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Date: 12/21/2021
HOLYOKE – The Young@Heart Chorus is premiering their newest virtual concert on Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Shot at the Divine Theater at Gateway City Arts, the “Get The Party Started” show will feature a variety of songs by P!nk, Sharon Jones, The Dap-Kings, The Lonesome Brothers, Dolly Parton, The Zombies and more.
The Young@Heart Chorus was started in 1982 as project in elder housing. Over the past 40 years, the chorus has grown and traveled all over the world to share their music in Canada, New Zealand, Europe, Japan and more.
Members range in age from 75 to 93 and their accolades have been highlighted in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, on The Tonight Show, The Ellen Show and in a recent documentary.
According to Bob Cilman, director of the Young@Heart Chorus, the group had to pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit, we learned how to make music over Zoom. And this will be our fifth show we’ve created that’s virtual,” he said.
Most recently, the Young@HeartChorus produced a COVID-19 musical documentary. “Get The Party Started” will be the final show of the 2021 season.
“We’re working with Gateway City Arts which is a theater in Holyoke. During the pandemic, they created this wonderful little theater inside Gateway City Arts called the The Divine Theater and they allowed us use of the space for a week and we filmed everything in there for this show. It looks really great,” said Cilman.
The chorus was able to bring small groups of members into The Divine Theater to shoot the show. According to Cilman, they continue to be very cautious of COVID-19 given their members’ ages. They continue to host rehearsals on Zoom at this time.
“Get The Party Started” is a free event with an online registration. Cilman said that donations will be accepted to continue to support the non-profit arts organization. A donation of $25 or more will give individuals access to a Zoom afterparty.
“If they want to make an end of season donation they can and, if they do, we have an afterparty that we do over Zoom that a lot of people like to join us with,” said Cilman.
According to Cilman, the chorus has been preparing for this show since the end of October.
“We had to turn this around between Oct. 30 and Dec. 30, so we had to learn all of these songs, record all these songs, have the band make the backing tracks so the chorus members could work on them all within a two-month period. I mean, really, it’s been a five-week period because we needed to have this all in the can by last week,” he said.
He noted that this is the closest the chorus has gotten to performing live in two years. With 2022 being the Young@Heart Chorus’ 40th anniversary, Cilman said they hope to be performing in front of an audience again soon.
“It’s all going to depend on whether we can start rehearsing in January and we’re just not sure yet. We have to see how the holidays play out,” he said.
For now, the Young@Heart Chorus is looking forward to their upcoming premiere. Cilman extended his gratitude to Gateway City Arts for making it possible.
“It was just a real act of generosity for them to open their theater up to us to be able to shoot this whole show there and people should really know about this little theater that they just created. It’s a real jewel. It’s a very special place and, you know, Holyoke needs more special places. This is really one of them,” he said.
Those interested in registering for “Get The Party Started” are able to do so at https://givebutter.com/party.