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A little coffee, a little nosh … and a lot of great music.
That’s the idea behind this week’s Coffee Concert by the Sacred Winds Chamber Players, a group of talented musicians with local roots who will be performing Thursday, February 22 at the Virginia Theater in downtown Somerset at 7 p.m.
“Sacred Winds is a professional wind ensemble — an orchestra wind (instrument) section,” said music director Scott Bersaglia. “There are 28 players for this specific concert. We are doing a variety of music for the stage, the screen and from the hymnal.”
That will include selections from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera” — from which the song “Mack the Knife” became widely popular — plus “Petite Symphonie” by Charles Gounod, the waltz from Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” ballet, a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue, and “Clarinet Polka,” which Bersaglia described as “a little Lawrence Welk action.”
He added, “Most of the players are … professionals within their field. Some of them are college professors at universities in the surrounding area.”
Some locals in the group include guitarist and banjo player Josh Parker, and local band directors Drew Shannon, Adam Hopper and Austin Gilliatt.
The Sacred Winds Chamber Players is a ministry that partners with Grace Baptist Church in Somerset, where Bersaglia is Pastor of Worship, having done so since about 2015 in various capacities. The ensemble itself has been in existence since 1997, however.
“I wanted to bring some of my college friends home for the weekend to play at my home church,” said Bersaglia. “My parents said yes, so over the weekend, they hosted 22 people. We rehearsed and presented at my church. I thought it would be a one-time deal, and it ended up being an annual event that we did each summer in Hazard, Ky. (that we did) through 2013. Then we moved even more into eastern Kentucky in Pikeville.”
The group presents a free faith-based summer concert each year, and this February concert at the Virginia is purposed to help raise awareness of the ministry and the summer concert which will be coming to Somerset. It’s the first coffee concert like this the ensemble has done.
If the sounds themselves aren’t sweet enough for attendees, perhaps dessert will be. The reason the event is called a “coffee” concert is that coffee and free desserts provided by local businesses will be made available while the musicians play.
It’s also a competition for dessert bragging rights — a winner among the treats will be announced at the end of the concert. There will be special guest judges for this purpose — Somerset Mayor Alan Keck, Master Musicians Festival Executive Director Tiffany Finley, and Pulaski County Government Executive Assistant John Alexander — as well as a vote by the audience considered in making the selection.
“Four different sponsors are coming in and they’ll each serve two desserts, and the people will enjoy their desserts and their coffee as they listen to some really excellent music,” said Bersaglia.
Those sponsors include Earl Brooke’s Music Center, Don Franklin Somerset, Southern Dental Group and Chick-fil-A. Battlefield Coffee Co. our of Nancy will be providing the coffee. Dr. Mark and Melissa Huffman are also sponsors.
Cost for the concert is $15 and can be obtained at coffeeconcert.eventbrite.com.
“It’s a very talented group,” said Bersaglia. “I think people will be pleasantly surprised with what they hear and with what they experience that evening.”
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