Totally ’80s: A Preview of Masterworks Choral Ensemble’s ‘80’s Dance Party’ Concert
Originally published May 28, 2026
An 80’s Dance Party concert? Sounds like a blast, sign me up!
Masterworks Choral Ensemble will be performing their “80’s Dance Party” concert on June 13th at 7:30pm at the Washington Center!
Hurry and get your tickets before they sell out!
Any conversation about 80’s music is bound to be fun, and so naturally I enjoyed chatting with Masterworks Choral Ensemble’s Artistic Director and Conductor Ben Luedcke about this upcoming concert. Luedcke is always such a pleasure to interview because he is such a good conversationalist and has a poetic way of phrasing things!
When I write articles about our conversations in my regular publications, I typically have to give haircuts to what I want to mention due to a limited word count, and it always makes me a little sad.
When I discovered I could not fit this article into my regular JOLT line up, I was actually excited because it meant I could have even more freedom to write the article our conversation and this concert deserve — without word count limits.
I invite you to play your favorite 80’s playlist as you enjoy reading our “Totally 80’s” conversation and preview of Masterworks Choral Ensemble’s “80’s Dance Party” concert.
Conversation & Preview
Benton: “80s Dance Party,” come on! That’s the best theme! Can you tell me about what inspired it?
Luedcke: So this is my 3rd season as Masterworks Artistic Director and we're keeping with the tradition of doing a “Pops” concert every June. I think one of the things that makes Masterworks unique in comparison to the other choirs in Olympia is that they only tend to do either more contemporary choral music or more classical music from the canon. To my knowledge, they don't do stuff like Michael Jackson and Madonna, and we do! Masterworks does the full gamut of music from in terms of our concert themes.
Benton: Sometimes I've noticed within the music community that there can sometimes be a certain sense of snobbery surrounding music selection. That's why I love what you guys are doing because you embracing all crowds! Some of your audiences are more “classical music crowds,” but others are Pop people who just want to have fun! I love that you can do both!
Luedcke: Yes, exactly!
Our last concert in April had a full orchestra, and we presented works by Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams from well over a 100 years ago — straight out of the choral canon. The choir did a great job singing these alongside the full orchestra! And now for a completely different project, we're singing all popular music from the 80s, keeping with the June Pops concert tradition. This concert will feature piano, a brass trio, drums, upright bass, and saxophone with lots of great arrangements of many favorite 80’s hits!
I'm starting a little bit of a pattern, jumping around in the decades! So every other year, the June concert is going to be themed around a specific decade, but every other alternating with something a little bit nuanced. In my 1st season, we did 50s and 60s. Last year was the “Women Rock” concert with all female songwriters. Now, I'm going back to specific decades starting with this 80’s concert. The 2028 concert probably be 70s and then there a 90’s concert at some point!
Benton: When you guys do a 70s concert, will you pretty please do The Jacksons “Blame it on the Boogie?”
Luedcke: I will write that one down!
Benton: Last personal question in this concert, are you guys going to be doing any music by Prince or Michael Jackson?
Luedcke: We are doing “Thriller” and have plans to do other Michael Jackson songs, as well as Prince, in the future. Stay tuned and plan to attend this concert to here next season’s lineup!
[…]
Benton: What are some surprises that have come up along the way in preparing this concert?
Luedcke: I will tell you, I have been a little surprised putting this concert together. I grew up in the 80s, was born in 1983, and my parents listen to the radio all the time. I don't spend a ton of time just listening to 80s playlists or anything like that and maybe I should more! It was kind of surprising to me as I was doing the research for this concert as I found myself saying, “oh yeah, that's such a great song” often!
I have heard people, especially baby boomers, give the 80s a lot of flack as not producing a lot of great music. You know, baby boomers love to talk about the 60s and the 70s, and then to them the 80s is when a lot of music just like “fell off.” I maybe had some sympathy for some of those opinions when I was younger, like back in my 20s. Now having done the research for this concert, I realized how many great songs there are from the 80s and I've kind of changed my opinion!
One challenge as a director of a music ensemble is that I can't just “dream up” any combination of songs…unless I'm willing to arrange them myself. There's also not always arrangements of every single song. So, you're kind of limited by by what arrangements already exists and more importantly, what good arrangements exist. There are a million arrangements for Toto's “Africa” for instance, and we will be doing a good one this concert.
Overall, I did have a wide enough selection that I had to like cut it down some options. In fact, I arranged a handful of songs myself, including George Michael's “Faith.” It's such a great song with a super catchy and snappy rhythm section! The choir's enjoying that one for sure!
Benton: This concert is described as a dance party. Will there be moments where the audience will be able to stand at their seats and dance?
Luedcke: I'll say, there will be a few surprises, and will leave it at that for now.
Benton: I am intrigued! Thinking about this concert, why is now a good moment to bring back some 80s music?
Luedcke: There's a lot going on in the world as you and I have talked about in other interviews. I think especially for Gen X and millennials, a lot of us are no longer in our 20s. We're kind of middle life, 30s, 40s, 50s and with everything that's going on as we're working our jobs and raising kids, it's a great time for some nostalgia!
[…]
Benton: I think about some of the older generations represented in the choir, who may be are familiar with this music, but only heard it for the first time as an adult. I'm curious about how they have enjoyed the music and about what you have observed as their director?
Luedcke: I think some of our older folks in the choir have really enjoyed it and have been pleasantly surprised too! A lot of these are just really great “feel good” songs. We're doing “Walking on Sunshine,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Rhythm of the Night,” and they're all like just super fun, catchy songs with good rhythm sections, arrangements, and texts. I mean, it doesn't really get any more “feel good” than those! Anyone who is skeptical of an 80’s choir concert will at least be having fun with those 3, even if they think that a choir shouldn't be doing “Thriller.”
There will be fun and goofiness to this concert alongside some surprise songs featured in the medleys we will perform. Some of the songs we will sing could be considered “the pinnacle of songwriting,” but not always. Some of it is just fun stuff that I think the audience is going to love and have a good laugh with! Songs like “Mickey” and “Whip It” which are totally silly.
Benton: Now looking at the opposite end of the spectrum at the youngest generation in the choir, what has their experiences been like performing this music or potentially discovering this great music for the 1st time?
Luedcke: We do have several members in their 20’s. Talking with them, my overall impression of their experience has shown me how much of this music is popular enough that, even though they were not alive during the era or maybe had parents who did not play this music on the radio, lots of this music has still trickled in. Like it’s hard to be even 22 and not know what “Thriller” is if you are living in America.
Benton: Yes, I love it!
[…]
Benton: Was there anything else you wanted to share with me or my readers?
Luedcke: We have this tradition most concerts that has become especially fun for this one: Whenever audiences see small groups, trios, duets, or solos at one of our performances, I have opened it up for choir members to actually pick those songs within a framework and parameters I set out. Those groups get to choose their own repertoire, rehearse it, and then audition for each other. These auditions happen after rehearsal and a lot of people stay to cheer each other on. The choir is just so supportive of each other … it is such a cool part of our community! There will be 5 or 6 of these groups performing really cool, diverse arrangements this upcoming concert.
Come see the magic for yourselves! Hurry and get your tickets now before they sell out!