Looking Back on the April 1, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

 Looking Back on the April 1, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

AACC members were on hand in big numbers this week in order to work on some new music and especially for all the new members who want to learn other repertoire songs.

The music team was hampered a little but they managed in fine style with Tony Colosimo on travel and Joe Cerutti, artistic director, sick at home.  Assistant director of the Harmonizers,  Jason Lee, did the warm up session for the combined AACC chorus. Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, assisted. Terry Reynolds, music team admin and assistant director of the Harmonizers, kept things rolling just great. 

After the warm up period, Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, directed the combined ensembles for a solid rehearsal for “Defying Gravity” with Maggie offering coaching advice to the singers. Following that, Jason worked with the group on “Hey Jude.” These two songs plus “I’m Still Standing” will be the AACC chorus songs for a May 9 choral appearance in Alexandria.

(Thanks to operations director, Gary Cregan, for his work to get platforms for directors of both ensembles to stand on when the singers are not on risers.)

There was a brief recap of the recent appearance of a group from Metro Voices who sang at a Virginia anniversary of the Association of American University Women.  Samantha was director for the appearance at the Sheraton in Old Town Alexandria.  The group sang four songs for the AAUW social event.

The AACC will meet at AlexRenew on April 8, 22 and 29.  On April 15, there will be a walking sing out in Old Town Alexandria. Stay tuned for more details.

Chapter president, Craig Kujawa, reports that our current amount earned by members buying and using gift cards in our fundraising program is at $1900 – only about 38% of the chapter’s goal by the end of the fiscal year.  He can explain to new users or put them in touch with other chapter members who are frequent supporters of this activity.

He also reported that at their recent meeting, the chapter board approved new bylaws as required by the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) for every chapter that is a registered corporation. One aspect of our bylaws approved the option to allow membership of any singer (not just men, as was previously the case for the Harmonizers), and the option to have three community representatives on the board (we received a waiver from BHS to have more than two).  Craig brought this to everyone’s attention so that more members know the behind-the-scenes operation of a large, successful chapter like AACC.

Membership director, Jacob Broude, presented name tags to two new members: Michael Snow and Leah Bernstein. Returning guests were Heidi Brown, David Niemi, and Susan Friel. First time guests were Laura Rutledge and Max Demers. Harmonizer Dan O’Brien was visiting the chapter from his home in California. Terry directed the chapter’s “Welcome Song.”  

There was a clarifying announcement that the Honors Flights will be on May 31 in the morning.  Watch for more details.

After the business meeting, the two ensembles met to work on their own materials.  Reporter, Annie Ermlick, submitted this report from Metro Voices:  in addition to work on the new Irish tune, Metro Voices had a party in the board room area to celebrate their contest experience. Cake and sparkling cider were gifts from Maggie and Samantha. The discussion centered around the scores earned.  Maggie, a candidate judge for BHS, explained many details and comments the judges in Towson made to the chorus.  The Metro Voices also celebrated the support from the Harmonizers at the convention. 

A major discussion point centered around the report that the arranger of “After You, Who?” (Carole Prietto) was in Towson and some folks spoke with her and have heard from her. Carol was thrilled with the performance and honored to have her arrangement treated with such respect and quality on the stage.  She was also surprised since no one had alerted her that our ensemble would be singing that arrangement. 

The Harmonizers took time to view their Southern Division contest appearance video.  Jason and Terry moderated comments from members about the appearance and hints at next steps – especially considering the plan to add another layer of performance to the package (“Toyland” and “Come Follow the Band”) for the fall district contest. 

After that, Jason helped the Harmonizers work on “Wonderful World.” 

Then the Harmonizers worked in sectionals for the new Irish song – “The Parting Glass” which will be sung with Metro Voices.  Current section leaders are Randy Lazear and Lance Fisher, tenors; Matt Ambler, leads; Jared Liscinsky, baritones; and Calvin Schnure, basses. The sections came back together for the Harmonizer chorus work on the song. 

The chapter will also have some current or former members singing in quartets at the Northern Division/International prelims contest, April 25-26 in New Jersey, including LEGACY with Rick Taylor; GQ with Samantha Tramack; and PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel. 

The evening ended after the drawing for the 50/50 about 10 pm, followed by “Keep the Whole World Singing.” 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the March 18, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 18, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

The AACC ensembles continued working on their music this week, at Beth El.  They are both preparing for the Southern Division competition this weekend, March 21-22, in Towson, MD, at the University of MD Kaplan Concert Hall (8000 York Rd.). The quartet contest starts early – 4 pm on Friday afternoon.  The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am Saturday morning and the quartet finals round starts at 7 pm. 

Metro Voices sings 9^th and the Harmonizers sing 12^th in the chorus contest. 

Here is the singing order for all the quartets with AACC members or former members or family members in them:

 

Singing first – SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT with Jim Lake

Singing second – MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach and Mike Geipel

Singing third – BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth Colosimo, Heather Havens, Tony Colosimo, and Andrew Havens

Singing fifth – BELTWAY with Rob Santine, Suranjan Sen, Josh Myers, and Ryan Mextorf

Singing sixth – THE ELDERLY BROTHERS with Mike Wallen

Singing eighth – INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White

Singing tenth – HARMOHAUS with John Sifuentes, Lance Fisher. Kevin Mendez, and David Breen

Singing thirteenth – FANTASTIC 4 with Chris Susalka and  Heidi Brown, daughter of Anne Ermlick

Singing fifteenth – FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens

Singing nineteenth – HEART AND SOUL  with Bob Mattes

Singing twenty third – SUPERNOVA with Tessa Walker and Maggie McAlexander

There is a good body of information about going to the Southern Division contest – a slide set is in the Water Coolerchannel - on Slack.  It is especially informative for new members, but even experienced members would benefit from this info.

The two ensembles met separately at the start of this week’s meeting. 

For the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, associate director,  started the warm up, and asked newly appointed assistant director, Jason Lee, to finish the exercises. Tony conducted the rehearsal time as he will be directing the Harmonizer chorus at the Southern Division while artistic director, Joe Cerutti, is on International travel this week.

Tony worked on “Wonderful World” and then on the contest songs – “Toyland” (arranged by Ed Waesche) and “Come Follow the Band” (arranged by Steve Tramack). Zak Sandler helped coach the singers in their performance skills for the songs. 

Terry Reynolds, music team admin leader, and Tony facilitated the official riser placements for the Harmonizers before they performed their contest set for Metro Voices.  That performance earned a lot of cheering and applause!

Terry reminded members that the call time is 9:30 am at the concert hall – dressed and warmed up ready to sing.  It was also stressed that singers should plan to arrive early enough to pick up their convention registration because they must have it before going on stage. The Harmonizers will go into the contest seating area to cheer for Metro Voices, then adjourn themselves to finish their warm up preparation. He also announced that the chapter has been invited to sing on the Saturday night show, and that both ensembles will sing as part of their stage time. That might mean a change in travel plans for those driving up and back on Saturday.

Both Terry and Tony encouraged members to sit in on as much of the contest as they can, and shared that everyone is welcome to stay for the judges chat with the choruses about their judging category.  The sessions usually happen right after the contest results are announced.

For Metro Voices, they started Tuesday night using the risers to prepare for their stage time at the contest.  Riser positions were created last week when assistant director, Maggie McAlexander, lead a session on identifying timber of the singers’ voices (based on the work the chorus had done with their coach a couple weeks ago). She met with each section of the chorus and had individuals sing, and she then assigned that person an “instrument” label for their sound – strings, woodwinds and brass. Tony assisted in the riser placement plan.

Maggie did warm ups this week and welcomed Cadence Flaherty back from college to sing at the contest with Metro Voices. Director, Samantha Tramack, worked on some fine tuning points for their contest uptune, “World Here I Am” (arranged by Patrick McAlexander).  Their ballad will be “After You, Who” (arranged by Carole Prietto). For part of the evening, the chorus also worked on their other repertoire songs.

For sure it was great for Metro Voices to perform the set for their fellow AACC members and celebrate the growth and terrific development of Metro Voices. 

Here are other recent announcements that members should know:

(1) The Harmonizers will sing the Honors Flight event on April 26. Members should sign up to confirm their availability.

(2) The Alfred Street Baptist Choir  folks have invited the Harmonizers to sing at the tribute event for Dr. Joyce Garrett, Aug. 2 at 5 pm in Fort Washington, MD.  She was instrumental in the outreach to have the Harmonizers and the men’s choir at Alfred Street Baptist launch their many years of fellowship and musical celebrations. She was honored by the chapter as recipient of the Harmony Award in 2018.

(3) The March 25 meeting will be at AlexRenew – it will be an education night with a variety of sessions to learn more about barbershop harmony and the chapter. 

(4) We will also have some quartets singing in the Northern Division/International prelims contest  April 25-26 in New Jersey including LEGACY with Rick Taylor; GQ with Samantha Tramack; and PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel. 

(5) The cabaret planned for the evening of the spring2ACTion fundraiser has been cancelled because no venue could be found for the event. 

President Craig Kujawa took a minute to explain the chapter’s 50/50 drawing – one half goes to the member with the winning ticket, and the other half goes to the Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) Endowment Fund, per a letter of appreciation from Endowment Fund promoter, Alan Wile. He reports that the chapter’s support of the fund for the year is over $1100.

Craig announced that the next chapter board meeting will be Thursday, March 20, at 7 pm, at AlexRenew.  Any member is welcome to attend.

Again this week, Mary Cooper welcomed the guests to the meeting: Patrick Horne, Shira Perlmutter, Leah Bernstein, Holly Perdue, Karen Kouagou, and Nathanial White. She also presented name tags to the two newest members – AJ Gupta and Brigham Blackhurst. Welcome all!

Two of the chapter quartets sang their contest set this week – great job BELTWAY and HARMOHAUS

The evening ended at 10 pm with Jason as director for an especially enthusiastic “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was no afterglow at Harmo House.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the March 11, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting; Report from DCPS Youth Event

 Looking Back on the March 11, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting; Report from DCPS Youth Event

The active AACC ensembles are busy working on their music for the contest cycle starting with the Southern Division competition in mid-March. This week each ensemble did a warm up session of their own.

Artistic director. Joe Cerutti, had the following announcements for all AACC members: (1) The interview process is wrapping up and “take aways” will be coming soon to the chapter.  

(2) The Harmonizers will sing the Honors Flight event on April 26. Members should sign up to confirm their availability.

(3) The Alfred Street Baptist Choir  folks have invited the Harmonizers to sing at the tribute event for Dr. Joyce Garrett, Aug. 2 at 5 pm in Fort Washington, MD.  She was instrumental in the outreach to have the Harmonizers and the men’s choir at Alfred Street Baptist launch their many years of fellowship and musical celebrations. She was honored by the chapter as recipient of the Harmony Award in 2018.

 (4) The March 18 chapter meeting will be at Beth El, and the March 25 meeting will be at AlexRenew – it will be an education night with a variety of sessions to learn more about barbershop harmony and the chapter. 

(5) There is a good body of information about going to the Southern Division contest – a slide set is in the Water Coolerchannel on Slack.  It is especially informative for new members, but even experienced members would benefit from this info. The call time for both ensembles will be 9 am – singers should arrive vocally ready to sing and dressed for the stage.  The Harmonizers will go cheer for Metro Voices when they go on stage, then Harmonizers will return to the meeting room to prepare for their stage time. All singers are welcome to attend the Feed Back sessions after the scores are announced (also it is a good opportunity for new members to get a feel for how the judging system works). 

(6) Joe also saluted the many quartets that will represent our chapter at the contest in Towson. It’s been a while since the chapter has had so many quartets with current or former members or family members from the chapter. Here is the lineup for quartets singing at the Southern Division/International Prelims contests in Towson, MD, at the University’s Kaplan Concert Hall (8000 York Rd.), March 21-22. 

Singing Order:

Fri night mic tester – SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT with Jim Lake

Singing second – MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach and Mike Geipel

Singing third – BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth Colosimo, Heather Havens, Tony Colosimo, and Andrew Havens

Singing fifth – BELTWAY with Rob Santine, Suranjan Sen, Josh Myers, and Ryan Mextorf

Singing sixth – THE ELDERLY BROTHERS with Mike Wallen

Singing eighth – INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White

Singing tenth – HARMOHAUS with John Sifuentes, Lance Fisher. Kevin Mendez, and David Breen

Singing thirteenth – FANTASTIC 4 with Chris Susalka and  Heidi Brown, daughter of Anne Ermlick

Singing fifteenth – FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens

Singing nineteenth – HEART AND SOUL  with Bob Mattes

Singing twenty third – SUPERNOVA with Tessa Walker and Maggie McAlexander

 

We will also have some quartets singing in the Northern Division/International prelims contest  April 25-26 in New Jersey including LEGACY with Rick Taylor; GQ with Samantha Tramack; and PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel. 

The two ensembles then met to work on their contest packages – the Harmonizers used the risers with Tony Colosimoas director and Joe Cerutti as coach; and Metro Voices used the sanctuary space with Samantha Tramack as director and Maggie McAlexander as coach.

 

Before the two ensembles changed locations with Metro Voices on the risers, chapter executive director,

 Stan Quick, conducted the chapter meeting. Announcements included word that Dave Ermlick is under doctor care currently.  

The cabaret planned for the evening of the spring2ACTion fundraiser has been cancelled because no venue could be found for the event. 

Chapter secretary, Heidi Suckow, with help from Jared Liscinsky, presented membership renewal cards to Mary Cooper, 3 years; Maggie McAlexander, 11 years; Noah Van Gilder, 17 years; and Don Thompson, 32 years. 

Mary Cooper welcomed the guests this week. First time guest was Tamara. Retuning guests included Patrick Horne, Shira Perlmutter, AJ Gupta, Leah Bernstein, Michael Snow, and Julian LeFlore. Maggie directed the chapter “Welcome Song.” Editor’s note: a sharp new chapter membership recruitment brochure was available on the admin table at the entrance this week. 

Sheryl Berlin thanked all those AACC members who helped with the DCPS youth festival. She had leftover water bottles for anyone who wanted one. (See full report below.)

Becca Williams explained the expected chorus apparel for the upcoming  contest: Metro Voices  - gray with blue, purple or gray accents; Harmonizers – black with gray and white (no accent colors).

The evening ended with “Keep the Whole World Singing” as the closing number. There was an afterglow at Harmo House.

In other news from the chapter, good to see Tessa Walker’s name on Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) list of presenters for webinars for music educators.  She is doing one on March 13 at 7 pm CST for 60 minutes via Zoom.  The topic is “Improving Sight Reading Skills Through Barbershop Harmony.

Friday, March 7, AACC chapter members worked together with the Music Education staff from DC Public Schools (DCPS) for a terrific all-day youth choral festival.  The event was at UDC in The Center for Theater Arts and attended by over 80 students with their music educators from seven DC schools.

 

Members of AACC helped support the event with riser crews (helpers with Gary Cregan); and snacks, pizza lunch and water (donations from members of cash and products coordinated by Mark Oswald and Randy Lazear). 

 

At 4 pm, the youth chorus sang their songs learned during the day for an audience of AACC members, parents and music educators.  The show started with two schools (Dunbar High School and Jackson Lee High School) demonstrating a tag they had learned since last year’s festival.

 

Tessa Walker was clinician for the day and directed the youth chorus and shared her pride and excitement about how well the students had learned their music in advance of the day and had worked hard all day to be ready for the show. THE QUINN TONES quartet (Jake, Julian, Tommy and Chris) was on hand to help Tessa as section leaders and coaches.  The quartet sang on the show as well. 

 

Joe Cerutti, emcee for the show, was enthusiastic in his thank you to parents and friends who came to support the student singers. Many members of AACC were on hand for the show too.  Some of them had spent parts of the day at the festival as helpers ‘as needed’ with music education, hospitality and set up, take down and clean up. AACC members who helped or attended the concert included Dean Rust, Randy Lazear, Mark Oswald, David Breen, Noah Van Gilder, Maggie Alexander, Carl Kauffmann, Gary Cregan, Sheryl Berlin, Patricia Chow, Ken Rub, Jack Pitzer, Bruce Roehm, Elizabeth Cosh, Michael Berkson, Kevin Mendez, Tony Colosimo, Cy Shuster, and Becca Williams. Students were given a souvenir water bottle to celebrate their efforts for the day. 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the March 4, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 4, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

The March 4 meeting at AlexRenew was a busy one for the two active AACC ensembles. 

Artistic director. Joe Cerutti, was coaching in Hawaii, so music team admin, Terry Reynolds, got each ensemble started with Samantha Tramack doing warm ups for Metro Voices and Maggie McAlexander doing warm ups for the Harmonizers.  Samantha stayed “up front” with her chorus and associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, made it in just after 7 pm after directing the band at his school to fill in for a work colleague in the music department.  Both ensembles worked on their contest music.

Terry made these announcements about AACC schedule and events: first - the Gala on March 1 was a great success and he thanked development director, Ken Rub, for his efforts to make it all go well. Second – interviews will be done this weekend. Third – stay tuned for sign-ups to sing on the Honors Flights events April 19 and 26 (baritones are needed for these appearances. Fourth – the next two week’s meetings will be at Beth El and likely last until 10 pm to add additional rehearsal time. A riser crew is needed for those two weeks. Fifth -  the third week will be at AlexRenew and will be an education night where the evening will be divided into presentations for anyone to attend and then switch to another topic. Sixth – the major youth sing with DC Public School will be Friday, March 7.  A riser crew is needed on Thursday night.  Donations are still accepted for snacks and water – get to Mark Oswald or Randy Lazear.  All members are encouraged to come to the free wrap up concert on Friday at 4 pm at UDC to support the youth.  Tessa Walker will be dean of the event. Seventh – Becca Williams spoke with both ensembles about attire for the contests in Towson. Eighth – secretary Heidi Suckow has published an important reminder to all members that any singer on the contest stage must be paid up on their BHS dues, and must have a convention registration.

Anne Ermlick provided the following report from Metro Voices: At last night’s Metro Voices rehearsal, director Samantha. and her leadership team, explored key techniques from last week’s coaching session with Peter Cunningham. Members made personal recordings of the audition song and a fresh arrangement of "Somewhere" from West Side Story, led by assistant director, Maggie. 

Following a period of sectionals, the chorus worked on three technical skills—legato, timbre, and pitch accuracy—through targeted exercises. As they transitioned between the skills sessions, each group built upon the previous skills, fostering a deeper understanding of musicality. Moreover, the emphasis on peer feedback and personal reflection culminated in a collective spirit of growth and pride. 

In another room of AlexRenew, Tony was in charge of the rehearsal for the Harmonizers and began with work on “World Goes Round.” The ensemble next worked on “Toyland.” Zak Sandler continued a discussion of emotions and how to show them as relates to “Toyland.”  That work will continue each week. 

Then there was a major section of the rehearsal time used for “Come Follow The Band, ” followed by work on “What a Wonderful World.”

These rehearsals lasted until about 9:30 pm, then Stan Quick, chapter executive director, invited the two ensembles to regroup for final business items: Ken Rub had “’left overs” from the Gala bar operation for nominal prices near the elevators; Maggie reminded everyone to submit their audition tape for the cabaret that will be on Wednesday, April 9, as part of the celebration following the spring2ACTion fundraiser event (she asked for help in finding a venue for that event); members and guests should consider coming to cheer for the DCPS concert. 

Jacob Broude, membership director, announced the newest chapter member, Brigham Blackhurst.  Welcome aboard! There were ten returning guests this week: Patrick Horne, Leah Bernstein, Randy Althaus, Holly Perdue, Shira Perlmutter, Maumen Alsheahk, AJ Gupta, Daniel Huitt, Jackson Byrd and Heather Huish.  Terry Reynoldsdirected the “Welcome Song.”

The evening ended with “Keep the Whole World Singing” as the closing number. There was no official afterglow this week.  Singer noted the new stand for the director to use thanks to operations director, Gary Cregan!  

It’s been a while since the chapter has had so many quartets with current or former members or family members from the chapter. Here is the lineup for quartets singing at the Southern Division/International Prelims contests in Towson, MD, at the University’s Kaplan Concert Hall (8000 York Rd.), March 21-22. The bold faced names are affiliated with AACC. 

 

Singing Order:

Fri night mic tester – SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT with Jim Lake

Singing second – MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach and Mike Geipel

Singing third – BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth Colosimo, Heather Havens, Tony Colosimo, and Andrew Havens

Singing fifth – BELTWAY with Rob Santine, Suranjan Sen, Josh Myers, and Ryan Mextorf

Singing sixth – THE ELDERLY BROTHERS with Mike Wallen

Singing eighth – INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White

Singing tenth – HARMOHAUS with John Sifuentes, Lance Fisher. Kevin Mendez, and David Breen

Singing thirteenth – FANTASTIC 4 with Chris Susalka and  Heidi Brown, daughter of Anne Ermlick

Singing fifteenth – FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens

Singing nineteenth – HEART AND SOUL  with Bob Mattes

Singing twenty third – SUPERNOVA with Tessa Walker and Maggie McAlexander

 

We will also have some quartets singing in the Northern Division/International prelims contest  April 25-26 in New Jersey including LEGACY with Rick Taylor; GQ with Samantha Tramack; and PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel. 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the March 1, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Gala

Looking Back on the March 1, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Gala 

 

Over 80 members and friends of the Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter enjoyed the wonderful second annual Gala event on Saturday evening, March 1.  The major fund raiser was held at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. Kudos to chapter development director, Ken Rub, who was the lead in making the event a huge success that was fun for all. Theme for the evening was ‘Emerald Affair – a wickedly Irish Gala.’  Attendees carried out the spirit and wore a great array of green and Irish attire! Table decorations created by Cathy Kauffmann added to the theme.

Special keynote speaker for the evening, was Dr. Jim Henry, a Harmonizer coach and chapter friend from St. Louis, MO, where he is director of the Ambassadors of Harmony chorus.  During his encouraging remarks about the character of the AACC chapter, he shared a message from chapter artistic director, Joe Cerutti, who was on travel and not able to attend. Jim thanked the chapter for inviting he and his wife to attend. They enjoyed some days as tourists in the DC Metro area. Jim also shared fond memories of past exchanges with the Ambassadors and the Harmonizers; and he spoke about the important history of the chapter  as part of the Barbershop Harmony Society for over 75 years. 

Special thanks go to caterer, Joan Wolford of Savoir Fare Limited, for the fantastic dinner with great service, yummy family-style main dishes and desserts, and a creative hors d’oeuvres table. The generous bar was also available all evening beginning with the opening period when attendees could make additional bids on the many terrific silent auction items.  Bidding had begun online days in advance of the Gala. 

Randall Eliason was chair of the silent auction that raised major funds for the chapter.  The rest of his team included Mary Cooper, Callie Warren and Hannah Nesich with assistance from chapter general manager, Susan Fitzpatrick. The auction items were displayed on decorated tables in the reception area.  

During the reception period, there was great Irish music and dancing provided by the Corkers, Bobby Seay and his sister Michaela Seay.  They are offspring of the famous Seay barbershop family in the Baltimore area. 

There was a live auction item for the evening – a basket of liquors donated by the musical directors of the three ensembles in AACC. Jim Henry offered the auction item after dinner and Frank Shipp emerged as high bidder for the basket from the many competing bidders.  Angela Marty held the winning ticket for the evening’s 50/50 drawing!

Guest quartet for the banquet was SECRET BEST FRIENDS – Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) champs. Former Harmonizer, Will Simmons, who sings bass in that quartet, was sick with the flu and so David Breen sang two songs with the quartet and Jim Henry sang two.  They were great and the rich bass sounds were terrific.

Samantha Tramack thanked those who attended and expressed appreciation from leaders of all three of the singing ensembles in AACC for the support generated at this year’s Gala. Mike Kelly was on hand to provide sound for the evening. Other volunteers were Will Wittaker, David Means, Zak Sandler, Catherine LaValley.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the Feb. 25, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

 Looking Back on the Feb. 25, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting

The Tuesday, Feb. 25, meeting was at AlexRenew in Old Town Alexandria. 

Metro Voices worked with a coach, Peter Cunningham, who is a Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) singing judge and was part of a Collegiate Champ quartet with Kevin Mendez. He is from Texas. The chorus is preparing for its first official contest at Southern Division and worked on “After You, Who?” and “World Here I Am.” Samantha Tramackdirected their rehearsal session. Tessa Walker sat in on parts of the Harmonizer rehearsal in order to get the announcement information and take it in to the Metro Voices session. 

The Harmonizers worked on “Come Follow The Band,” “Toyland,” and began working on a new song, “What a Wonderful World.” Zak Sandler initiated a discussion of emotions and how to show them as relates to “Toyland.”  That work will continue next week. 

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted vocal warm ups for them. Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, expressed appreciation to the AACC members (ten Harmonizers and nine Metro Voices) who sang for the Defense Attaché Community at the Danish Ambassador’s residence on Feb. 20. E J Herold reports that they were extremely well received by the banquet guests and the Prince and Princess. Members were invited to enjoy the foods and reception as well as meet and talk to the attendees. Ambassador Jesper Moller Sorensend greeted the singers and welcomed them to his home.

The audience of 190 included defense attaches and their wives from countries around the world, plus senior civilian and military officials from the US government. Danish royalty - Prince Joachim of Denmark, brother to the King, and his wife, Princess Marie - were introduced to the chorus and many members spoke to the Prince and Princess.

There was great audience support when the singers did our National Anthem and “Armed Forces Medley” as openers for the evening.  Then, after dessert, the combined groups did a second set with songs by Metro Voices with Maggie McAlexander directing,  and the Harmonizers with Tony Colosimo directing. The combined ensembles sang “Why We Sing” and “I’m Still Standing.” Terry Reynolds did the emcee duties.  This chapter outreach effort will likely lead to other appearances at embassy events.

Next, Joe gave a final push for the chapter gala organized by Ken Rub, development director. This year’s gala will be March 1, 2025, themed “Emerald Affair, ” at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N Union St., Alexandria, VA 22314, at 7:30-10 pm. Keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Jim Henry, director of the Ambassadors of Harmony in St. Louis and popular coach of the Harmonizers. Guest quartet will be SECRET BEST FRIENDS, current champs of Mid Atlantic District. 

Randall Eliason sent a message to all members and friends of the chapter announcing that the fund raising silent auction held as part of the gala is now open for bids. Bidding will close on Saturday evening at the Gala. Auction items include travel events, restaurants, professional services like voice lessons or piano tuning, or recreation events.

Joe shared details of the latest project by the chapter - to bring barbershop singing experience to students in the DC Public School system. There will be 136 students at the Fri., March 7, event at UDC on Connecticut Ave. at 4 pm. Tessa Walker will be major clinician for this educational event. Mark Oswald is coordinating the chapter’s efforts to collect waters and snacks for the youth event. Members can also give cash donations to Mark or Randy Lazear at chapter or bring supplies like energy bars and chips or snack packs.  Members and friends are encouraged to attend the 4 pm clinic wrap up at UDC – to help build an audience to honor the youthful enthusiasm. It’s free. 

Joe also confirmed that the annual interview process is moving along to near completion.  Finally, he confirmed that the chapter meeting will be at AlexRenew next week.

President, Craig Kujawa, served as business meeting chair this week.  

Craig encouraged members to be sure to get their registrations for the Southern Division contest in March.  Metro Voices will sing 9^th at that contest (the very first official contest for Metro Voices) and the Harmonizers will sing 12^th.  There will be a good number of quartets from the chapter in the contest too – some of our newest members are singing as quartets! Call times for the chorus members will be determined soon. He also shared word about an afterglow that weekend sponsored by three M-AD chapters.  Anyone can attend for $5.

Next, Craig introduced the members of the AACC Chapter Awards Committee. All AACC members will be invited to suggest possible recipients for the 2024 awards. This committee will collect the suggestions and boil them down to a recommended list of recipients for the chapter board. The committee includes Jack Pitzer, Bob Blair, Mark Klostermeyer, Steve White, Anne Ermlick, Carey Fagerstrom, and Charlyne “Chuck” Miller.  They will be communicating to their fellow AACC members on how to recommend recipients and what the awards are.  Stay tuned. 

Finally, Craig explained the long-standing Angel Fund that is managed in the chapter by the president.  The funds are used to assist members who need financial help for conventions, contests, travel and such.  Member should feel comfortable to speak to Craig about such needs.  And other members are encouraged to offer non tax deductible donations to the Angel Fund – donations go directly to the Angel Fund via the chapter president. 

Members were asked to submit their availability via Groupanizer to sing for two more Honors Flights  - both at 8 am. For April 19 and April 26. 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, asked members to update their contact info in Groupanizer. Then he welcomed the following returning guests: AJ Gupta, Brigham Blackhurst, Muamen Alsheakh, Michael Snow, Patrick Horne, Heather Huish; and first time guests: Jackson Byrd and Stephanie Byrd.  Tony directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

The two ensembles each ended their session with “Keep the Whole World Singing” as the closing number for the evening. Joe issued the usual invite to the afterglow at the Harmo House explaining the location and pizza-slice-count to the many guests. 

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.

 

 

Looking Back on the Feb. 18, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting; Valentine’s Activities; Capital Force Concert

 Looking Back on the Feb. 18, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting; Valentine’s Activities; Capital Force Concert

For the history records, the Feb. 11 meeting was cancelled due to the major winter storm in the entire DC Metro area at that time.

As part of the chapter’s tradition, a quartet of Harmonizers sang at several senior care facilities for Valentine’s Day, Friday, Feb. 14.  Dean Rust, bass, organized the appearances and recruited Brian Ammerman, tenor; EJ Herold, lead, and Joel Golden, baritone, to sing with him. The quartet announced themselves as FRIENDS OF PUNXATAWNEY PHIL and started early that day to warm up and then sing at the Lee Center in Alexandria for the Alexandria Seniors Valentine event, which included meeting the new mayor of Alexandria, Aliyah Gaskins, who asked to have Capital Force some sing for the City Council meeting.

Then the quartet traveled to the Silverado Memory Care Community on King Street, and to Woodbine Rehab Center also on King Street. Next they went to Sunrise of Alexandria on Duke Street.  At most locations, they were welcomed by activities directors who asked them to sing at several locations at the facility – often for the staff of the facility. The quartet wore red ties, white shirts, dark trousers.  They were prepared to sing “Heart of My Heart,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” “God Bless America,” and “Keep the Whole World Singing.” The quartet enjoyed spreading Valentine smiles and cheer in the  community.  Often the seniors recognized the song and sang along.

On Saturday, Feb. 15, the AACC talented youth ensemble, Capital Force, sang their end-of-season concert. It was at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Old Town Alexandria. Tessa Walker is director of the youth ensemble with assistance from Sheryl Berlin and Julian LeFlore. 

Singers for Capital Force included Caleb Jacobson, bass; Kit Rufus, lead; Emily Robinson, lead; Faith Jacobson, tenor; Jackson Byrd, baritone; Joy Edwards, lead; Julia Ratiu, lead; and Lewis Jacobson, bass. They are students in grades 8-12. 

The free concert at 3:30 pm was in the theater at the Memorial. All three AACC ensembles sang together for “I’m Still Standing” with artistic director, Joe Cerutti, conducting. Tessa Walker, Capital Force director and project leader, welcomed all former members, family and friends of singers, and supporters of the new youth chorus. She invited Metro Voices to sing next with Samantha Tramack directing “After You Who” and “So Happy.”  

Capital Force lead, Kit Rufus, welcomed a guest quartet to sing next - SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander, tenor; Tessa Walker, lead; Amanda Pitts, baritone; and Serena Davis, bass. 

Caleb Jacobson from Capital Force introduced Joe and the Harmonizers for their two-song set – “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” and “Chasing Dreams.” Later in the concert, Caleb was recognized as a senior who will age out of the Capital Force. 

Julian brought on the Capital Force ensemble, with Tessa as their director, for their first ever concert. They sang “You Can’t Stop the Sun,” “It’s You I Like, ” and “Smile.”

The finale for the show included all three ensembles again.

There was a celebration after the concert with cupcakes for the Capital Force singers and their families. 

The regular Tuesday, Feb. 18, meeting was at Beth El Synagogue.  

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted vocal warm ups for the singers and ended his session with the combined ensembles singing the tag – “Ireland, My Ireland, I’m Longing for You.”

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed everyone and encouraged members to welcome the new folks next to them (and if you don’t know it they are new, then introduce yourself, and make sure they have a guest book). 

Joe was eager to share a number of important details for the chapter’s coming calendar of events.

First, he gave a major push for members to consider attending the chapter gala organized by Ken Rub, Development Director. Members should purchase tickets for themselves and their guests, soon. It is a classy event and enjoyed by all. New members and guests are welcomed to attend. This year’s gala will be March 1, 2025, themed “Emerald Affair, ” at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N Union St., Alexandria, VA 22314, 7:30-10 pm. Keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Jim Henry, director of the Ambassadors of Harmony in St. Louis and popular coach of the Harmonizers. Guest quartet will be SECRET BEST FRIENDS from the Mid Atlantic District. 

Randall Eliason explained how members should get auction items for the Gala such as travel events, restaurants, professional services, or recreation events. The goal is to get items that could likely be sold for $100 or more, or gift cards that could be bundled and sold as a group. Members can bring donated auction items to Randall at February chapter meetings.

Joe paid tribute to Tessa Walker for her passion and work to launch our first youth ensemble in AACC and for the successful concert of the Capital Force singers on Sat. Feb. 15.  The members of AACC joined Joe with a rousing applause for fellow singer, Tessa!

Joe shared details of the latest project by the chapter - to bring barbershop singing experience to students in the DC Public School system. There will be 136 students at the Fri., March 7, event at UDC on Connecticut Ave. at 4 pm. Tessa Walker will be major clinician for this educational event. Mark Oswald is coordinating the chapter’s efforts to collect waters and snacks for the youth event. Members can also give cash donations to Mark at chapter or bring supplies like energy bars and chips or snack packs.  Members and friends are encouraged to attend the 4 pm clinic wrap up at UDC – to help build an audience to honor the youthful enthusiasm. It’s free. 

Thanks to the 18 Harmonizers who performed as an ensemble on Sat. evening. Feb. 15, for the Honor Flight Summit Gala at the Crystal City Marriott Hotel. The banquet recognized Honors flight volunteers from across the country who organize trips for veterans to come to Washington, DC, to visit memorials and monuments.  EJ Herold was coordinator for the chapter and is reporter for this Looking Back column.   The ensemble sang “Armed Forces Medley” which allowed folks to rise for their song. When our members sang “God Bless America” the audience sang along and rose to their feet in patriotic support.  The show also included “Sit Down You’re Rockin the Boat,” with Lance Fisher as soloist; and “Calling Dreams.” Terry Reynolds and Randall Eliason were emcees for this event, and Terry was music director. 

Joe did a shout out to Susan Fitzpatrick, chapter general manager, who was online watching this week’s meeting prior to her upcoming surgery. He also invited everyone to join him in Happy Birthday for Terry Reynolds, Frank Fedarko and Mary Cooper. He announced that those members who will do the sing out at the Danish Embassy on Feb. 20 would meet for a few minutes at the end of tonight’s meeting. 

He also confirmed that the annual interview process is moving along. Anyone who has yet to submit the pre-interview survey needs to get it in at least 24 hours in advance of their interview with Joe or Samantha.  Finally, he confirmed the chapter meeting will be at AlexRenew for the next two weeks.

Terry Reynolds served as business meeting chair this week.  Becca Williams spoke about uniforms/costumes for upcoming shows. Gary Cregan, Operations Director, announced dates and times for riser crews for the DC youth session, March 6 and 7.

Maggie Alexander announced that audition tapes are invited from any members who would like to perform at the evening cabaret on Wed. April 9, as part of the chapter’s celebration following the spring2ACTion fundraiser event for Alexandria arts groups. Performances can be anything except barbershop. The audition tapes are due on March 9 to barbershopmaggie@gmail.com. New members and guests are encouraged to join in the fun either as a performer or as cheering audience members. 

AACC president, Craig Kujawa, thanked members who have signed up for cards sales.  He is still pushing for a goal of $5000.  As promised at recent meetings, he presented a free Starbucks card to Becca Williams whose name was drawn from the list of recent sign-ons. 

Craig also encouraged members to take advantage of the early bird prices for registrations for the Southern Division contest in March. 

 

Finally, Craig announced the members of a new Awards Committee. All AACC members are encouraged to suggest possible recipients for the chapter awards to anyone on the committee. This committee will accept the suggestions and boil them down to a recommended list of recipients for the chapter board. The committee includes Jack Pitzer, Bob Blair, Mark Klostermeyer, Steve White, Anne Ermlick, Carey Fagerstrom, and Charlyne “Chuck” Miller.  Suggestions must be submitted before March 11. Members should review the descriptions of the revised awards list including some awards for specific ensembles.

Chapter secretary, Heidi Krukowski, with help from Jared Liscinsky, presented membership renewal cards to several members. The tradition to clap for each year of renewal continues!! Two years for Chuck Miller, three years for Jeanne Hillinck, six for Devin Gerzof, 9 for Michael Berkson,17 for Sheryl Berlin, 23 for Frank Shipp, 23 for Frank Fedarko, 24 for Bob Blair, 31 for Brian Ammerman, 33 for Brad Jones, 37 for Ike Evans, 45 for Dean Rust, and 51 for Rick Savage.

Heidi has also begun to recognize members who bring a guest that becomes a member – that earns the member a New Member Note Award.  The top New Note Award winners were Sheryl Berlin for 4, Mark Klostermeyer for 4 and Frank Shipp for 4, then Tessa Walker for 5.  Good job all.

Members were asked to submit their availability via Groupanizer to sing for two more Honors Flights  - both at 8 am. For April 19 and April 26. 

Membership director, Jacob Broude, asked members to update their contact info in Groupanizer. Then he welcomed our two newest members - Robert Stark and Christine Pan – and gave them their new name tags. 

Jacob welcomed the following returning guests: AJ Gupta, Shira Perlmutter, Leah Bernstein, Holly Perdue, Brigham Blackhurst, Muamen Alsheakh and Erin Schmidt; and first time guests: Randy Althaus and Tyler Underwood.  Maggie McAlexander directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”

Then the Harmonizers and Metro Voices moved to separate rehearsal space to work on their new music.  The ensembles did some sectional rehearsals during this part of the evening. Guests were welcomed to sing too and were given music to use.  

The two ensembles met together for “Keep the Whole World Singing” as the closing number for the evening. Joe issued the usual invite to the afterglow at the Harmo House explaining the location and pizza-slice-count to the many guests. 

In other news from outside the chapter, the Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) newsletter, Mid’l Antics, was recently published with names of district leaders on the board and on committees and teams.  Many of them were members of AACC.

Mike Fasano is executive vice president of the district board. Dave Welter is treasurer and Sheryl Berlin is board member at large.

Bill Colosimo is chairman of the M-AD leadership development committee with Joe Cerutti on the committee. Alan Wile is chairman of the Endowment Fund Committee. Ken Rub and Mike Kelly serve on the events team to operate conventions and meetings. Bob Eckman and Dave Welter serve on the finance committee. Dennis Ritchey and Joe Cerutti are in line to be chairs of the Hall of Honor team. Mike Kelly is district M-AD webmaster. Randall Eliason is chair of the ethics committee. Bill Colosimo and Sheryl Berlin are co-dean for the district Harmony College East event. Kris Zinkievich is southern division VP for leadership training. Chris Buechler is on the secretary’s committee.

Congratulations and thank you to all of those members who are helping.

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 76^th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)

 

The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.