BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Bakersfield College Chamber Singers are returning to the stage to perform their first live dinner theater production in two years and the group needs the community’s help.
The Stars Theatre is where the Bakersfield College Chamber Singers will perform “Something’s Coming” a show to raise money for their tour of Vienna, Prague, and Berlin next summer and the group gave us an inside look into their performance.
“My favorite so far has definitely been "Mysterious Ways" because it's just so groovy, so funky. It's really cool and really upbeat and it just gets me dancing so I really like that one,” says choir member Karina Ronquillo.
"Masquerade" and "Mysterious Ways" are just a few of the songs that will be performed by the Bakersfield College Chamber Singers on June 10th and 11th.
Director Jennifer Garrett says after the COVID-19 pandemic, the choir members are excited to get back on stage.
"I've got 45 people coming to rehearsal. They don’t get credit. They don’t get paid. They work hard and they want to do this and they want to give the best show.”
Choir member Caley Mayhall says it's important for the choir to give its members the opportunity to perform abroad.
“Most of them have never been out of the country. A lot of them have never been out of Bakersfield so it does them a grave of service if you can get another aspect so what better way to show them another part of the world.”
And the money raised from these performances will help get the group closer to that goal, but Mayhall says this year the school is not contributing and it's up to the choir to raise all of the money needed for its members to travel.
"We’re raising the money because it's going to be about $4,000 per student, and we have about 45 students that are going and right now we’ve run into a couple of roadblocks where it's right after COVID hit everyone a little hard and so right now we figured what better way to raise money than to do what we do best.”
Ronquillo says the chamber singers have put in a lot of work to perfect their performances for the community to enjoy.
“It's something that you really don’t want to miss because everyone that's in here put in so much work so much time and consideration and it's just a really great opportunity to show off what we can do together and individually."
The group says they need to raise more than $90,000 so all of their members can travel to Europe next year. You can order tickets for the event online.
