One of Iowa’s favorite performers, Simon Estes, will be back in the state Friday night with other All-State Music greats to perform in the 50th Anniversary All-State Recital.

The recital will highlight professional performers who were once Iowa high school student participants of the prestigious All-State Music Festival as choir, band or orchestra members.

Six of All-State’s greatest alumni will take the C.Y. Stephen’s stage Friday at 8 p.m. for the anniversary recital.

Simon Estes, the world-renowned bass/baritone from Centerville, will perform Banco’s “Aria” from “Macbeth,” and probably “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music,” said Guy Blair, executive director of the Iowa Music Educator Association.

All-State memories

When soprano Sheri Greenawald, from Monticello, performed at the All-State festival as a high school freshman in 1961, she was overwhelmed by the size of Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines.

“I can barely remember the whole event, but I remember the auditorium seemed so big. When we sang it was the biggest sound I had ever heard,” Greenawald said.

The musician graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1968 and went directly to New York City to pursue a job in music.

After performing at opera houses around the world, Greenawald is now used to the “big sound” she first heard at All-State.

The soprano has performed with the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the Santa Fe Opera and the St. Louis Opera to name a few.

“My music has taken me all over the world. That’s one of the great things about my job,” she said.

Currently living in Charleston, S.C., Greenawald is looking forward to visiting her family who lives in Iowa.

For the recital, Greenawald has chosen to sing some of the same music she sang as an All-State musician.

“I want people to see that music that is sung as a youthful person can also be sung by an older person. Music can evolve,” she said.

Music is a family affair

Another performer, who played the harp around Iowa as part of the Preucil Family Players from the time she was 10 until she graduated in 1980 from City High in Iowa City, will showcase her talent at the recital.

Anne Preucil Lewellen, who currently is the principal harpist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, played viola in the orchestra of the All-State Music Festival from 1977 to 1979.

For Lewellen, music has always been a family affair. All four siblings, as well as Lewellen’s parents are professional musicians.

In fact, her mother and fatherÿwill accompany Lewellen at the recital.

“We were kind of like the Partridge family of classical music,” Lewellen said.

The harpist said she feels honored at being invited to perform at the recital and looks forward to sharing her music with future professional musicians.

“It’s exciting to see people do go on and make music a profession. A lot of kids who go on came from the music programs of Iowa,” Lewellen said.

Other performers are Master Sergeant Dennis Edelbrock, a trumpet player with the Army Brass Quintet; Larry Prescott, a trumpet and piccolo player who graduated from Iowa State University in 1988; and Cellist Janina Ehrlich from Des Moines.

Tickets cost $15 and are available through Ticketmaster or at the Iowa State Center Ticket Office. Call 233-1888 to charge by phone.