangement with it, and it’s just gorgeous. It’s a beautiful number.”
Faaborg, who is also a member of the Symphony, said they will have approximately 40 people singing in the Chorale for the performance.
“We have some seasoned veterans and along with them we have some new folks,” he added. “We have a couple of really young people. We’ve got a couple kids who are still in high school. So, that kind of makes it nice too because you get that youth in there.”
The piano accompanist for the Sedalia Chorale Monday evening is Shoko Nelson, of Columbia, who is an adjunct music instructor at State Fair Community College.
“We are looking forward to it, because this will be a nice teaser for our concert,” Faaborg said.
Edwards, who is trained in opera, spoke with the Democrat by phone Friday. She said she would be singing a selection from the French opera “Les Contes D’Hoffman” or “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach. The aria titled “Les oiseaux dans la charmille” or commonly referred to as “The Doll Song” will be a “fun” selection and Edwards will dress the part.
“I’m literally a mechanical robot doll, that’s wound up,” she said. “So it will be really fun. It’s an opera song in its finest and it’s very fun, entertaining.”
She said she attended the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg from 2004 to 2008 and received a bachelor’s degree in music performance. She then attended the University of Connecticut from 2009 to 2011 where she received a masters in opera performance.
“When I was there, I had an opportunity to perform in Verona, Italy, and work with some big names there in the opera world,” Edwards said. “Also, while I was there, I was selected as one of a few students to go and perform some opera with the Dublin Conservatory in Ireland. So I got to do some international performing, and we also went to Paris.”
Edwards has also performed regionally in Boston and in New York City. She and her husband Michael Edwards eventually moved to Louisville, Kentucky, before moving back to Sedalia in 2014.
She now gives private voice lessons and can be found on Facebook at Music Candy Edwards.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Smith-Cotton High School Heckart Performing Arts Center, 2010 Tiger Pride Blvd. Tickets are $10 per person and are available at the door or at www.SedaliaSymphonyOrchestra.com. For more information call 221-2211.
