HousaTonics serve up dinner, song June 12 & 13

SALISBURY — Wine, one woman and song. And chicken and fish and dessert, and 20 guys who love to sing.

That’s the recipe for the first of the HousaTonics serenade feasts on the weekend of June 12 and 13 in the Salisbury School dining room. The second one will be a lavish Sunday brunch, with eggs, bacon, pancakes, roast beef hash, sweet rolls and more.

The songs, however, will be the same both times, of many varieties: barbershop, ragtime,  Broadway favorites, doo-wop, inspirational numbers and even one from 1899 celebrating that radical new invention called the telephone.

Just a few of the titles are “Dream a Little Dream,†“Play a Simple Melody,†“My Evaline,†“In the Still of the Night,†“How Can I Keep from Singing,†“Hello My Baby,†“Amazing Grace,†“Keep the Whole World Singing,†and of course the theme song, “Housatonic Harmony Time,†written by founding director Lee Collins.

The HousaTonics have been singing since 1987 and giving serenade feasts since 1990, making this the 20th anniversary of these joyous blowouts. Presiding this June, as in recent years, will be the Chilean-born, classically trained Christine Gevert, who has been making a reputation in southern New England with concerts celebrating everything from harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, formerly of Lakeville, to hidden treasures of Latin American music.

The Saturday festivities start with wine and cheese at 6 p.m. and continue through a dinner partly served by apron-wearing singers. Sunday singing and eating begins at 12:30 p.m. A ticket for either event is $30, available from HousaTonics members, through HousaTonics.org, or at one of three locations: The White Hart and the Salisbury Pharmacy in Salisbury or Oblong Books and Music in Millerton.

As before, the serenade feasts are for the benefit of OWL’s Kitchen and the music program at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

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