Piney Hills Harmony readies for regional competition with free public performance: Thursday, March 27 at 7pm, Dixie Center for the Arts in Ruston. Piney Hills Harmony Chorus of Sweet Adelines is getting ready for its annual regional competition April 3-5 with quite a few new twists.
For the first time, the chorus will present its Friends and Family Night, which is a prelude to the competition, in the Dixie Center for the Arts. This year also marks the first time the chorus will compete in Houston, rather than Dallas. And the chorus is taking six new members this year, the biggest class of "rookies" since the 1990s.
Friends and Family Night is a free concert that will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, and serves as a dress rehearsal – and more – for the upcoming competition.
"Normally, Friends and Family Night has been held in the chorus' rehearsal hall, but this year we opted for a venue with a real stage, with professional lighting, to get us totally revved up for the contest performance," director Sheila Nugent said.
This will mark the first time the chorus has competed in Region 10, which includes 23 choruses and spans Alabama, Louisiana and southeast Texas. Formerly, the chorus was in Region 25, which included north Texas, north Louisiana, southwest Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
"We and two other choruses have been transferred to Region 10 by the international office as part of a worldwide geographical reorganization," Nugent said.
Twenty-eight Piney Hills Harmony members from across North Louisiana will attend the Houston event. The six new members who will compete for the first time are Krisi Key, Calhoun; Traci Massey, West Monroe; Peggy Moore, Monroe; Judy Sapp, Rayville; Sue Wheeler, Farmerville; and Samantha Wilkinson, Ruston.
The March 27 performance will feature the chorus' competition package, "I Can't Begin to Tell You" and "Hard-Hearted Hannah," and other songs from its repertoire.
Also presenting its contest songs and other selections will be the quartet Rhapsody, composed of Nugent and Monroe residents Donna Fike, Carol Ogle and Judy Sisson. Another Piney Hills Harmony quartet featured on the show will be 4 His Glory, made up of Teresa Howard, of Monroe, and West Monroe residents Jean Dunham, Ginger Hicks and Ann Walker.
Nugent wishes to encourage area residents to come see the chorus members off and to cheer them on.