Dear friends,

It’s hard to believe that we’re already nearing the end of summer! Prairie Fire Lady Choir has had a busy season of gigs, learning new music, and reconnecting after a couple of challenging years. We’ve performed quite a few times already in 2022 – at the Art Shanty Projects, the Mall of America, Art-a-Whirl, Lake Harriet Bandshell, and Twin Cities Pride. It’s been fun to perform, but even better to gather and sing with one another.

We have some exciting gigs coming up in the next few months. We’d love to see you there!

Upcoming Shows

August 17 (tonight!): Amphitheater at Lyndale Gardens

• 7:00 pm
• Lyndale Gardens Amphitheater: 6400 Lyndale Ave S., Richfield, MN 55423 (map)
• More information
• NOTE: There is a chance of rain tonight. Watch Facebook and Twitter for updates.

August 27: Minnesota State Fair

• Three performances: 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30
• Minnesota State Fair Cosgrove Stage (between Wright Ave and Dan Patch, near the 4-H building) (map)
• More information

September 17: Linden Hills Fall Festival

• 3:00 pm
• Linden Hills Park: 3100 43rd Street, Minneapolis, MN 55410 (map)
• More information

October 8: 2022 Finale!

• 7:00 pm
• Como Dock and Paddle Pavilion, 1360 Lexington Pkwy N, St. Paul, MN 55103 (map)
• More information coming soon!

Auditions!

We WILL be holding auditions in 2023! If you’re interested in auditioning for Prairie Fire Lady Choir, stay tuned to our Facebook page for all the details. We’ll also send out an email as the audition date approaches.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok  to stay updated on upcoming shows, auditions, and other choir shenanigans. We hope to see you at a show!
xoxo,
Prairie Fire Lady Choir

 

 prairiefireladychoir.org

Dear friends,
After nearly 18 months of virtual rehearsals, Prairie Fire Lady Choir is singing together once again! We had fun on Zoom, but are grateful to be rehearsing in person instead of virtually. (Note: we are continuing to put safety at the forefront, requiring our members to be vaccinated and to wear masks at rehearsals.)

Looking Ahead to 2022

What’s more exciting than rehearsing together? Performing together! We are thrilled to announce that we’re performing at the Art Shanty Projects in early 2022.

The Art Shanty Project was our last performance in 2020 before Covid struck, and we’re excited to get back into live performances at one of our favorite events. We hope you join us for this full circle moment!

PFLC performs on January 29. Exact time TBD. Watch our website or the Art Shanty Projects website for more information.

Give to the Max!

Like many arts organizations, the pandemic significantly disrupted our operations and finances. As we head into the 2022 season and *fingers crossed* more regular rehearsals and performances, we’ll gratefully accept any donations that are sent our way. We’re participating in Give to the Max Day on November 18 – visit our GiveMN page for information or to donate!

Auditions

As much as we love welcoming new members into the choir, we have decided not to hold auditions for the 2022 season. With so many current members who have yet to experience a regular season, and with the uncertainty of the pandemic, it makes the most sense to wait until the world is a little less…unusual.

Finale Retrospective

The PFLC season finale is not just a showcase of our repertoire, but an opportunity to collaborate with our local music scene. Each year, we reach out to our dream collaborator and hope that they too, want to work with us. Together, we come up with a vision and at the end of the year we execute that vision, one time only, before a live audience.

It’s been two years since our last finale performance and we’re missing it, deeply.
Take a trip down memory lane with us and enjoy some epic songs and amazing local talent from years past!

2013 Season Finale
While Prairie Fire lady choir has been around since 2010 and performing finale concerts since 2011, this is the first performance to be caught on camera. Here we are at The Cedar Cultural Center singing our rep as well as Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” with Matt Latterell and “Birds Are Always“, an original song by Haley

Song Birds
In 2013, PFLC received a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council grant to work with Aby Wolf on an original song-writing project. During the off-season, choir members wrote 14 new songs! These songs, along with many others, were performed at the 2014 finale concert held at the Cedar.

Sound Waves
Our 2015 collaboration with the delightful dudechoir Murder of Bros took place at The Cedar Cultural Center and included a rowdy rendition of “Women and Men” by They Might Be Giants and “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill. In fact, we loved the latter so much that we incorporated it into our repertoire!

So Contagious
Our friend Matt Latterell joined us again in 2016, this time at McNally Smith, for a reprise of “Satellite of Love“ as well as “Busby Berkeley Dreams” by The Magnetic Fields. Lyrics from Matt’s original song “Run to the Window“ generated our show title So Contagious and boy does that have a different meaning today!

Anthems and Monuments
2017 was a big year with lots of new music made possible by another MRAC grant. We joined forces with Chris Koza, who wrote an entire suite of music inspired by water. We performed this set only twice. Once, at the intimate North Garden Theatre followed by an encore performance at Grace Trinity Community Church.
Set 1 with Chris Koza
Set 2 PFLC

Heart Break Open
Back at the Cedar for our 2018 season finale! This year we performed a soulful rendition of “River” by Leon Bridges with our collaborator Sarah White.

Months of Moon
We had so much fun in 2019 at our last finale performance! We always feel at home at the Cedar Cultural Center and our collaborator PaviElle was on fire! Highlights from the show include Heart’s “Magic Man“, and “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Check out our website for the latest details on all our activities or keep track of our doings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We miss you and hope you are well!

XOXO
Prairie Fire Lady Choir

Dear friends, How we have missed you and each other in these strange times!  Though we’ve made the difficult but prudent decision to not rehearse and not perform for all of you this year, we are staying connected to one another and cannot wait for times ahead when we can share our songs with you again.  You can see us being our silly selves in the above picture of one of our virtual Zoom rehearsals, featuring some of our 16 new members’ beautiful faces! A Look Back at 2019 We were honored to collaborate with local powerhouse PaviElle in our 2019 finale Months of Moon, held last November at the Cedar Cultural Center.  We premiered two new pieces: Under The Bridge originally performed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Magic Man, originally performed by Heart.  Check out our performance here and don’t blame us if you can’t get this music out of your head! “Magic Man” – PaviElle and the Prarie Fire Lady Choir “Under The Bridge” – PaviElle and the Prairie Fire Lady Choir                  photo credit: SisuPhoto Making Meaningful Change in 2020 As a local arts nonprofit, we are very aware of and grateful for the impact art has on individuals, communities, and the world around us. Art can be an expression of pain, it can be a collective healing, and it can be a battle cry.  In the last few weeks it has felt like all three. In the face of current events, and in the shadow of centuries of unspeakable violence against our Black communities, it feels impossible to know what to say.  But this much is clear: Black lives matter, structural and individual racism is a plague in this nation and must be ended by the people who benefit from and perpetuate it, and immediate action must be taken to ensure justice.   These actions will take many unique forms, and our PFLC board is working on what that will look like for our choir.  Some first steps will be: Working with our Social Justice and Inclusion Committee to examine the ways in which white supremacy shows up in our organization Donating to Juxtaposition Arts, a North Minneapolis-based art and design center for young urban artists that has been making Minneapolis’ creative economy more equitable for the last 25 years Encouraging our fans to reroute any donations they might have given to our organization to Juxtaposition Arts instead To be successful, this work must be authentic, consistent, and continual.  We look forward to doing the work with you. Check out our website for the latest details on all our activities or keep track of our doings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We miss you and hope you are well! XOXO Prairie Fire Lady Choir

Prairie Fire Lady Choir is excited to announce that we will be holding auditions for the 2020 season in February. To learn more about the audition process, how to register, and what it’s like to sing with us, please visit our Audition information page.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the many “seasons” of our gigs this year. Whether singing outdoors at a frosty 331 Club for Art-a-Whirl this spring, sweating it out at the Aquatennial Lock and Dam or Como Lake Pavilion this summer, or staying warm at an unseasonably cool late-August night at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, we’ve been bringing our trademark heat!

As we close out our 2019 season, we wanted to share with you the exciting details of our upcoming finale collaboration with local powerhouse PaviElle. Mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss it!

SEASON FINALE
Months of Moon
Prairie Fire Lady Choir Season Finale with Special Guest PaviElle
Friday, November 1, 2019
Doors: 7:00pm / Show: 8:00pm
Cedar Cultural Center
TICKETS / all ages

We are thrilled to return to the Cedar Cultural Center for our finale, Months of Moon, featuring special guest PaviElle! We’re inspired by her multidimensional talent, genuine enthusiasm, dedication to music and the deeper purpose that drives her. We are excited to premiere two new collaborative pieces at the finale, and are grateful for the opportunity to make music together.

TICKET GIVEAWAY
We have one highly sought-after pair of tickets available for two lucky fans! Send an email to hello@prairiefireladychoir.org by Sunday October 27, 2019 at midnight sharing your favorite Prairie Fire Lady Choir moment and you’ll be entered to win! The winner will be notified via email once the contest has ended. We look forward to hearing your memories!

Klair Hans
Tenor I

How long have you been in the choir?
This is my first season!

What’s your favorite PFLC song?
Run to the Window- it’s so much fun to sing (and to yell “SHIT”).

What’s your favorite thing about being in this choir?
The snacks.  And making beautiful music with powerful ladies.

What do you like to do outside of choir?
Make art-stuff, play guitar, garden, bike, play kickball, and pretend I live in the IKEA display rooms.

Who are your favorite local bands/musicians?
Aby Wolf (DUH), Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, Hippocampus, the Cactus Blossoms, and Lizzo (we still get to claim her, right?)

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Africa by Toto

Describe yourself in three words
happy go lucky

If there was a movie about your life, who would play you?
Jean-Claud Van Damme and Zooey Deschanel’s love child

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Retired

Photo courtesy of Anna Grinets