The Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College closed out its 2025-2026 season with its eighth annual “Tulsa Sings!” production, which gives local vocalists the opportunity to perform with the orchestra.
The program was described as a “celebration of American music” in honor of the country’s semiquincentennial, with the focus mostly on the years between the very late 1960s and the early 2000s.
This year’s event, held Saturday at the VanTrease PACE on the TCC Southeast Campus, featured eight performers ranging in age from relative youngsters to senior citizens.
Two prizes were awarded, each of which included a future performance with the Signature Symphony. The Judges Award was selected by a trio of music professionals, while members of the audience could vote for the Audience Favorite.
Natalie Grace Taylor, who has previously performed with Tulsa Opera and American Theatre Company, won the Judges Award for her performance of “Good Morning, Baltimore,” the opening number to the musical “Hairspray.” Her performance was full of confidence, and she judiciously handled the theatricality of the song.
Credit: Courtesy Signature Symphony
The audience voted for 14-year-old Nick Scharf as its official favorite for his surprisingly accurate rendition of Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” which he augmented with a short solo on alto sax.
Tulsa Flyer education reporter Anna Colletto traded her reporter’s notebook for a cordless microphone and a fine performance of Carole King’s “So Far Away.” P.J. Cooke, the competition’s most seasoned contestant, did not let a broken hip keep her from singing the Bacharach-David classic “Close to You.”
Another teenager, Abby Letney, gave a powerhouse performance of “How Far I’ll Go” from the animated film “Moana,” and Misty Dawn Hudgens channeled Patsy Cline for her rendition of the classic “Crazy.”
Less successful was James Taber’s respectful, if somewhat lethargic take on Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide,” and Connor Blakely, whose attempt at Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” was merely a demonstration of how many different sounds he could produce.
Due to circumstances often beyond my control, this was the first Signature Symphony concert I have been able to attend this season. While the orchestra’s role for this concert was primarily that of accompaniment, when it was given the chance to step out under the guidance of artistic director Scott Seaton — as in the evening’s opening number “It’s Showtime” and in a suite from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “State Fair” — it was quite impressive, with a bright, tightly focused sound and a palpable sense of energy.
New York cabaret artist Scott Coulter returned to serve as coach and mentor for the contestants as well as the evening’s emcee.
The contestants were chosen via short video auditions and spent much of the week prior to the concert perfecting the songs they would perform, first with Coulter, Seaton and principal pianist Rob Muraoka, then with the full orchestra.
The evening also featured two performances by the 2019 “Tulsa Sings!” winner, Sam Briggs — the solo “Out There” from the animated film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and a duet with Ana Berry on “Somewhere Out There.” Coulter added a solo of his own, with a Bobby Darin-influenced “Mack the Knife,” and the eight finalists collaborated on “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” to open and close the concert’s second half.
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