PEACH WEEKENDER

Detroit choral ensemble to perform in Toledo

Detroit’s Sacred Heart Choral Ensemble will perform a free concert at 6 p.m. Sunday in St. Martin de Porres Church, 1119 W. Bancroft St.

Toledo has a chance to hear Detroit’s Sacred Heart Choral Ensemble in a free concert at 6 p.m. Sunday in St. Martin de Porres Church, 1119 W. Bancroft St.

Presented by Black Catholic Ministries of the Toledo Diocese, this performance will introduce a singing group that is part of extensive music ministries at the historic parish on the edge of downtown Detroit. (Go north on I-75 and, just after the split with I-375, the spire will be on your left.)

The choral ensemble was founded in 1947 by Clarence Millard Hightower to provide service music for Sunday and Holy Days mass.

Led by John J.F. Thorne since 2004, the choir’s focus has shifted, along with the neighborhood around Sacred Heart Parish. The group still is part of church life, bringing the Gospel to parishioners through gospel music. But it also appears in the Detroit area, goes out on tour, and makes records.

Its debut album, Live from the Heart, was released in 2006.

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If that concert makes you feel like singing, just in time will be the University of Toledo’s 20th annual Summer Sings, three July evenings when singers can gather to work up and perform major choral pieces under the direction of top area conductors.

The first Sing will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the UT Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Dennis Blubaugh, a local organist and conductor — plus owner of Musical Resources, major supplier of choral literature to the country — will lead J.S. Bach’s cantata, Jesu, meine Freude.

On July 22, Steve Hodge, UT professor and choral music director, who manages this annual summertime event, will lead Mozart’s divine Requiem.

Rounding out the schedule, Sandra Stegman, professor of music education and choral activities at Bowling Green State University, will take singers through undersung choruses from Handel’s Messiah on July 29.

Scores are furnished and refreshments for parched throats are provided. Each session costs $9, with a series price of $25. Registration begins at 6:15 p.m. before each of the sings.

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Some Proof of the Pudding recitals at UT will showcase progress achieved during the warm season by those who have been working to advance their performing skills.

First up will be a public recital presenting students of Joel Tse’s Flute Camp, at 7 p.m. Friday in the UT Center for Performing Arts. Come hear local lights coached by Tse, principal flutist of the Toledo Symphony. Admission is free.

On July 22, Cecilia Johnson, who has led Mardi Soirs Strings in chamber music workshops since June, will allow her students to show off in a free recital at 7 p.m. in the UT Recital Hall. On the program will be a Mozart Serenad, movements from Peter Warlock’s popular Capriole Suite, works by Kirt Mosier and Ron Gorow, and surprises, too.

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Ottawa Park will launch its 2014 Concert Series on Saturday with classic rock performed by the band Boffo.

Each Saturday until Aug. 16 will bring a new performer. July 19 will be Theresa Harris & Friends, for some jazz. On July 26 the blues will descend on the historic amphitheater thanks to MoJoBoes & his Noble Jones.

On Aug. 2 expect MoTown sounds from DeZire; on Aug. 9 will be the 730 Club Band with soft rock, and, rounding out the series, indie rock is in store from Alex of the Pet Names on Aug. 16.

Music starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free. Entrance to the amphitheater is at 2205 Kenwood Blvd., near the Police Museum and substation, where there’s plenty of parking.

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No kiddin,’ there’ll be fiddlin’ at Archbold’s Sauder Village, during one of its farm life special events on Saturday. Amidst hands-on activities such as rope-making, sorghum-grinding, and an old-fashioned spell down, there will be live music led by the Fossil Creek Band of Lambertville.

“As guests get involved with traditional summer activities on the farm they will gain a better understanding of how our ancestors lived while having a lot of fun at the same time,” noted Kim Krieger of the Sauder Village staff.

At 1 p.m. things will heat up inside Founder’s Hall when fiddlers in three categories — student, open, and senior — take turns playing for points.

Each contestant will have five minutes to perform one hoedown and one waltz using old-time style and techniques.

Yes, there will be winners and losers, but anyone who attends will take home the prize of hearing first-hand a great American musical tradition.

Music on the Village Green will start at 10 a.m., when Sauder opens; then, after the contest, resume until 4 p.m. when Sauder shuts its doors for the day.

Admission to the village is $10-$16, with children under 5 free. For more information call 1-800-590-9755 or www.saudervillage.org.

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Jazz star Larry Fuller, a Toledo native, will be in town for a 7 p.m. concert July 18 at Langley Hall, the big space just above DeGage Jazz Cafe, 301 River Rd., Maumee. Fuller will play with percussionist Peter Siers and bassist Paul Keller.

The concert is a benefit for Toledo Jazz Orchestra, which is sponsoring the concert along with Jazz Spectrum 91.

Tickets are $25 at the door or in advance at 419-794-8205 ext. 3.

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At Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, pianist and pedagogue Louis Nagel will perform concerts Saturday and Sunday in the historic house hall, 415 N. Fourth Ave. The Saturday gig is at 8 p.m.; on Sunday the music starts at 4 p.m.

Nagel is known and beloved to Ann Arbor audiences, as a member of the University of Michigan music school faculty, at Interlochen, and other institutions, as a solo and collaborative performer around the country, and author.

His Saturday program will include works by two of the Bach family — J.S and C.P.E. — plus Haydn.

On Sunday Nagel will deliver a reprise of his program at New York’s Steinway Hall: Beethoven sonatas Op. 57 and 109.

Tickets for either concert are $5-$30 at 734-769-2999 or www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com

Send items for News of Music at least two weeks in advance to svallongo@theblade.com.