Nights of Music Community Concert will be at 6 p.m. Friday at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Alpena. This concert will feature opera arias, art songs, musicals and spirituals. Admission is by freewill donation.

Nights of Music Cabaret Evening will be at 8 p.m. Saturday at Art in the Loft. The cost per adult is $20 in advance or $22 at the door, which includes hors d’oeuvres and wine.

Proceeds from these concerts will help fund summer programs at the American Institute of Musical Studies, in which young professional musicians receive intensive instruction including privates lessons, master classes, and coaching from some of the best teachers and conductors in the field.

Borke is an Alpena native who used to perform at Alpena High School and Thunder Bay Theater.

Courtesy Photo Alpena native and Western Michigan University music education student Caitlin Borke will perform in a community concert Friday and a cabaret Saturday, to raise funds for the American Institute of Musical Studies.

Borke noted that the history of music is quite interesting, using this question as an example:

“Did you know Mozart wrote a piece with a lot of melodic jumps for a woman he didn’t like because he said it made her look like a chicken?”

Borke is finishing her fourth year studying music education and German education at Western Michigan University.

She will be performing with Macy, a WMU graduate student in vocal performance, and Laukmane, a collaborative pianist at WMU.

“The main inspiration to perform with my colleagues in Alpena came from my memories of attending concerts as a kid and learning something new at each one,” Borke said. “I hope to also offer new experiences by reminding or introducing audience members to the wonderful history and life that’s portrayed through the music.

“The cabaret program, for example, will consist of songs from the original cabaret, which started in 1920’s Berlin,” she continued. “One of the most loved composers of this time, Kurt Weil, had a musical style that also functioned as clever social critique. We will also sing songs from 1940’s Germany, where cabaret was merely a pleasant distraction from the war.”

The program will also feature songs from Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, Michael Buble, and more.

“Through the community concert, I hope to expose the audience to some songs they might know and many they don’t,” Borke said. “From ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘The Sound of Music’ to Mozart’s more mischievous compositions and French Grand Opera.”

For advance tickets, call Borke at 989-884-1170 or email her at c.g.borke@gmail.com.

Nights of Music is sponsored by Cliff Anschuetz Chevrolet.