Philadelphia Corporation for Aging and KleinLife team up for senior choir festival
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- This was the first ever Golden Voices Festival: An Ode to Older Adults.
"It's a choir concert featuring six different choirs representing senior centers from throughout Philadelphia," says Jacqui Makowski, Senior Center Supervisor for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, or PCA.
KleinLife, one of 28 senior centers PCA helps fund, hosted the event.
Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
"We're always looking to engage our senior centers and bring them together as a network," says Makowski.
"It's a great idea to embrace talents that each center has, and showcase them," says Inna Gulko, Director of Senior Services at KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia.
Makowski says the older adults brought "a wide range of song selections to kick off the holidays."
There's KleinLife's Russian Choir, known as the Fargenign Choir.
"They sing in five different languages," says Gulko.
Lidiya Teplitsky has been singing as a member of that choir for 26 years.
"I am soprano," says Teplitsky. "It's second family."
She says singing helps her stay young at heart.
"When we singing you're not feeling age," she says.
The Northern Living Center Choir sang, along with the West Oak Lane Senior Center's Joyful Souls Choir, and the Southwest Senior Center Choir.
"We're presenting diverse kinds of music," says Carolyn Sims-Nesmith, Choir Director for the Southwest Senior Center.
One of their singing selections was an old spiritual called, "Fix Me."
"I really push them and try to make them become the best they can be," says Sims-Nesmith. "I'm so proud of them."
"She brings the key to my level where I can reach it, and she lets us know that we all are important," says Nancy Gamble, a chaplain and member of the Southwest Senior Center Choir. "We are family."
"You cannot beat socialization - it's so important," says Makowski.
The Philadelphia Senior Center's Avenue of the Arts Choir also performed, along with their Coffee Cup Choir, which did some Asian selections.
"They're representing the personalities of their senior centers," says Makowski. "That's what makes it so special to the various neighborhoods."
"At the age of 65 and over, life doesn't stop," says Gulko.
"Our older adults are full of talent and treasure and have so much to offer," says Makowski.
For more information:
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
KleinLife Russian/Fargenign Choir
Philadelphia Senior Center - Avenue of the Arts Choir
Philadelphia Senior Center - Coffee Cup Choir
