YOUNG@HEART CHORUS: Mostly Live

Young@Heart Chorus

Mostly Live

© 2007 Young@Heart Chorus

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The latest CD from the group featured in the film "Young@Heart" released by Fox Searchlight in April 2008. Old folks give new meaning to rock and roll.

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The floors will thud. The walls will shake. The innards of that old piano will take a licking they'll never forget. The Young@Heart Chorus is warming up.
Belinda McKeon - Irish Times, September 28, 2007

When the audience empties out of the theater at the end of Young@Heart's Dartmouth concert, they are a wide-eyed, flabbergasted mob. Few knew what to expect, and those who thought they knew are shocked.
Jake Coyle, AP, 2007

Mostly Live plays out as a poignant celebration of life from the vantage of those who continue to live it to the fullest...the Young@Heart chorus gives unique expression to the songs we thought a later generation owned.
Ariana Venturi, Bomb Magazine, 2007

It sounds like a gimmick, and a cheap one at that, but the "Fix You" clip was extraordinary, not least because of the grave, graceful lead vocal performance by chorus member Fred Knittle, who has a heart condition and sang with a breathing tube attached to his nose. Young @ Heart's "Fix You" is touching and dignified. Most importantly, it's a fine piece of music.
Jody Rosen, Slate Magazine, 2007

Les 22 choristes américains de Young@Heart - 79 ans en moyenne - sont en tournée en France, reprenant des tubes avec une énergie puisant dans la noirceur et la dérision.
René Solis, Liberation, 2007

An amazing choir from Northampton, Massachusetts. I recently brought them to New York for my "How New Yorkers Ride Bikes" event at Town Hall. (they sang Queen's "Bicycle Race" of course). The next day at the Paris Bar they did their own show of songs by the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and others - all of which seemed to take on completely new meaning.
David Byrne, Music: Best of 2007, Artforum


Young @ Heart began in 1982 and one year later staged our first production, “Stompin’ at the Salvo”, with Roy Faudree from No Theater. In 1984 we began collaborating with other arts organizations. That year we created “Boola Boola Bimini Bop” with a group of Latino break-dancers from a local housing project. Other projects included "Oh No a Condo" in 1988, with Cambodian folk artists and punk rockers and in 1991 “Louis Lou I – A Revolting Musical” reunited us with Roy and No Theater for a re-telling of the French Revolution using the songs of Sinatra. In 1994 we created "Flaming Saddles", a big campy production with the Pioneer Valley Gay Men’s Chorus. There were many others along the way.

In 1997 Young @ Heart in “Road to Heaven” staged by No Theater premiered at the R Festival in Rotterdam. We went on to 12 more tours of Europe, Australia and Canada from 1997-2004. Young @ Heart in “Road to Nowhere” staged by No Theater premiered fall 2004 in the Oude Luxor Theater in Rotterdam presented by the Rotterdamse Schouwburg. After a 12-show run in London in 2005, “Road to Nowhere” toured to Zurich, Berlin, the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2007, LE QUAI THEATRE IN Angers and THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF Strasbourg, France.

“Alive and Well”, the Y @ H in concert, features songs from past productions and also allows us to experiment with new music in front of a live audience. We’ve performed “Alive and Well” on college campuses and clubs in the US and at the Glor-Irish Music Centre in Ennis, Ireland. Young @ Heart recently released a CD, “Mostly Live”. The documentary, “Young @ Heart”, aired on television across Europe, won two Rose d’Or awards, the LA Film Festival Audience Award, screened at Sundance 2008 and it is APRIL 2008 Fox Searchlight release in North American theaters.

The current performers in Young @ Heart range in age from 71 to 88. There are some with prior professional theater or music experience, others who have performed extensively on the amateur level, and some who never stepped onto a stage before turning eighty. None of the current performers of Y@H were part of the original group that formed in 1982, but they have kept alive the spirit of the early pioneers and continue to push the group into glorious new directions.



The unusual thing about the "Young" musical group is that they do not perform standards made famous by Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole but rather contemporary rock music by such groups as Coldplay, the Clash and Sonic Youth. It was the brainstorm of the chorus' director, Bob Cilman, to undercut expectations by training his group to perform today's music rather than yesterday's classics.
Stephen Farber, Reuters, 2007


Young @ Heart," which chronicles the trials, tribulations and joys of a remarkable chorus of senior citizens who perform covers of songs by the likes of Sonic Youth, James Brown, the Clash and Coldplay. A crowd-pleaser in the best sense, this alternately hilarious and heartbreaking movie will send you out of the theater with a new lease on life.
David Ansen, Newsweek, 2008

You soon find yourself utterly involved in the lives of these men and women as they try to pin down new songs such as James Brown’s “I Feel Good” and Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia.” But it’s not all laughs. The shadow of illness and loss soon falls upon the group and as they gamely soldier on with rehearsals and performances, it becomes abundantly clear that the singing is not just about getting out of the old folks’ home but a way of preserving a sense of purpose and dignity as old age chips away at so much else.
Emily Poenisch

reviews

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  • Mostly Live
    author: Pamela Burnett

    An awesome CD with some amazing songs. Can't recommend listening to Fix You enough. I think it's way better than the Coldplay version! If you get a chance absolutely see the movie!

  • young@heart
    author: wwdillon

    Great cd - one of a kind - please hurry with another. A classic!!!

  • Mostly Live
    author: Vicki

    Great music, wonderful singing where you can actually understand the words. See the movie. It's life transforming!

  • Mostly Live
    author: Vicki Burke

    Mostly Alive is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing, uplifting and inspirational CDs I have ever heard. What a glorious reminder that "Forever Young" truly is a state of mind & life choice! The songs took on a completely different meaning when sung by these remarkable Seniors!! They inspire you to live life to its fullest. I came out of the movie feeling my outlook on life was transformed. I just saw the movie Young @ Heart with friends and we laughed out loud so often and then cried at those tender, but heartbreaking moments. I had to order the CD today!!

  • When I'm 64 ...
    author: Brian Devereaux

    ... I'll still be too young for this group. I want to rock like that when I'm 73 to 93!! They've given me hope in growing old in that, when I'm 73, I can audition for their band. Its like you 'hear' their age, but they aren't singing 'Bicycle Built for 2'. Instead, they rock and do ballads in a fine manner. If you're over 40, buy it for hope; if you're under 40, buy it for your parents/grandparents and tell them you aren't the only one listening to that stuff you listen to. These people are for REAL! Put it on when you feel sorry for yourself.

  • Mostly Live
    author: Johna

    A totally different twist on a younger generation's music! They may be senior citizens, but they can still sing, and imbue new meaning and emotion into these classics.

  • Mostly Live
    author: Diane

    Having seen the documentary on the group I rushed out the next day to buy the CD and it is just as great as the movie was. I wish I could rate it higher it's a great buy.

  • mostly live
    author: matt

    it made me laugh, it made me cry, it became a part of me...

  • Mostly Live
    author: Eeege

    Great album. Just hearing the voices adds so much more meaning to the songs they sing.

  • Wonderful
    author: francine vidockler

    Well, the CD can't do for me what the film did, but it is close. Other people have mentioned the relevance and grace, and I can only affirm that it is both life sustaining & good music. Thanks!

  • Mostly Live
    author: usabrit3

    I loved it. I bought one as a gift for my sister too. It's so much fun! I tell everyone about it.

  • MOSTLY LIVE
    author: Donald Wilson

    What a unbelievable album. Shows how much amateur talent there is and for them to do it at their ages.Better than many of the bands of today

  • mostly live
    author: susan

    Wonderful! It was great listening to the music I grew up with and knowing it was a "cool" senior singing it! I work at an assisted living and I think I appreciated the album more than the residents. I'm sure it's because I know the songs.

  • mostly live
    author: linnea Duff

    Loved it loved it loved it. These songs take on new relevance when song by the young@heart chorus.

  • Mostly Live
    author: Lisa Boyer

    I LOVE THIS ALBUM! It give me hope for the future and I see there is always so much to live for!

  • Mostly Live
    author: Timi Gleason, San Diego, 2008

    I bought this CD after my 19 year old daughter saw this group in person! I am impressed with the selection of the songs and the quality of the sound. There's a lot of irony in the album...some of these songs take on new meaning when you consider that (first) you can understand the words, and (second) that an older person is saying them. You'll see what I mean. I am eager to see their film now. This makes a fun CD for someone celebrating an "older" birthday. My daughter's dad just turned 60, so guess what he got! It makes me smile to think of these artists being so flexible about their music and then performing it all over the world. It's difficult not to feel uplifted by the humor and joy of their teamwork!

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