November 2024
Hello and thank you for reading our newsletter! I have so many things to be thankful for this year, not the least of which is this incredible group I get to be a part of. I’m so excited to share some updates with you as we head into my favorite season - winter! The air is crisp, the leaves are crispy, and I am late for everything because I forget to leave time to scrape the frost off my windshield in the morning. I know summer in Maine is gorgeous, but my dog, Fred, and I will take a frigid November morning over a sweaty August afternoon any day. Just wrap us in ten layers and we’ll be happy as can be.
What a fun, busy month it’s been for the Pine State Pitches. Several members started new jobs this fall, and a few members have been working on musical theater productions in South Portland (make sure you see A Christmas Carol at Lyric Music Theater and Into the Woods at Portland Players)! And of course, the many musical theater fans in the group finally got the see the long-awaited Wicked film. We all did our best not to sing along in the theater, but we made up for it by singing all the way to the theater and back home again. If you saw it, let me know what you thought in the comments - but no spoilers please!! Several members also enjoyed a special Wicked themed Broadway dance class this month - it seems like we might need to stage our own production of Wicked someday!
We’ve been having a grand time learning new music and dusting off our favorite Christmas tunes this month. In case you missed the announcement this week, we are singing at the L.L.Bean Flagship store in Freeport on December 21st at 11am! We are thrilled to be part of their holiday celebrations this year and spread a little cheer. We hope you’ll come see us sing, and afterward you can check out the Northern Lights installation (and maybe do a little last-minute gift shopping like I’ll undoubtedly be doing). Watch our social media pages for location and other updates.
We’re continuing to prepare for our concerts with Women in Harmony as well. We will join them for two performances, January 17th and 18th, at South Portland High School. The concert theme is “Changes,” and we will explore the different forms and stages of change together through a variety of musical genres. You can read more about the upcoming concerts in the snippet from Women in Harmony’s most recent newsletter below:
“CHANGES” ARE COMING IN JANUARY Women in Harmony’s winter concert, “Changes,” will take place on January 17 and 18 at South Portland High School in Maine. The title reflects both the chorus’s commitment to working together for a better world and our belief in the collective strength of women. The program will begin with a compelling call to action, What Happens When a Woman (Takes Power) by Alexandra Olsavsky of the vocal trio Artemisia. With the songs I Am Willing, Together We Can Change the World, and Changes, we look to those who came before and to one another for inspiration. For Good, from the Broadway hit Wicked, strikes a moving and personal tone. The comical Menopause Mambo…probably needs no further description. For this concert, WiH welcomes as guest performers the Pine State Pitches (PSP). This local, treble-voice, a cappella group came together three years ago, in the heart of the pandemic (see PSP sidebar). In January, WiH and PSP will perform individual sets, as well as several joint pieces. We look forward to seeing you in January! We warmly welcome our guest performers the Pine State Pitches to our January program. Born out of the void created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the group was formed in the fall of 2021 by co-directors Lauren Abrami and former WiH member Rachel Lawson. Both had had previous experience with contemporary-style a cappella group singing and missed it. Through an audition process, they discovered others who were feeling the same way. PSP is now a 15-member group that sings a mix of pop, musical theater, and jazz songs, all a cappella, at various locations around the Greater Portland area. In addition to their own annual spring concerts, they have appeared at Three Strong Distilling and informally at other local breweries, Fort Williams Park’s Sunset by the Sea series, the Great Northeast Folk Festival, and more. We are pleased to have them join us and look forward to seeing them in future venues!
Be sure to join us: Friday, January 17, 7:30 pm or Saturday, January 18, 3:00 pm. South Portland High School Auditorium
Finally, our website has had some beautiful updates this month, brought to you by our very own incredible Amber!
Take a look around and learn about our members on the Meet the Pitches page. Looking for upcoming performance dates? Look no further than our Show Dates page. Don’t miss out on the Gallery page, where you can see photos and videos from past performances too! And while you’re there, make sure you’re signed up for our mailing list so you don’t miss our next monthly newsletter. Until then, I hope you drink creamy hot chocolate, watch silly holiday movies, and take some time to slow down and enjoy this lovely time of year!
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