STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Caritas Chorale will celebrate 20 years in Sun Valley with a Roaring ‘20’s Party.
“Bye, Bye Blackbird,” “Anything Goes,” “It’s Ragtime” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” will be among the nostalgic selections the choir will sing at its annual benefit dinner on Sunday, Sept. 8, at The Limelight Hotel.
The festivities will get underway at 4:30 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by a short concert, said Caritas Chorale President Richard Stahl. Dinner will be served after the program.
“It’s a lot of fun singing songs from that era,” said Susan Snyder who sings in three choirs, including the Caritas Chorale. “A lot of fun!”
The 20th anniversary gala will feature a raffle with such prizes as a 2019-20 season ski pass donated by Sun Valley Resort, a weekend for six at Reuben and Susan Perin’s log home in Stanley, a guided fishing trip on the Salmon River donated by Silver Creek Outfitters and guide Verlon Herndon, a fabric art wall hanging donated by Terry Lee of Carbondale, Colo., a night’s stay with breakfast for two at The Grove Hotel in Boise and dinner for eight in your private home catered by Judith McQueen Entertaining.
You don’t have to wait to get your raffle tickets—they’ll be sold at Atkinsons’ Market in Ketchum prior to the event, as well as at dinner.
The Caritas Chorale was founded in 1999 by Dick Brown as a means to endow the community with the best in classical, traditional and contemporary music. The group is composed of 70 men and women, and new members are always welcome.
There is no need to audition, just the desire to make music and laugh along with Director R.L. Rowsey.
The gala fundraiser enables the group to perform three to four free concerts a year in the Wood River Valley, noted Rowsey, who is the education programs artistic director for the Sun Valley Music Festival School of Music, a core artist with Company of Fools and musical director of Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center.
Rowsey also directs the B-Tones and Enchante singing groups at Wood River High School. And the result is often a happy mashup with the Caritas Chorale.