Carmel Symphony Orchestra shows respect to Queen of Soul in concert

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Shaleah Adkisson’s respect for the Queen of Soul’s talent has only grown since she joined a tribute group.

“It really gave me an opportunity to dig into Aretha Franklin’s music in a way that I hadn’t before,” she said. “I feel like she and her music are so pervasive in our culture. So, we know who Aretha Franklin is and her songs on the radio, but having to perform and perform at such a high level really required me to learn more about the songs themselves and where they came from and who wrote them. Was it a cover and how long after the original cover was it recorded?”

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Lawrence

Adkisson and two other Broadway vocalists, Tamika Lawrence and Melvin Tunstall III, and pianist and music director John Boswell form Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin. The group will join the Carmel Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. May 6 at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. It is part of the pops concert series and the final CSO concert of the 2023-24 season.

“A lot of the arrangements we’re doing are in her original keys, which in a lot of cases she didn’t even perform in her original keys once the albums were recorded,” Adkisson said. “So that is definitely a challenge. It’s just having to dig in and learn about the songs, then really figuring out how to navigate them in my own voice and make them my own.”

Adkinsson said that challenge has been one of her favorite parts of the act.

Adkisson said the singers have solo numbers, and some are duets and some are all together.

Adkisson enjoys singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

“That is my favorite Aretha song by far and my favorite Carole King song,” Adkisson said. “It’s just so iconic, and every time I get to sing it, it’s really special.”

Adkisson said she enjoys “The House that Jack Built.”

“I don’t think I heard it before this concert,” she said. “Actually, when I first started working on the show, there was another singer that sang it, and I always thought it was so much fun. That song was handed to me this year. It’s a lot of work and it’s a very quick tempo. So, it really requires a lot of memory, which sometimes fails me. But I really like the song a lot.”

Adkisson no longer performs full time. She became an arts administrator as the manager of school programs in the education program at New York City Center in the fall of 2021.

“I have friends that  have since the pandemic stepped away from it completely, but I know that I need to feed my artistry, regardless of circumstances,” she said. “So, this really gives me a great outlet to just sing and to be in front of these really amazing symphonies with these large audiences. It’s really soul-feeding and helps me to continue to practice my artistry even though I’ve shifted my focus.”

CSO Artistic Director Janna Hymes looks forward to the joint performance.

‘I grew up with this music. My older brothers played it all the time, so it is all familiar to me and I love them all,” Hymes said of Franklin’s songs. “I could never pick a favorite Aretha song because they are all unique and wonderful.”

Hymes said the pops concerts have been a popular part of the CSO seasons. An Earth, Wind & Fire tribute act joined the CSO in January.

“I think the community of Carmel is mixed, and the Carmel Symphony Orchestra is providing variety in all of our programming from music selected for kids of all ages, more traditional classical concerts, music written by living composers, pops concerts with music from familiar bands like The Beatles and great vocalists like Frank Sinatra and Aretha, American music and much more,” Hymes said

For more, visit carmelsymphony.org.


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