The Lock City Sound of Christmas is familiar, yet fresh and new.
The final concert in the Lock City Glee Club Inc.’s 2024 holiday series will be presented Sunday. The show consists of new arrangements of 12 well known songs of the season, plus a club-led sing-along with the audience, and guest performances by teen tap dancer Jillian Fisk of Barker and flutist Megan Dray, director of the Lockport High School band.
“We’re pulling out all the stops for this one,” director Drew Burke said.
The 26-member, all male chorus already presented Christmas concerts in Ransomville and Wilson over the past few weeks, and on Monday night at Christ Episcopal Church, where weekly rehearsals take place from 7 to 9 p.m., the membership and pianist Debbie Hutter worked at fine-tuning parts of the show for the coming finale. The mood was jovial as Burke and assistant director Eddie Reeb encouraged more here, less there, in pursuit of their best effort yet.
Most-tenured member Ric Addenbrooke has a solo part in one of the arrangements. Involved with the group since it was the Harrison Men’s Glee Club and he was a tester at Harrison Radiator Division, he noted, “Some people like bowling… hunting… I’m a singer.”
The current members of the almost 60-year-old glee club, which for marketing purposes was rebranded “The Lock City Sound” a few years ago, range in age from 13 to 89. The youngest members are current or former students of Burke, the director of choral activities at Barker Central School, although membership is open to males of all experience levels from first-time singers to music majors.
Club president Paul Bencal pointed out that the glee club, like most voluntary associations in the community, is much in need of younger members to keep it going in the future. “We need young men… I hate to say ‘replacements’ (for the older members who drop out), but that’s it, we need replacements if we’re going to sustain this,” he said.
The Lock City Sound of Christmas will be presented at 3 p.m. Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church, 7145 Fieldcrest Drive. Admission is free.
The concert series was underwritten by the Grigg Lewis Foundation, the state Council on the Arts and the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Arts & Culture Initiative.