There are about 60 people participating in the Redmond Community Choir this spring, and they all have a story to tell — about their life experiences, what music means to them, and their involvement in the choir.

Suzanne Yeakey is new to the choir this year, but her music career goes back a lifetime. She remembers standing on the coffee table and entertaining guests with her rendition of “Tiny Bubbles” when she was two years old. She sang her first solo, “You Light Up My Life, ”when she was in the sixth grade. And at age 14, she played Liesl in The Sound of Music alongside her mother who portrayed Maria Von Trapp.

Yeakey grew up surrounded by music and singing. Her mother and grandfather used to sing together. On family trips, the whole family sang in four-part harmony. Suzanne and all five of her siblings play instruments, and Suzanne and her sisters sing as a group at weddings, funerals, and other events.

“I’ve never not sang,” she said.

These days Yeakey is the librarian at Sage Elementary School in Redmond, where she incorporates music into her job, singing with the children every day, and leading children’s choirs for special events. She also shares that gift as cantor at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Redmond.

At this year’s Redmond Community Choir spring concert, you can hear her beautiful soprano voice in a solo to open the second half of the program.

Kaci Aslamov has been with the choir since it began in 2019, but her love of singing goes back much further. As a child, she sang with the Youth Choir of Central Oregon, an audition-only choir. She also sang in the choir at Redmond High School. Aslamov attended Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she majored in classical voice before switching to a major in music composition.

Following college there were few opportunities to use her musical talents, but Aslamov found artistic expression in her work. She and her husband Vladimir own Ngrained LLC, where they do custom woodworking of all kinds. One of their two most recent projects was a “barn door,” a term that doesn’t do justice to the stunning work of art they created.

Music, especially singing, has been Kaci’s passion since childhood. She calls her involvement with the Redmond community choir, “an opportunity to get back to what I love.”

You can hear her sing a duet at the Salute to Broadway spring concert.

Rick Hoffman sings in the choir and serves on its board of directors. He also sings with the Community Presbyterian Church choir in Redmond. In fact, Rick has sung in choirs since he was a young boy. He estimates that he has been in 10 or more choirs in the past 40-plus years.

“I love hearing a choir come together,” he said.

Hoffman joined the Redmond Community Choir Board after hearing about choir director Ken Piarulli’s love for music, his commitment to a community choir, and his passion for excellence. Jean, Rick’s wife, plays the flute and also sings. Between participation in their church choir, and Rick’s involvement with RCC, they spend an average of two hours a day practicing music. He says that he gets just as excited about music now as he did when he first began singing.

“It’s a heart thing,” he said. “I love to have music flowing through my soul.”

Ben Lawson has been an integral part of the choir since its inception. In addition to singing bass, he makes sure the stage is set up at Redmond high School, and he occasionally steps in to conduct a piece. At the upcoming spring concert he will be directing “!Cantar!” while our director Ken performs on the keyboard.

Lawson has been teaching music for 19 years, eight of them at Redmond High School. In addition to the Concert Choir, Lawson teaches jazz, symphonic, and wind ensemble bands and leads the pep and marching Bands. To say that Ben invests in his students is an understatement.

He really lights up when he talks about “his kids”: the students he teaches in band and choir, who have lunch with him in his office every day, and whose performances he directs. He has also been a staff member of the Oregon Ambassadors of Music for 18 years, during which he has chaperoned nine student music tours to Europe.

Although he has played in bands, Lawson had never participated in a community choir before joining Redmond Community Choir. He echoes the sentiments of other choir members when he talks about the joy he finds in making music with the choir.

Some people join the choir, in part, because it provides a respite from difficult life circumstances.

Some of our choir members are dealing with medical challenged, coping with family crises, and suffering the loss of loved ones. When Maureen Meade joined the choir in September 2022, she was seeking a measure of joy in her life — and she counts it as no coincidence that the first song on the concert playlist was “Sing Out Your Joy.”

Having recently moved to the area, Meade was hoping to make new friends when she joined the choir. More importantly, she was looking for a way to cope with losing the love of her life, Gary, who was dying of kidney disease. Gary died on Sept. 28, 2022. And despite the incredible sadness she felt, Maureen showed up for choir rehearsal on the following Monday. Two of the choir members, fellow altos Nancy and Gayle, lent their support through those first difficult weeks.

Studies have shown that music can help in processing grief, and Meade has found that to be true in her life.

“Music brings me much joy and happiness after losing my soulmate,” she said. “Joining the choir was the best thing for my heart and soul.”

The Redmond Community Choir spring concert, Salute to Broadway, will be Sunday, May 21, at 4 p.m. at Redmond High School.

Admission is free. You can learn more about the choir at redmondcommunitychoir.org.