Deseret Book Ladies Night and Constitution Ed Week in UT

What a fun trip to UT in October. I just got the pictures back and had to share a few. I had the chance to sing at the Constitution Education Week in Orem and met the most amazing folks. Great politicians running for office, fabulous presenters who know their stuff on the founding principles of this country and wonderful folks who want to make a difference in their communities. I sang a great arrangement of 2 verses of the Star Spangled Banner, arranged by my friend, Richard Talbot and many other patriotic tunes. I also had the chance to give an hour presentation on Hope and how it can we can build on it every day in our lives.
I went over Conference weekend, so I also got to attend a small Wood reunion for family history and met some new relatives. The Afternoon session of conference was awesome and I got to sit in the conference center with my son Brian and Devin. Sat night during the Priesthood session, I drove up to Logan to sing at the Deseret Book Ladies night. It was jam packed full of women and I sang for about 2 hours and shared some 'stories behind the songs'. All in all it was a great weekend in Utah.

East Valley Mormon Choral Organization- The Real Deal

Sterling and I joined the East Valley Mormon choral organization with julliard trained director- Brandon Stewart. It is a stellar choir with intense rehearsals and grand concerts. If you don't know much about the best choral sounds, vowel modification is paramount. The choirs at BYU really focus on this and the result is a rich uniform sound that has gained national recognition in the choral world. I sang under Dr. Ralph Woodward in the BYU A Cappella choir and enjoyed this rigorous training as well as with the then new director, Dr. Ronald Staheli, who now conducts the BYU Singers- now the top BYU choir.
My friends in that choir are mostly now all singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and it is fun to see them each week on "Music and the Spoken Word" from the 'crossroads of the west'!
With our goals, training and repertoire I can promise that this choir will be doing some amazing things here in the East Valley of Phoenix and beyond! BTW- Brandon Stewart, our director is currently pursuing his Doctoral studies in Piano Performance at Arizona State University.

Steve Vaus

Did backup singing on Sat for grammy award winning country singer, Steve Vaus at the Gilbert Constitution Celebration. He has such inspirational patriotic songs and because I am a tea party patriot, I just loved his music! I also got to shake a tambourine which was quite a switch for me--boots, jeans and a tambourine! When I get a picture of that, I'll post it, cuz I'm usually performing in long black dresses, if you know what I mean. :D

Awesome Youth!

I did a presentation on listening/making great conversation to a combined YM/YW mtg in our stake today. It went well and the kids were very receptive, trying the points I taught them and actually learning something new about the other youth in their ward that they thought they knew. At the end, I segued into how to have courage to be open and share their feelings about the gospel with others. I know that when we do this, those that are humble and receptive will see that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is what makes us so happy. I sang "Take courage: It's time to Share" from my Out of the Dust album because it talks about the promises we made before we came to earth to testify of Christ and how it is our great privilege and responsibility to gather Israel in the last days before the 2nd coming of Christ. I love to speak to the Youth as they radiate the light of goodness in their eyes and so readily feel the spirit.

Especially For Youth- Provo, UT July 13-14

This year was my 7th teaching EFY and I still love it. I used powerpoint for the firsttime and although it took a long time to convert the talks I gave, it was worth it. This is another teacher, Meredith Evans, also from Arizona.

Wonderful Evening in Safford, Arizona!!

Our concert in Safford went so smoothly. The sound techs were great and the audience was warm and enthusiastic in the beautiful, new performing arts center. Thanks to Scott & Lara Cox from Bookworms in Thatcher who invited us down and hosted the concert. Small town folks are so fun and we really enjoyed sharing our music and also some amazing mexican food. Thanks also to Tom Chamberlin who joined us as a solo artist and was totally professional. My own hubby Sterling was the M.C. and Melanie Conway was the concert mgr/director. One fun postscript was being able to meet Bishop H. David Burton in the lobby of our Hotel right after our concert. He was in town to see the new Temple down the road and we were able to chat for a few minutes.

KOSY Sounds of the Sabbath Interview

Interviewing in UT with Joan Peterson on Sounds of the Sabbath was so much fun! She is originally from Mesa and now lives in UT so we actually spent about 20 min just chatting about common friends and experiences. She is a great lady and her maiden name is Speakman, so I knew some of her family. I like doing radio, but have to be careful because I get so comfortable and my voice gets, like....really, really LOW and rich. Maybe too much so. Anyway, they played my songs all day on the 4.25.10 and it was cool to be able to share a little bit about the songs before they were played on the radio. ;D

You won't want to miss this concert

I am so excited for this concert! All of us as artists are also producing this concert so it has taken a tremendous amount of hard work to put it together. But because of this, I think it will be awesome. I love Debbie's sweet high voice and power ballads! Freddie has an amazing tenor voice, and Three2U are not only inspirational soloists, but as a group, they have a synergisticc power and blend that is beyond smooth.

Please make sure that you get your tickets early because they are selling faster than any concert I have produced before.This is a great Christian Inspirational concert that you can feel comfortable bringing your friends to. We will be having multimedia and live orchestra as well as fabulous singing...so come and say hello. I would love to say hello to you and sign a CD if you want.

Love,

Michele

Christmas Eve Concert

Christmas Eve was busy for the Baer family this year as we performed at the AZ LDS Temple Lights again. Instead of cooking goodies and then caroling to a few friends on that special evening, we had the opportunity to sing to several hundred folks in the chilly night air on one of the most sacred nights of the year. When it was all done, the night turned out magical with many friends and extended family there to hug afterwards. But I must say that practicing harmonies, finding tux bowties, matching dresses, securing accompanists and such made for a stressful week up til the big day. LtoR is our family- Tyler, Corey, Michele, Sterling, Brian and Marisa. We also had Sarah Thaxton singing with us as an extra Soprano to help balance with all the men's voices. She was wonderful.

Brian sang "Little Drummer Boy" with his guitar and did a smooth job.

Then Tyler Sang "O Holy Night" with a Josh Groban arrangement background and sounded awesome. We heard many great comments afterwards about their songs.

I had the chance to sing "Gesu Bambino", one of my favorite Christmas Solos and also shared the popular song, "Merry Christmas Darling"

I think the best part was watching my children and husband enjoy performing for others and having the audience join with us on the last verse of Silent Night. It was sweet and stirring. Special Thanks to Sharon Overall for playing the piano for us and 2nd cousin Morgan Wood for jumping in at the last minute with violin!