By and for the Great Lakes: In the years since its 1978 founding, the not-for-profit arts booking agency Great Lakes Performing Artists Associates has worked hard representing musicians living in Great Lakes states, arranging gigs and concerts and school visits for them in their home region.

And because Ann Arbor is home base for the organization, Tree Town reaps a special benefit: a GLPAA concert series at Kerrytown Concert House.

This year’s series gets under way at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon (Oct. 4) with a concert by two exceptional singers, Audrey Luna, a soprano on the GLPAA roster, and her partner in crime, soprano Laura Hynes Smith, who has built a considerable career in France.
With the motto “Two sopranos are better than one,” the pair bill themselves and their duo as “Detour de Force,” and they offer a program of duets and alternating solos — standards, art songs and arias — that give them a workout and the audience a good time.

Detour de Force performs Purcell's "No, Resistance Is But Vain" (MP3).

The remaining concerts in the series are:

• Duo Diorama (violin and piano), Nov. 20, 8 p.m.

Duo Diorama performs Mozart's "Allegro Con Spirito Sonata In G Major" (MP3). • Peter Soave and Duilio Dobrin (bandoneon/accordion and piano), Jan. 14, 8 p.m.

• Otis Murphy (classical saxophone), May 8, 8 p.m. Otis Murphy performs "Fantasy" from Bizet's "Carmen" (MP3).

Terry Farmer, the GLPAA executive director, said in a phone call that GLPAA is arranging for students from the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts to appear as “opening acts” at the three concerts above. And prior to their concert, Luna and Smith will do a "Great Lakes Caravan" visit to Slauson Middle School, visiting students in the choral music program.

For tickets to Detour de Force, which range from $5 (students) to $10-$25 depending on location, call KCH at 734-769-2999. For more information on Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates and its roster of artists and other activities, visit the GLPAA web site.

Susan Isaacs Nisbett is a free-lance writer who covers classical music and dance for AnnArbor.com.