Thoughts of "Hometown Praise"

Autumn is my favorite time of year; I have been awestruck by the beautiful, blazing colors up on the mountains surrounding the neighborhood where I live.  This time of year reminds me of all the things that I love, that I treasure, hold dear and hope for.  Music plays a central and definite role in the revelry that is autumn.  Ever since our "Give Thanks" concert last year with the amazing Cori Connors I have wanted to always have a fall concert, one that celebrates the best things about home, holiday, tradition, family and nostalgic memory.  This year, with our inaugural concert featuring music from and within our community, our great state of Utah, we are embodying the very essence of fall, the warmth and comfort that settling in, drawing loved ones and children near in preparation for the winter unequivocally brings.  We sprinkle the music we sing with the savory, loveliness of those precious feelings in each of us; the feelings and memories that transcend all assumed and apparent differences, bringing us together with one sole purpose - to make beautiful, autumn-infused music together, as we share our message and our conviction with all those in our audience.  I believe that we - mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles - the singers that make up Utah Voices, all have magical memoreis associated with our own hometowns, the people in those hometowns, the landscape, the local churches, the elementary school, our own Main Street.  Each one of us has a love, a treasure trove of memories of our own hometowns; together, we combine and put words and notes to those memories, rhythm and dynamics to the our own childhood fondness and nostalgia.  We have the wonderful opportunity to do something good for our "hometown", by honoring and recognizing our servicemen and women, the Veterans in our community, the very heroes that willingly would lay down their own lives in order to preserve the liberty and freedom in our hometowns across our great nation. It is for them that our patriotic section of the program we will sing.  We are so fortunate to live among such noble, courageous men and women of the armed forces.  And on November 11, the day of our fall concert and Veterans Day, we honor their service and sacrifice for us, for our families, for the very hometowms that we so passionately sing about, and the magnificent nation we live in.  May we all remember and revel in all that is good in life, the beauty and richness of this beautiful autumn season, and the message of the music that we sing in this, our hometown.

Juliann Kitzmiller Peacock

Managing Director

Utah Voices