Olympia Choral Society

Following the resoundingly successful performance of the Haydn Mass, OCS continued the celebration of its 10^th year of providing music and charitable donations to those in need within our community, with a CHORAL ODYSSEY, which represented nearly opposite ends of the vast spectrum of choral music. The signature work in the first half of the concert was Jesu, Priceless Treasure, an English translation of an absolutely glorious Motet by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The second half was a striking blend of OCS history with modern music, classical gospel, and a finale of one of the best known Beatles tunes in which our audiences joined with impressive enthusiasm. It also included one of the looniest tunes ever presented in Olympia, or in Washington State, or perhaps on the entire Western Seaboard. In a ditty entitled Animal Crackers, we sang, among other things, of the fact that "the cow is of the bovine ilk - one end is moo, the other milk."

The entire second half was truly exciting, but a pair of songs dating back to our 2002 concert entitled A Salute to American Music, proved that they had lost none of their dynamic appeal. Just as the rendition of Me and Bobby McGee produced a huge ovation in 2002, so too was it received with a similar response in this concert. Another astonishing rock and roll tune entitled American Pie was treated in like manner. Hey Jude, a Beatles classic, had the audience on its feet, waving and whooping and hollering like a bunch of teen-agers in the mid-60's. It brought back a myriad of memories.