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When you think of Texas, do you imagine cowboys and country music?
That’s just part of the picture, said singer J.C. Fisher.
“There’s a huge demographic of classical music listeners there.”
As well as people who love gospel music. And Broadway tunes.
So it makes sense that The Texas Tenors, a trio that includes Fisher and his friends Marcus Collins and John Hagen, have a repertoire of songs designed to please people who appreciate all those genres. They’ll bring a sampling of each to the F.M. Kirby Center on April 10 and the Theater at Lackawanna College on April 11, when they sing with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.
“We sang with them back in 2010; it was one of our first 20 concerts,” Fisher said. “Now 700 concerts later, we’ll bring back that same mixture of genres.”
Predicting audiences will love the “beautiful Broadway” offerings as well as “beautiful orchestration of an old hymn,” Fisher said most audience members should recognize much of what they hear. As for an aria that Hagen sings, even if they don’t know the name of it, Fisher said, fans will remember the melody as one Luciano Pavoratti made famous.
The Texas Tenors have been singing together since a 2009 appearance on “America’s Got Talent” and their resumes include extensive acting experience for Collins as well as operatic experience for Hagen and Fisher. For another similarity, Collins and Fisher have sung on cruise ships too.
Did they ever encounter stormy seas?
Remembering “massive, 45-foot swells” during a sea trial in which no passengers were on board but only the crew, Fisher said, “I’m glad to have land gigs now.”
The tenors will bring along a band of musicians to play with the Philharmonic, among them instrumentalists who played with the band Alabama, with Andy Williams and with The Righteous Brothers.