Ana Suppelsa
The local Chick Singer Night organization is putting together another of their spring concerts to highlight women singers in the local area. CSN, a Boston chapter of a national organization, has decided to focus more on the suburbs at this time. CSN will be taking their live show to the Parish Center For The Arts in Westford, Massachusetts, hometown of CSN co-director Marcia J. Macres.
“Our theme is just continued music education and keep it going in the local public schools and programs,” Macres said. “We are taking our show to Metro West in Westford, Massachusetts,” she said. “This town of Westford has a lot of musical people in theater arts and music. We wanted to focus on some of the middle school kids because the high schools have so many opportunities with the big plays and programs that they have but the middle school age does not. We wanted to give them some opportunity to shine on stage.”
Annika
The Saturday, May 6th show will begin at 7:00 p.m. Despite their young ages, these vocalists are all credentialed singers. Singer Emma Brazinski cut her teeth in local musical theater productions “She played Sandy in a performance in Grease a few months ago and was fantastic,” Macres said. Brazinski will be performing song original singer-songwriter material and will be fronting the Chick Singer Night band..
Singer Liv Freyman is another youth from musical theater has written some originals as well, fronting the Chick Singer Night house band.
Country and Western singer Ava Suppelsa is a Berklee College of Music sophomore. Aside from winning singer-songwriter contests, she’s opened for rising country stars like Grammy-Nominee Hunter Hayes, popular indie songwriter Andrew Belle, and will open for Clay Cook of Zac Brown Band in later this year. Suppelsa was recommended by Pavoh Artist, an organization that holds music contests at the Hard Rock Café in Boston. Suppelsa was a winner in the most recent challenge.
One of the singers is so up and coming, she, like Cher, Bono, and Charo, only goes by one name. Annika, 15, is a country pop singer-songwriter who has recorded a CD in Nashville. “She’s young, but she’s been going at it for a while,” Macres said. “I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to offer.”
Macres and the Chick Singer Night organization have a clear, simple goal. “We want to highlight them and continue their ambition to keep going,” Macres said. “Guaranteed, they’re going to continue in music, whether its theater arts or choir.”
Liv Freyman
Like professional singers, these vocalists were required to prove their salt. “The music director of the middle schools recommended certain students,” Macres said. “I know these two young ones, the eighth graders, from my experience, so I know that they’re good. I’ve seen them perform in the programs.”
One singer in this spring’s Chick Singer Night program, Annie Baker, is a seasoned performer in the greater-Boston area. Baker sent in a demo and Macres’s co-director Jennifer Truesdale knows Baker personally. “I’ve seen her band perform a few times, and they’re called Miss Ellaneous,” Macres said. “They have some great energy. They’re a lot of fun.”
Most of the singers will be singing with the CSN band. Some will be accompanying themselves. Ava Suppelsa will be bringing her own band in. And, in keeping with Chick Singer Night tradition, co-directors Marcia Macres and Jennifer Truesdale will also sing with the CSN band.
The proceeds of this Chick Singer Night show will go to support FAME, Friends Advancing Music Education which has been supporting all grade levels at Westford’s public schools with grants for supplies, equipment, and scholarships since 1983.
Emma Brazinski
“We’re taking our shows to different towns and we’re trying to find local talent from those towns and find an organization to donate the money to in that town,” Macres said.
Holding the event at Westford’s Parish Center For The Arts will be another treat for the audience. Because it used to be a church it has superb acoustics. It’s a place Macres already performed at. “My husband’s band, I play some jazz with. We’ve performed there a few times. It’s really good. A lot of the clubs are closing down and we need places to hear music,” she said.
Chick Singer Night will be on Saturday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m. Use the link below to purchase your tickets.