It may be the most unlikely pairing since Keith Richards wandered onto the Levitt Pavilion stage and jammed with Willie Nelson several years ago.
But this Saturday (June 22, 8 p.m.) — in the same high school fieldhouse where some of them graduated just a day before — Staples’ elite a cappella singers the Orphenians will join multi-platinum hard rockers Foreigner in a special performance of “I Want To Know What Love Is.”
Tickets for the Levitt’s annual fundraiser are $70, $95 and $250 (pre-concert cocktail party, priority concert entry, after-party).
But the chance to see the Orphs and Foreigner onstage together: priceless.
This is Foreigner lead singer Kelly Hanson.
This is Orphenians director Luke Rosenberg, leading his singers in a holiday concert.
(Click here for tickets, or call 866-811-4111.)
Good luck! Back in 1969 or 1970, we Orphs persuaded George Weigel to add a tune or two in popular idiom to the repertoire. We settled on a Swingle Singers version of the “Little” fugue in g minor of JS Bach, and a catchy pop hit “Windy”:
“Who’s peekin’ out from under a stairway
Calling a name that’s lighter than air
Who’s bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it’s Windy…”
It was not our best moment — the dissonant close harmonies were unfamiliar, and the choral sound of adolescent voices never quite caught the swing of the original recordings.
— Scott.
Scott E. Brodie (Orphs ’68-’70)