Ponca Concert Association members were royally entertained in their last concert of the series this year when the Empiri 3 Trio presented Hooray for Hollywood. The trio has had rave reviews from audiences and critics since they began performing first as O Sole Trio in 2012. Now known as Empir 3, their unique and moving shows have become favorites and Ponca City was indeed lucky to have them appear here at the Poncan Theater.

Comprised of the three mesmerizing voices soprano Erin Shields, baritone Adam Cannedy and vocalist/pianist/ violinist David Shenton, they captivated our audience with toe tapping melodies including a huge variety of songs that have been in movies through the years.

They mentioned both at the beginning and end of the concert what a privilege it was to be performing in such a beautiful theater and also were complimentary to the audience who was with them every step of the way, enjoying their chatty introductions to the selections as well as their wonderful variety of old favorites.

After “Hooray for Hollywood” they broke into a “Singing In the Rain” medley which brought back lots of memories of the Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds movie. Next a Jimmy Stewart movie, “Shenandoah” with the folk song “Oh Shenandoah”. This was followed by questions about “Casablanca” which had the eternal favorite, “As Time Goes By” all of which were beautifully presented.

A fun part of the program was a tribute to Disney featuring “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “Beauty and the Beast” which was followed by the very somber theme from “Schindler’s List”. On a truly romantic note next came “Can’t Help Fallin’ In Love With You” which was from Elvis Presley’s movie “Blue Hawaii”.

All three musicians in the trio were certainly more than talented, but the versatility of the pianist, David Shenton truly amazed all of us when he not only played the violin expertly, but played it while playing the piano. He also amazed the audience when he asked for requests in any musical style they chose while he played each to the tune “All of Me”. From this , he made a list of thirteen styles from Brahams to Scott Joplin and even managed to fit in way out requests as Jerry Lee Lewis. Being able to do this showed he was a true virtuoso and a most creative talent.

One interesting surprise during the concert was when the vocalist Erin Shields left center stage in the middle of a solo and slipped over to the piano and actually scooted David off the stool as she took over in the middle of the selection he was playing and never missed a beat. It was then announced that the two were husband and wife and very used to filling in for each other in this clever way.

Many other great selections were included in the nearly two hour program which are too numerous to all mention, but a real audience favorite was from Titanic”, “My Heart Will Go On”, At the very end after a standing “O”, the encore piece was another all time favorite of probably most attending, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel”.

I can’t think of a better way to end the 2022-2023 Ponca City Concert Series than with this crowd pleasing trio. Everyone I talked to afterwards said it was one of their favorite concerts and I didn’t find even one complaint or criticism. One interesting fact shared by the artists when complimenting us on the Poncan Theater, was that all the songs included in the evenings’ program were written after the Poncan was built around 1926, but they all seemed timely regardless of their age. We were just very fortunate to have the privilege of having these world class performing artists share their talents with us.