Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Eye on the Arts by Glen Parsons

In this month of April, Cantori will be celebrating its 50th year!

This nearly professional singing group was started in 1973 by Gene Jannsen, minister of music at Grace Lutheran Church. All singers must audition for the director in order to be selected. Most singers are soloists from area churches and theater groups.

When the Jannsen family left town for the cities, Eileen Nelson Ness was invited to take the baton, and she has kept the quality of the music at an extremely high level. Since Eileen was trained at Juilliard School of Music in New York City, she was a natural choice to take over the direction of the group.

Music selections are challenging even for seasoned singers. Music comes in a wide variety of genres. Sacred, classical and contemporary songs are included in each of the two concerts performed each year — the first in the fall before Thanksgiving as an invitation to Christmas and the second in the spring as it is this year, which will be on Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. at the United Methodist Church. There are no tickets sold, but a freewill offering is taken after the concerts to help with the costs of the music, the director, accompanist and other instrumentalists.

With this being Cantori’s 50th year, a special piece was written by composer Sebastian Modarelli and will be sung by the choir including founding singers Sue Jorgensen, Gail Thurnau and Dennis Johnson. Gene Jannsen has been invited and will attend. A reception will follow the concert in the church social hall. All are welcome to attend.

Auditions for “Cinderella,” ACT’s summer musical, will be held at the theater on Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. for the limited number of children’s roles and 7:30 p.m. for adults.

Auditions for “Shakespeare in the Park” will be held at the theater at 7 p.m. April 24 and 25. Performances will be at the museum on Aug. 20, 24, 25 and 26 with a freewill donation.

A Theater Kids Camp the week of July 10-14 will be open to children ages 8 to 13. Registration will be open until July 5 and will be limited to the first 50 applicants. Cost per child is $50 for the week.

Kids can register by going to the actonbroadway.com website. The camp will be held at the Marion Ross theater and meet daily for the week from 9 to 11 a.m. There will be a performance on Friday, July 14, at 5:30 p.m. for families and the public.

Glen Parsons is a member of the Albert Lea Cantori and Albert Lea Community Theatre director and board member.