Looking Back on the July 1, 2023 Alexandria Show with BinG Chorus Heavy Medal
The plans for this great weekend started months ago when artistic director Joe Cerutti was in Germany with Barbershop in Germany singers and the Heavy Medal Chorus director Norbert Hammes.
And despite heavy rains and many flight delays, the chorus from BinG arrived in the DC area just in time to do the combined show with the Harmonizers and Metro Voices on Saturday night, July 1, 2023 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
Some BinG singers arrived on Thursday or Friday, but most arrived some time on Saturday. Many of them brought some family members as well. They live in cities all over Germany and they meet three times per year as a chorus to work on songs for competition and shows. All members of their chorus have won a medal as a quartet singer in the BinG contests. Thus the name Heavy Medal.
Their chorus is headed to the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) convention in Louisville, KY, via a flight from National Airport on Sunday, July 3. They will compete in the International chorus contest.
Members of the Alexandria Chapter hosted all of the BinG guests in their homes and made sure they got from the airport to Metro area tourist places, and to the show and afterglow that was at the Harmo House on Saturday night. Because of flight delays for several, the coaching session set for Saturday morning was cancelled.
Therefore Joe sent out word to move up the call time to 4:30 pm at the Memorial. A large Harmonizer riser crew arrived early to set up five sections on the stage and to add chairs to the auditorium’s main floor to provide more seating. A high response from patrons, family and friends responded to promotions. Chapter operations director Gary Cregan drove the Hamro truck and he and shows director Doug White set up a mic for the emcees. (One BinG guest, Joel Klawikowski, staying with Gary also helped set up risers and chairs – he is a behind-the-scenes helper for BinG performances and his Dad is in the chorus.)
Each of the three choruses had warm up time on the risers and adjusted their line up accordingly, since the stage was small. There were about 30 Heavy Medal singers and they wore bright color shirts with HM on the front. There were about 50 Harmonizers and they wore their black camp shirts and jeans. Metro Voices wore black tops and jeans and there were 13 of them on the risers. Warm up sessions were held in various parts of the Memorial building.
Before actual show time, Joe held a combined meeting for all singers and encouraged a hearty welcome of cheers and applause for the BinG chorus. He talked briefly about the afterglow and took a pizza count! And he introduced six Alexandria chapter members who would be hosting tours on Sunday afternoon: Calvin Schnure hosting a bird watching tour at Huntley Meadows; Kellen Hertz hosting for a pub crawl in DC; Frank Shipp hosting a tour of Lazy Lane Farm in Upperville, VA; Tyler Carpenter hosting a tour of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall; Mary Cooper hosting a tour of Arlington Cemetery; and Noah Van Gelder hosting a walking tour of the major monuments on the Mall.
The Harmonizers, with Joe directing, started the show with “I’m the Music Man” followed by “Wee Small Hours/Always: and “New York, New York” – two long time favorites of the chorus that are being added to the repertoire for this 2023 75th anniversary year for the chapter. Randal Eliason was emcee for the Harmonizer part of the show that ended with a terrific performance of “Impossible Dream, ” A quartet of John Sifuentes, Tony Colosimo, Lance Fisher and David Breen sang the verse before the chorus joined them.
Metro Voices came to the risers in front of the Harmonizers and sang two songs directed by Tessa Walker – “Don’t Mean a Thing’ and “I See the Light.”
Then both Alexandria ensembles combined to sing “Why We Sing” which is the spark for the theme of the September 9, 75th Anniversary show – “This Is Why We Sing.” Tickets are on sale now for this major barbershop show featuring the two choruses and MAX Q and RINGMASTERS.
After the Virginia singers left the stage, the energetic Heavy Medal chorus took the risers and entertained the audience with several great arrangements that displayed their skill at mastering all genre of music such as the Stevie Wonder song, “Isn’t She Lovely.” They presented a beautiful plaque to Joe and president Noah Van Gilder, for the chapter, expressing thanks for hosting and sharing a great barbershop weekend.
They did introduce their friend and the founder of Barbershop in Germany, Manfred Adams, who was traveling with them to Louisville. They also expressed appreciation to the American Embassy in Berlin and the German Embassy in Washington, DC, for their support in helping make the concert trip possible. Plus the support from Goethe-Institute – Washington. They finished their set with the two contest songs they will perform at the International directed by co-directors Norbert Hammes and Matthias Neuburger.
After the show, all of the BinG singers, their local hosts and many of their new barbershop friends went to the Harmo House for lots of tag singing, lots of pizza, and lots of talk about how the hobby has spread around the world.
Luckily the predicted rain did not happen, although it was extremely hot for the tours. Then there was a dinner at Joe Theismann’s in Alexandria that evening for a wrap up of the weekend.
The chapter did invite donations from patrons either as they left the show or online; and everyone got a promotional reminder about the fall show from general manager Susan Fitzpatrick or shows director Doug White as they exited.
Until next time – editorjack!
(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 75th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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