Sisters in Song Take the Stage at First Parish

Last summer, Chris Faulkner approached her older sister about a joint musical performance. Julie Fay, a mother of three, was happy with her role as a music teacher, and quickly dismissed the proposal. A year later, Faulkner tried again and her sister obliged.

Saturday night, August 14 at 7:30 p.m., the two sisters will perform in the aptly titled, Sisters in Song, a free concert of show tunes at First Parish in Milton. The show in Milton, where Fay has lived since 2000, will be the first joint performance ever for the Rochester, N.Y.-born siblings, barring childhood recitals.

Faulkner, who now lives in Hyde Park, and Fay have solid backgrounds in performing with matching graduate and undergraduate degrees in music. 

"I haven't thought of myself as a performer for a very long time," said Fay, whose last solo performance was in 2006 with the Quincy Chorale Society. She does cantor each Sunday at a few area churches, but hasn't performed on stage recently.

The biggest reason Fay said yes to her sister's request this year was timing. "My kids are a year older," said Fay, who has a 9-year-old, a 6-year-old and her youngest son who is almost 5. "There is a big difference between five and six and four and five."

Coming from a musical family with a mother who played the church organ and taught music lessons, it was no wonder both women took up music in college. Fay majored in music education at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam after high school.

With similar interests, Faulkner followed six years later, deciding to focus on voice rather than cello, which she had become skilled at.

"At 17 years old, I decided I didn't want to carry a cello around for the rest of my life," said Faulkner.

Fay eventually went to graduate school at the New England Conservatory and was followed by Faulkner.

After earning her graduate degree, Fay hit the audition circuit in the mid-to-late 1990s, sticking with classic and opera music.  Fay said the contemporary show tunes of Saturday's show are quite a departure from what she's used to performing.

The show will be less of a stretch for Faulkner who writes her own music and performs contemporary and jazz regularly. She was also trained classically, but said she was burned out on opera in her early-20s. Between year one and two of grad school, Faulkner enrolled in a 10-week summer program at John Moriarty's Central City Opera in Denver.

Faulkner was so burned out on performing she considered dropping out of school. It was her calming older sister that gently reminded her that their parents would kill her, and encouraged her to finish what she started.

Faulkner graduated and still performs contemporary and jazz once or twice a year with the group Pandora's Vox, which she is one of two original members.

On Saturday, Faulkner and Fay will perform an easy listening show from American composers.  Pianist Timothy Steele will accompany them for solo tunes as well as a set of duets.

The show, which will run close to an hour and a half with intermission, will be a relaxed evening for individuals and families alike.

"For me, it will be exciting to go back stage and have my sister there, who is my best friend," Faulkner said.