Orcas A Cappella reprises favorites in "Encores!"

Caroline Scott rehearses "Encores" selections with other Orcas a Cappella singers at the Victorian Valley Chapel earlier this year.

Orcas a Cappella will be returning to Orcas Center’s CenterStage to present “Encores!” on Sunday, June 7 at 3 pm. Concerts will also be performed at the Shaw Community Center, Sunday, May 31 at 2 pm; and at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts on Saturday, June 6, at 7 p.m.

Orcas a Cappella is a special performing choir of non-professional community singers, who are dedicated to providing an atmosphere of spiritual enrichment and unity through a cappella singing. Coming from Lopez, Shaw and Orcas, they have commitment their time, energy, and talent to musical excellence and international goodwill.

Taught and directed by Dennis Bonner, DMA, the group was founded in 2002 as an a cappella singing class through Skagit Valley College.  A year later they left the college and embarked on their own as the Orcas a Cappella Singers, and in 2006, became a non-profit as Orcas a Cappella.

A mixed choir of 32 voices, they prepare music throughout the year to perform in local venues, festivals and international tours. They also participate in other projects in the community including musical theatre, educational workshops, musical exchanges, and special community events and performances.

In the summer of 2003, the group made their first singing tour to Spain, and in Barcelona participated in the XV Europa Cantat, a festival of choirs from around the world. With over 100 choirs participating, the Singers auditioned for and were accepted as one of the featured singing groups to perform at the Cantat.

Two years later, in April 2005, they were host to a 67-voice Swedish choir, whom they met at the Cantat and invited to Orcas.  Over a five-day period, they toured and performed together throughout the San Juan Islands in Songshare 2005, a musical exchange.

The group took their second tour abroad in the summer of 2006 to perform concerts in the Czech Republic, and, once again, participated in the XVI Europa Cantat.  At the Cantat, Bonner attended the Composer/Director atelier with Slovene composer Damijan Mocnik.  Mocnik’s music and direction captivated Bonner, who wanted to share this with his choir and his community, and as a result, Damijan Mocnik, with his family, arrived the last week of October in 2007 for a week-long residency to work not only with Orcas a Cappella, but also with Islands Sinfonia.

The culminating performance of SongShare 2007 was played to a full house and standing ovation both on Orcas and Lopez.

In keeping with their mission, SongShare 2010 is now in the planning stage. World renowned choral conductor and organist, Richard Marlow of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, will arrive in March to conduct a weeklong residency based upon the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who attended Trinity College from 1892-95.

“Encores!” is the journey of Orcas a Cappella through the last seven years, recalling some of their most memorable music sung along the way.  The singers have been spending the last few months recording this music for a CD that will be available to the public in the early fall.  Included will be music from their home concerts, as well as that which was sung on tour – sacred music, Renaissance to contemporary; secular music based on the work of the many great poets; early American folk and spiritual tunes; along with what has become their signature song: “Deep Peace.”

Join them for their best of Encores!