There’s nothing like the powerful sound of voices joining together in song, and you can experience that when The Franklin County Community Chorus celebrates its 10th anniversary with a concert on Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. at the Greenfield High School auditorium. This concert will feature a special guest: Greenfield High School alum and Broadway veteran Kevin Duda, who will perform solo and with the chorus.

Paul Calcari, who founded the community chorus in 2013 and continues to serve as its director today, was the music department director at Greenfield High School for 27 years before retiring. He is thrilled to welcome his former student back to help honor this special anniversary.

When Duda, who graduated in 1995, was a student at GHS, he never thought he’d work in the entertainment field, but he has successfully done just that.

“To be honest, I didn’t t know it was a job, mostly because my interaction with theater was all volunteer,” he said calling from Nova Scotia, where he is producing a film for the Hallmark Channel.

“My experience was all based in community theater, singing at church, and at weddings,” said Duda. “I knew I loved doing it; I didn’t know that you could go to school and get a degree in something performance-based.”

In Calcari’s band room, Duda saw a notice for the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut advertising a major in musical theater. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he recalled.

Since graduating from Hartt, Duda has enjoyed a successful career as an actor and producer. He made his Broadway debut in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” with Laura Linney and later became an original cast member in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” and “The Book of Mormon.” He eventually walked away from acting to focus on producing.

“I did back-to-back Broadway shows for a long time, and it was after the 2,000th performance of “Beautiful” that I thought ‘I don’t have to do this anymore,’” he said. “I had a perfect run and love what I’m doing now.”

Duda has his own production company, Kevin Duda Productions, and regularly produces movies for the Hallmark Channel. He’s also developed entertainment for Regent and Norwegian cruise lines and served as a co-producer for the Broadway production “Shucked” this past season, which was nominated for nine Tony awards.

Calcari recalls that Duda was one of the most talented students he had the pleasure of teaching, noting that Duda was chosen as drum major for the marching band for three years which is unheard of. He also was well-liked, encouraged others, and got everyone involved.

“He was that kid who would have an idea for a concert, then I would come in the next day and he’d say, ‘Oh, I spent four hours getting this done.’ He did everything, making sets and costumes, from soup to nuts,” said Calcari in a press release for the show. “He was phenomenal.”

Duda has an equal amount of praise for his former teacher.

“It was nice to have someone say ‘you want to do something, do it,’” he said. “In schools everything is so assigned which I’m not saying is good or bad but when you got to him he’d say ‘so you want to fly a bike in the air during our concert and dress a mannequin like ET, yeah go for it.’ He had that sky’s the limit mentality.”

The busy producer, who resides in New York, continues to find time to come home to Greenfield every few months to visit his family. He has stayed in touch with Calcari over the years which is how he got involved with this show.

“When Mr. Calcari calls and asks you to come sing at the the 10th anniversary concert you can only say yes,” he said with a laugh. “I told him the only thing I can’t do is turn down Hallmark if they put me on a movie and this was like six months ago.”

Of course Hallmark called and needed him to film a Christmas movie that will air this year and Duda had to work in Nova Scotia from April 25th to May 3rd. “I won’t make it back for one single rehearsal so I’ll just walk on stage and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

The last time Duda sang in Greenfield was for a concert celebrating Calcari’s retirement from GHS in 2013, which included past students.

Duda will perform solo a few songs he selected and then join the 60-member chorus. In addition to the songs they will sing with Duda, the chorus will perform a set that includes a wide range of styles; folk, pop/rock, Broadway and classical. Expect to hear everything from Mozart to Carly Simon at this show.

Interestingly, despite his involvement in the music department at GHS, Duda never sang with the chorus during his days as a student.

“I never registered in chorus during high school because my guidance counselor thought I needed a fifth year of French, which I haven’t used as much,” he joked.

This will be his chance to make up for that time as he’ll be singing with a full chorus that consists of singers of all ages and backgrounds, including some who are also former GHS music students. Is looking forward to being home and participating in this event.

Tickets will be available at the door and are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children under 12.

The chorus is open to all. If you are interested in joining, visit https://franklincountycommunitychorus.weebly.com.

Unnameable Books in Turners Falls will host a free concert on Saturday, May 4, at 7 p.m. Performing will be singer-songwriter Mare Berger of Greenfield, whose latest album, “Dreaming Blue,” is a showcase for her gorgeous vocals and strong songwriting.

Ramon & Jessica, also known as Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Dina Maccabee and local composer Jesse Olsen Bay, will also perform. For many years the pair were mainstays of the San Francisco music scene, and they describe their sounds as one that “incorporates sweet vocal harmonies, violin, guitar, ukulele, and toy instruments into a charming, offbeat tapestry of songs and sounds.”

Unnameable Books is located at 66 Avenue A.

Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at Soundslocal@yahoo.com.