A Grammy Award winning high school choir, two middle school choirs, and Cantus Youth Choirs put on a sold-out concert in Salem, Oregon with Oregon resident, musician and mother of four with terminal brain cancer: Courtney Atack.
Atack is a talented singer and musician versed in may different styles: classical, opera, jazz, broadway, and folk. Her beautiful contralto voice has a unique and matchless appeal.
In 2010, Atack was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer. After surgery and recovery, she has continued to sing and perform music as part of her therapeutic treatment and coping mechanism. It is from this place that her most recent music emerges.
Joining her was the Straub Middle School choir (directed by Ryan Amend), Whiteaker Middle School (directed by Andy Thomas), McNary High School (directed by Jim Taylor), and Cantus Youth Choirs (directed by Erika McCauley, Keith McCauley, Melody Paskett, and Michelle Pedersen). The concert was held at Salem Alliance Church on Friday, February 28, 2014.
The Songs of Hope concert was a true collaboration of love. Courtney, Courtney’s husband Jason and Erika are dear friends from college. Erika, Melody, and Michelle are all natives of Oregon. Erika and Michelle taught choir in the Salem-Keizer school district with Jim Taylor and Andy Thomas. Ryan Amend married Erika’s childhood friend Amy Larsen. Those strong connections sparked an emotional, powerful, and inspirational performance from all involved.
And it showed! People laughed, they cried, they were moved and inspired. From tickets sales, pass-the-plate contributions, online donations from Courtney’s college friends, cash donations following the concert, and donations from her church congregation, and choir colleagues, Cantus was able to present Courtney and Jason Atack with $5,000.
The concert featured 21 selections, with Courtney performing an original folk composition. Several of Courtney’s favorite pieces from when she sang with Erika at college were performed, and the final selection was a commissioned arrangement of Martina McBride’s powerfully inspirational pop ballad, Anyway.
You can spend your whole life buildin’
Somethin’ from nothin’
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway
You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway
[chorus:]
God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
When I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway
This world’s gone crazy and it’s hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway
You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
love ’em anyway
[chorus]
You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah, sing it anyway
I sing, I dream, I love
Anyway
yeah
“I just knew this was the song for Courtney,” said Erika McCauley.