VOCAL PROGRAMS Including Follow the Drinking Gourd      Diane Goldsmith has developed a highly successful ensemble with two singers that performs a variety of themed programs in museums, libraries, cultural centers, schools and colleges.      The group, including singers Shannon Hunt and Ivan Woods, has presented concerts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in D.C., at Rider University and the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, both in Princeton, at the James Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., and at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.      The programs, all presented with commentary, range from “Opera to Broadway,”  “Life Is a Cabaret,” and “The French Connection” to shows that focus on the African American experience in music, in which case the ensemble calls itself Follow the Drinking Gourd, after the coded slave song used to guide runaways to freedom on the Underground Railroad.      “Opera to Broadway” features favorites from opera, operetta and musical theater – from a steamy Puccini aria to the zany antics of Gilbert & Sullivan. They’re all in this show, along with plenty of lush ballads and uptempo tunes from the Great American Songbook, including “Just One of Those Things,” “Singin’ in the Rain” and a Porgy and Bess medley.      “Life Is a Cabaret” promises an intimate and entertaining program about love, loss and laughter, featuring many of your favorites from musical theater and film. It’s a stylish presentation ranging from the sweet to the saucy, including some great period patriotic tunes.      “The French Connection” celebrates the French spirit with a program that conjures our long- standing love affair with that country’s culture and performers. Drawing on selections from opera, cabaret and film, it includes the Seguidilla from the opera “Carmen,” April in Paris, Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose, Michel Legrand’s What Are you Doing for the Rest of Your Life? and The Pink Panther theme, among others. The Other Musicians are:           Soprano Shannon Hunt has given vocal recitals all over the United States and in Italy and has performed operatic roles with Brooklyn Repertory Opera, Birmingham Opera Works, and Opera Oggi in Manhattan. She recently received the Rising Star Award from the Minuetto Music Festival and holds awards from Mobile Opera and Classical Presentations. She currently teaches music at Trinity School in Manhattan.      Bass singer Ivan Woods was featured at the dedication of the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in Princeton performing songs associated with Robeson - to high acclaim from the late freedom fighter’s son. A former member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus under Robert Shaw and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale under David Hayes, he’s appeared on a number of Grammy-winning recordings on the Telarc label. In addition to singing, he’s proficient on several wind instruments and does a number of arrangements for this trio. Diane Goldsmith 609-505-1248 dgoldsmith1@msn.com  

Voices!

Life is a Cabaret

Opera to Broadway

So In Love

Gorgeous

Black Max

April In Paris

Sous le ciel de Paris

What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life?

The Night They Invented Champagne

Que Reste T’il De Nos Amours

The Pink Panther

Anything You Can Do

Cinque, Dieci from “The Marriage of Figaro”

Rapture, Rapture from “The Yeomen of the Guard”

Singing In The Rain

Someone to Watch Over Me