Looking Back on the September 15, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the September 15, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

This week’s meeting was at Fairlington Presbyterian Church and both ensembles worked on holiday music for the 2026 holiday show. The early word on a date for the show is that there will be two shows (late afternoon matinee and night) on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Fairlington United Methodist Church (where the chapter had its holiday shows in 2023 and 2024). Music team leaders asked members to work on the holiday songs at home and sing along at the meeting, or else just listen and learn until ready to sing.  Many of the songs are repeats from past shows so some members have an advantage to knowing the holiday repertoire. 

Chapter leaders have encouraged members to support the silent auction at Fairlington Presbyterian Church which will help the church renovate their kitchen. 

The recent 9/11 tribute by the  Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) used the recording of the Metro Voices performance of  “Me and the Sky” (from “Come From Away) which they sang at the 2026 International convention.  It was a perfect way to recognize the occasion and the emotion of that important date!

Also, BHS CEO Robert Rund recognized Joel Golden’s article from the July-August issue of The Harmonizer in the e-blast LiveWire report. Good job Joel!

Warm ups this week were led by associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo.  His session included a fun tag for the combined ensembles to ring – “I Don’t Know, I Don’t Know, I Don’t Know.”

Membership triad team member, Jacob Broude, invited any new members to join him for an orientation session, led by Terry Reynolds, in a break out room. 

Meanwhile, the AACC chorus worked with artistic director, Joe Cerutti, on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “Welcome Christmas.” Joe announced there will be two new combined songs coming soon.  One is “Tribute to World Peace” and work on it will start next week. 

Calendar notes: the chapter meeting will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church on Sept. 22.  Then on Sept. 29,  Metro Voices will meet at the church while the Harmonizers will be singing in Old Towne that night. And then on Oct. 13, the Harmonizers will rehearse at the church and Metro Voices will sing in Old Towne. (The church has a conflict those weeks so that meant a change in location for the ensemble rehearsals.)

There will not be a sing-out on Oct. 14. 

The fellowship event with the Harmonizers and the Alfred Street Baptist Men’s Gospel Choir will be held at the Fairlington Methodist Church and fellowship hall on Oct. 20. Metro Voices will meet at Fairlington Presbyterian Church. 

Joe took a minute to tell the many new members how the AACC chorus supports an Honors flight at National Airport.  There are two coming up – Oct. 10 from 7-10 am, and Nov. 7 from 8-11 am.  E.J. Herold organizes these service projects to welcome military veterans to the Nation’s Capital. Watch for further details. All AACC singers are welcome to attend as there is printed music available for the basic patriotic songs that will be sung.  Attire will be the black t-shirts.

Matt Darouse, from the Culture Team, has sent out messages and registration forms for a social event at Cox Farm on Sunday, Nov. 1 from 11 am to 4 pm.  Members interested in attending should contact Culture Team members and make a reservation/payment of $30 by Sept. 30!.  Don’t pay or register with Cox but with a Culture Team member – Becca Williams, Kellen Hertz or Matt Darouse.  The chapter will have the pavilion there as part of the fall festival for friends and family of AACC - at 15621 Braddock Rd., Centreville, VA 20120, at the corner of Braddock Rd., and Pleasant Valley Rd.  

Members who ordered t-shirts can get them from the Culture team now.  And any member who didn’t pay for their registration for the chapter retreat, should speak to a team member also. 

The team also brought cookies to share at break to celebrate September AACC birthday! They were good!!

Jacob Broude recognized the most recent AACC member added to the roster – Anne Lefeuvre. 

Then he welcomed eight retuning guests who were back this week: Jamie Bazen, Mason Meiners, Amanda Ridlington, Naomi Takagi, Serena Davis, David Strasser, John Ferri, and Carl Pankin.  There were also three first-time guests this week: Ethan Hattingh, Stuart Conrad and Sam Rose. Tony directed the chapter welcome song.  It was great to have Janet and Joe Cerutti Sr. at this week’s meeting! It was also announced that Kathy Kauffmann has fallen and broken her arm.  Everyone sends her good wishes and a speedy recovery!

He also alerted the chapter to the re-start of Capital Force youth ensemble for the 2026-2027 season on Sunday, Oct. 18, from 2;30 – 4:30 pm with Tessa Walker as music director.  All AACC members are encouraged to invite potential youth singers in rising 7^th-12^th grades. Watch for details. 

After the AACC rehearsal, the Harmonizers continued to work on “Hanukkah in Santa Monica” in sectional breakouts in various rooms in the church. Tony, Joe, Michael Berkson and Lance Fisher led those sectionals. Then they all gathered in the basement hall with artistic director, Joe Cerutti, to sing together. Joe thanked the men for their apparent extra work on the song at home! Next they worked on the “Silent Night” arrangement that includes two quartet spots and some solo spots. Harmonizers interested in doing those spots should speak with Tony ASAP. Finally, the chorus worked on “Here Comes Santa Claus.” 

Likewise, Patricia Chow reports that Metro Voices practiced “Auld Lang Syne” in various quartet configurations and then transitioned to working on “Stop the World.” This is the second song from the musical Come From Away. arranged by Maggie McAlexander for Metro Voices (the first was “Me and the Sky”) and will be performed at Midwinter. The chorus then started work on a new holiday song, a medley of two songs from the Disney film Frozen, also arranged by Maggie. The two songs in the medley are “Queen Anointed” and “Vuelie.”

The two ensembles met together for a wrap up of the rehearsal.  Serena Davis directed “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was a good crowd at the HarmoHouse for afterglow, with many members enjoying the outdoor patio and the great September weather.  There were  several guests who made it to the afterglow too.  

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 78^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 September 8, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the September 8, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

This week’s meeting was at AlexRenew and both ensembles worked on their music after a couple of weeks extra meeting time and less singing.  Both groups moved into holiday music. To get things started, a warm up session was led by assistant director of the Harmonizers, Jason Lee.  Prior to the start of the music, early arrivals helped the chapter admin team collate and assemble holiday music for a good supply of guest books. 

After the warm ups, artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed all singers and asked for the top three take-aways from last week’s meeting to launch the operations teams for the chapter.  Three points surfaced including (1) a shout out to new executive director, Dita Rao; (2) there was a clear point that there are many opportunities to volunteer; and (3) thanks to the leadership triads for their work and efforts to step up to the tasks needed. 

Calendar notes: the chapter meetings will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church on Sept. 15, Sept. 22.  Then on Sept. 29,  Metro Voices will meet at the church with the Harmonizers singing in Old Towne that night. And then on Oct. 13, the Harmonizers will rehearse at the church and Metro Voices will sing in Old Towne. (The church has a conflict those weeks so that meant a change in location for the ensemble rehearsals.)

There will not be a sing-out on Oct. 14. 

The early word on a date for the chapter holiday show is that there will be two shows (matinee and night) on Dec. 12 at the Fairlington United Methodist Church.

The fellowship event with the Harmonizers and the Alfred Street Baptist Men’s Gospel Choir will likely be held at their church and fellowship hall on Oct. 20. Stay tuned for details.  Harmonizers should plan ahead for getting their on time and finding a parking place.  Car-pooling is a good idea. The Alfred Street folks are great hosts including a terrific spread of eats.  

Kellen Hertz, from the Culture Team, reminded members to sett

le up on payments for the retreat, and for t-shirts ordered.  He also shared some details about a social event at Cox Farm on Sunday, Nov. 1 from 10 am to 5 pm.  Members interested in attending should contact Culture Team members and make a reservation/payment of $30.  

 

Chapter secretary Cy Shuster, presented membership renewal cards to six members with the now traditional one-clap-for-each-year.  There were some long ones this time! For four years, Marsha Ansel; for four years, Adele Jones; for five years, David Hillinck; for 14 years, Rob Korsan; for 43 years, Terry Reynolds; and for 61 years, Jack Pitzer.

Devin Turner  welcomed seven retuning guests from the chapter’s guest-night-event back on Aug. 25. Chapter members stepped up to help the guests and get them situated with music books and meet other singers in the section the guest was likely going to sing in. Jason Lee was busy all evening auditioning guests to help them determine the best voice part for them. There were also three first-time guests this week: Mason Meiners, Steven Minson, and John Fern. It was great to see Josh Frakes back on the risers after taking some time off for the new baby arrival in their home. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song.

When the ensembles met for their rehearsal time, Joe announced some temporary changes in Harmonizer section leaders duties with Ben Hawker filling in for Matt Ambler, and Michael Berkson filling in for Jared Liscinsky.

The Harmonizers continued to work on “Barber of Seville,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” and then started work on a fun holiday song, “Hanukkah in Santa Monica.” Michael Berkson helped clarify pronunciation for the Hanukkah terms for the song. (Old timers will note that it was arranged years ago by former Harmonizer director, John Hohl. Steve Whitereports that it was commissioned to be arranged many years ago, but music leaders never added it to the repertoire until now.) The rehearsal for the song was in sectionals led by Lance Fisher, Matt Ambler, Michael Berkson and Calvin Schnure.

Likewise, Metro Voices worked on “Auld Lang Syne,” “Christmas Time,” and “Happy Holidays.” Director Samantha Tramack and her team were busy helping the five guests they had feel comfortable and enjoy the singing. 

The two ensembles met together for a wrap up of the rehearsal.  After the 50/50 drawing,   led a robust sing of “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was a moderate crowd at the HarmoHouse for afterglow including several of the 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 78^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 September 1, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the September 1, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

To get things started this week, associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, led a vocal warm up session for the night.  Then Terry Reynolds led a simplified business meeting which included the announcement that the chapter has named Maggie McAlexander as associate director for Metro Voices. Also the chapter leaders have renewed the following contracts for the chapter: Joe Cerutti as AACC artistic director and Harmonizer music director, Samantha Tramack as Metro Voices music director; Tony Colosimo as associate director for the Harmonizers; Maggie McAlexander as associate director for Metro Voices; and Tessa Walker as Capital Force music director.  

An ensemble of ten Harmonizers sang recently at a celebration of life for a member of Kellen Hertz’s family who was a long time-fan of the chorus. They sang “What a Wonderful World,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “Impossible Dream.”  Singers who joined Kellen were Matt Ambler, Carl Kauffmann, Randall Eliason, Craig Kujawa, Ben Raja, Jeff Burkey, Terry Reynolds, Brigham Blackhurst, and David Welter. 

Calendar notes: next week’s meeting will include lots of work on holiday songs and will be back at AlexRenew. Then for the next few weeks, the meetings will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church.  Stay tuned. Also the possible sing on Oct. 14 will not happen. 

President Craig Kujawa shared the sad news that Tyler Carpenter’s father died unexpectedly recently.  Tyler andCody are taking some time away from the chapter to manage the family affairs to include the recent death of a grandmother. Our thoughts go out to them.

Craig also announced a change to the community leadership triad – Frank Fedarko asked to step away from that team at this time, and Mary Cooper will take his place. 

At this end of the fiscal year, Craig was proud to share the success of the chapter’s fundraising efforts when members bought $140,000 worth of gift cards and that earned the chapter just under $9,000! The top five members who raised $800 or more were Randall Eliason, Antony Takahashi, Steve White, David Welter and Dean Rust. 

For the record, the chapter board recently approved a balanced budget for the year ahead at $227,000.

After the business session, President Craig launched the information session designed to inform all singers about the progress so far on changing the operations process for the chapter. 

 

This change involves (simplified here) a switch from about a dozen individuals called directors who managed all aspects of the chapter such as membership, development, or shows, to seven teams (six leadership triads and a logistics team), Work began on this transition months ago and is now functioning in its earliest stages with the help and guidance of the chapter’s recently hired executive director, Nandita (Dita) Rao. She has been part of the earliest stages of the changes and is coaching the leadership teams as they explore what is needed for their aspect of the chapter operation. Dita will help those teams and especially help with communication between teams when tasks overlap. 

Dita took some time to tell us more about herself which included her degree in biology with lots of music experiences along the way in both high school and college. She has a particular interest in jazz and she is excited about how that interest fits with barbershop.  Her previous work career included leadership for a non-profit. She is enthusiastic about working with AACC and its changing operations process.

At this point the chorus attendees not on a triad team counted off so there were four groups who went from station-to-station to hear from a triad team about what they see as their job ahead and how members would help them accomplish success. The teams were well prepared and eager to share what they have done and will be doing.  Many members were heard offering to step into tasks or jobs. Each team had about ten minutes with each of the four groups. Terry used the big school bell to ring and signal time to move. (Old timer Harmonizers will recognize the bell as the one Dick Hallused to ring every Tuesday night to signal that break time was over and it was time to get back on the risers. We rescued the bell recently from boxes to be discarded!)

The leadership triads are FINANCE with David Welter, Antony Takahashi and Marsha Ansel; CULTURE with Becca Williams, Kellen Hertz and Matt Darouse, MEMBERSHIP with Jacob Broude, Katie Raimondo and Devin Turner; COMMUNITY with Matt Ambler, Mary Cooper and Ian Trent;  IMPROVEMENT with Leah Bernstein, Tanner Perdue and Rob Stark; COMMUNICATIONS with Randall Eliason, Maggie McAlexander and Frank Shipp; plus LOGISTICS with Brian Ammerman, Joe Cerutti, Patricia Chow, Catherine LaValley, Terry Reynolds and Chad Ross. 

President Craig summarized the meeting and thanked all those who participated. To wrap things up, chapter secretary Cy Shuster presented a membership renewal card to Mireille Kouagou for her third year.  Samantha Tramackthanked Mireille for her energy and enthusiasm and pride for Metro Voices. Then as a surprise, Tony stepped up and directed the chapter to sing “There Will Always Be a Place On The Risers for You” for her as she is headed off to college!  This was the first time in many months that the chapter has continued this long-time tradition to “send off” a member when then move or have to leave the area.  

Alan Wile managed the 50/50 and Don Harrington took home the member half of the cash. And Mireille directed “Keep the Whole World Singing.”

Since artistic director, Joe Cerutti, was at the BHS headquarters in Nashville, an afterglow was at the nearby Astro Beer Hall.

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 78^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 August 25, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the August 25, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

This week’s AACC chapter meeting was a guest night for both ensembles to add new members to their ranks. Membership director, Jacob Broude, was coordinator with help from the directors and their music teams, and the culture leadership triad.  The AlexRenew halls were packed with members and 34 singer/guests – some for both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices. 

There were some guests that heard the chorus sing in Old Towne last week. Many of the guests were friends or relatives of members, and in fact, a number had sung with current members in past ensembles in the area.

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers did the warm up session for AACC singers and their guests. Then Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, taught everyone the “Ireland, My Ireland” tag (and suggested it would be sung again before the meeting ended). 

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed everyone to AACC and to this opportunity for many folks to sing barbershop harmony for the first time. Throughout the evening, barbershop terms like “tag” were explained to the singers; and Joeshared some recent highlights of chapter life to the guests. He included the hiring of the executive director and announced that Tuesday night, Sept. 1 the majority of the program will be a session to get to know her and to learn more about the current status of the chapter operations teams. 

Jacob officially welcomed all the guests and shared with them the general plans for upcoming chapter meetings.  He also presented our newest member of the Harmonizers, Danny Ameduit, with his official name tag. Danny is bass in the CHEF’S KISS quartet that sang on the program this week for the guests. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles met separately to work on a couple of the current repertoire songs, and start on some holiday songs, as a demonstration of how a chapter rehearsal might go. The many guest singers were coached as to what voice part they should try.  Actual voice part auditions will be conducted in subsequent meetings. 

Next, members taught guests tags while others set up chairs and arranged the main meeting space for a mini-performance.  It was crowded, but it was still fun.  The Harmonizers sang “Africa,” CHEF’S KISS sang “Mona Lisa,” and Metro Voices sang “Me and the Sky.” To finish the performance set, the AACC chorus sang “I’m Still Standing.” 

This is when some recreation organized by the culture team was used to help guests sing and to be recognized.  Each singing member of AACC drew a piece of paper from the bowl that had a song title on it.  Then on signal, the singers roamed the room humming that song til they found the five or so other members humming that song (for example, “Happy Birthday,” “The Star Spangled Banner,” and other old favorites). 

And then each of the groups had to create new words to the “Ireland, My Ireland” tag incorporating the names of the three or four guests in their group.  When each group sang their tag, the guests announced their names, and then their little group of guests and members sang their version of the tag.  It was fun. The culture team (Becca Williams, Kellen Hertz, Matt Darouse) led the game activity. 

Here are Looking Back reports of other recent chapter events. 

The rains never let up so the Fairfax County Park Authority cancelled the performance that the chapter was set to do on Thursday, Aug. 20, outdoors at Nottaway Park, in Vienna, VA. Bad news was they cancelled after lots of members had departed from their home for an hour or two drive to the park.  The good news was the chapter will get its full fee since the show was cancelled after singers were enroute. (Many long-time Harmonizers recall that for many years, the chapter’s summer outdoor concert in August was cancelled because of rain!)

The celebration for GQ, 2026 BHS quartet champs, was Monday, Aug. 24, 7 pm, at Towson University. It was a joyful event to honor the quartet and thank them for their great music and musical leadership in the Mid Atlantic District. 

There were 33 AACC members there based on a count by YeEd which included many from Metro Voices who led the cheers and applause to support and thank the quartet – and to honor their chorus director, GQ bass Samantha Tramack.  The GQ tenor is Amanda Sandroni, lead is Kathie Gillis, and baritone is Ali Hauger. 

There was a red carpet entry to the hall and vinyls to autography for each member of the quartet.  The event was coordinated by leaders from the Alexandria A Cappella Collective headed up by Dita Rao, chapter executive director; and from leaders of the Hershey, PA, chapter. The evening started with a tasty buffet meal, and a chance for folks to meet and greet. Then the quartet sang for their friends (and many of their family members who attended including children and parents including Steve and Rene Tramack). Steve spoke about the major influence the quartet has had, and will continue to have, on future generations of barbershop singers.  Their set included their awesome song from their 

International championship set in St. Louis this past summer. Emcee for the evening was Melody Hine.

Here are important announcements about the upcoming schedule for AACC. 

The meeting for Tuesday, September 1, at AlexRenew, will include time to welcome our new executive director, Dita Rao. Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, encourages all members to take advantage of this opportunity to hear about her background, her vision for the operations of our organization and about her operations team.  He suggests this session, though another talking event soon after guest night, is incredibly important and a culmination of sorts on the work that was started a little over a year ago. Members will want to come give Dita an AACC welcome.

The meeting on September 8 will also be at AlexRenew. Then for Sept. 15, the meeting will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church. 

Stay tuned for final word about a performance at the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria, on Oct. 14 – an invitation on Groupanizer to sign up to sing from Terry Reynolds and Matt Ambler suggests the time commitment would be something like 6-9 pm. This would be a full-length concert. (For those checking their calendar, the annual Alfred Street Baptist Church men’s sing networking social for the Harmonizers is now on Oct. 15.) 

  As a reminder, the chapter has accepted the invitation to sing Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach.  Members should stay tuned about possible bus transportation to Virginia Beach, and other details. 

In other news related to the AACC: it is time to start recruiting for the new season for the Capital Force youth chorus in the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. To launch the new season, Tessa Walker submitted a call (in announcements in Slack recently) for someone to fulfill a volunteer administrative role for Capital Force youth chorus.  Chat with Tessa if you or someone you know might be interested. 

Other members of AACC ensembles are encouraged to share information about Capital Force with youth in the area (or their parents) about joining.  The first meeting for the 2026-27 season will be on Sunday, Oct. 18 – location to be announced soon as well as the meeting schedule for the new season. 

PLUS  there is exciting news that Capital Force will take part in the Youth Chorus Festival at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach in February 2027!  

Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at chapter meetings. Members can bring their medals and give them to Tyler as early as possible at the meeting place so he can do them all.  There is a small fee for the engraving.

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 78^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 August 18, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the August 18, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

The outdoor sing in Old Towne Alexandria on Tuesday, Aug. 18, continued a long-standing summer tradition for the chapter. This year there were some changes since the City Hall and adjacent Market Square are closed for construction. So the gathering point at 7 pm was at the corner of Union and King Streets – an entrance into the Torpedo Factory.  The AACC chorus was well attended for both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices. Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, led a warm session in a nearby alley before the AACC chorus took the stairs (stage) at the Torpedo Factory. Attire was AACC t-shirts or a plain black t-shirt.  

Large crowds assembled to listen to the music and applauded with vigor after every song! Chapter leaders had a huge supply of business cards and passed them out to folks as they gathered for the show. Special guests in the audience were Josh Heit, president of the Alexandria Arts Alliance, and AACC community board member, Carolyn Griffin. 

 The AACC chorus kicked off the show with “I’m Still Standing,” directed by Samantha Tramack. Zak Sandlerdirected “We Will Be One” which he wrote and Lance Fisher arranged for AACC. 

Then Tony stepped up to direct the Harmonizers in “Hey  Jude” with Matt Ambler doing the solo. That was followed by a first-time performance of “Barber of Seville.” 

Metro Voices took the stage with Samantha Tramack directing “Yes I Can,” and their first-time performance of “Preamble.”

A youth quartet, CHEF’S KISS, sang “After You’re Gone” with Ezekiel Ramirez performing the first time with them.

To wrap up the performance, the AACC chorus sang “Parting Glass” with Joe Cerutti directing.  The song began with an intro sung by Lance Fisher, Robert Stark and Christine Pan. The. final song was “Defying Gravity” with Christine as soloist.

Songs and soloists were introduced with great enthusiasm by Tony and Joe throughout the evening and included frequent reminders to use welovetosing,org as the way to find out more about the group.

The singers moved to the patio facing the Potomac and did another complete set but interchanged some other songs. The Harmonizers did “Africa” and “I’m Just a Bill” with Zak, Tony Reynolds and Joe adding the comedic narration; Metro Voices did “Somewhere” and “Preamble” with Hannah Drobac as narrator.

The ensemble did one more run of the songs back on the entry stairs before many members headed to Chadwicks for an afterglow. Unlike some years, the  weather was terrific this time for the singers and the listeners.  

Here are important announcements about the upcoming schedule for AACC. 

There was particular importance in the reminder about the Thursday, Aug. 20, outdoor performance at Nottaway Park, 9537 Courthouse Rd., Vienna, VA 22181. It will start at 7:30 pm. Arrival time will be about 6 pm. Uniform will be the AACC t-shirt or any black t-shirt.  Sometimes folks have organized picnic dinners or gatherings in the area before report time. NOTE: here again, chapter leadership will issue a call to cancel by 4:30 pm that afternoon. 

The celebration for GQ is Monday, Aug. 24, 7 pm, at Towson University. 

Looking ahead, the chapter guest night and rehearsal will be on Aug. 25 at AlexRenew.  Meetings for the first two Tuesdays of September on the 1^st and 8^th will also be at AlexRenew. Then for Sept. 15, the meeting will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church. 

As a reminder, the chapter has accepted the invitation to sing Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach.  Members should stay tuned about possible bus transportation to Virginia Beach, and other details. 

Also looking ahead, the music team announced that work on holiday music will begin in September.

Terry Reynolds announced the need for “Facebook streamers” for Tuesday nights – members who bring their laptops or such to connect meetings with Facebook users who could not attend in person. Volunteer to Terry if you can help.

In other news related to the AACC: it is time to start recruiting for the new season for the Capital Force youth chorus in the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. To launch the new season, Tessa Walker submitted a call (in announcements in Slack recently) for someone to fulfill a volunteer administrative role for Capital Force youth chorus.  Chat with Tessa if you or someone you know might be interested. 

Other members of AACC ensembles are encouraged to share information about Capital Force with youth in the area (or their parents) about joining.  The first meeting for the 2026-27 season will be on Sunday, Oct. 18 – location to be announced soon as well as the meeting schedule for the new season. 

PLUS  there is exciting news that Capital Force will take part in the Youth Chorus Festival at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach in February 2027! 

 

Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at chapter meetings. Members can bring their medals and give them to Tyler as early as possible at the meeting place so he can do them all.  There is a small fee for the engraving.

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 78^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 August 11, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the August 11, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

There were some singers gone this week, some parents getting kids ready to go to school or college, and some members on vacation. But overall the meeting of AACC singers at AlexRenew was well attended and full of energy. 

Tony Colosimo associate director of the Harmonizers, led the warm up session for the combined ensembles. He incorporated some rhythm drills and used the popular “We Sing Late at Times, Canned Goods” exercise for proper vowels. Then he used some of “I’m Still Standing” for warming us the voices.

After the warm up, artistic director Joe Cerutti jumped into action to have the AACC chorus continue rehearsal of “I’m Still Standing” and then moved on to “Defying Gravity” in the pitch needed for soloist Christine Pan to sing at upcoming performances. Then Joe invited Zak Sandler to direct “We Will be One” followed by Joe directing a run-through of “Parting Glass.”

Then there were announcements about the upcoming schedule for AACC. 

The outdoor sing in Old Towne Alexandria on Tuesday, Aug. 18, will start at 7 pm with a few warm ups before singing for the assembled folks in town. The two ensembles will take turns performing before combining for the finale. Usually the evening ends with an afterglow at Chadwicks which is the last spot where the chorus sings on these annual Old Towne sing-outs. Attire is AACC t-shirts or a plain black t-shirt. For years the chapter has gathered on Market Square by City Hall, but this year that whole property is blocked off for construction and repair.  So the gathering spot will be the large stairway leading into the Torpedo Factory at the river and King Street.  NOTE: if weather is bad, chapter leadership will send out a message to cancel by 4 pm. 

Then two days later, Thursday, Aug. 20, the chapter will have an outdoor performance at Nottaway Park, 9537 Courthouse Rd., Vienna, VA 22181. It will start at 7:30 pm. Arrival time will be about 6 pm. Uniform will be the AACC t-shirt or any black t-shirt.  Joe encourages singers to at least make this Thursday night sing, if possible. Singers will be allowed to step off the risers for some songs during the performance if needed, so everyone is encouraged to plan to sing the songs they know. Besides it will be another fun evening.  In the past, these sorts of outdoor concerts were well attended by chapter member families and friends.  Sometimes folks have organized picnic dinners or gatherings in the area before report time. NOTE: here again, chapter leadership will issue a call to cancel by 4:30 pm that afternoon.

The celebration for GQ is Monday, Aug. 24, 7 pm, at Towson University. Any members who had not signed up to attend were asked to speak to culture team coordinator Becca Williams before this week’s meeting ended. The chapter is overjoyed to celebrate having a gold medal quartet member as part of the weekly meeting – Samantha Tramack, bass, from GQ. The celebration is a joint celebration with the Parkside, PA, chapter.

Looking ahead, the chapter guest night and rehearsal will on Aug. 25 at AlexRenew.  Meetings for the first two Tuesdays of September on the 1^st and 8^th will also be at AlexRenew.

As a reminder, the chapter has accepted the invitation to sing Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach.  Members should stay tuned about possible bus transportation to Virginia Beach, and other details. 

Also looking ahead, the music team announced that work on holiday music will begin in September.

Terry Reynolds announced the need for “Facebook streamers” for Tuesday nights – members who bring their laptops or such to connect meetings with Facebook users who could not attend in person. Volunteer to Terry if you can help.

Chapter president Craig Kujawa happily reported that at this point near the end of the chapter’s fiscal year, members have added over $8,000 income for the chapter by purchasing gift cards.  Members who have not set up a plan to purchase them can see Craig and he can help get members started. 

Craig also announced the resignation of Cody Leihgeber-Carpenter who has served as a community board member for the chapter for a number of years. Many thanks to Cody for his service and support of the chapter. Alex Chen was named to fill the vacancy by the chapter board. In this regard, Craig is seeking volunteers to serve on a nominating committee for the next board election. See Craig to offer to help.

Jacob Broude welcomed this week’s guests and reminded members that there will be a guest night on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The goal is for each member to bring a singing guest. The annual guest night events are always fun and a great chance to entertain prospects, plus a chance to help newer members sing the repertoire. Thanks to Maggie McAlexander for creating and sending out via Slack a couple attractive flyers that members could download and post in efforts to get more prospects to attend guest night. 

ALSO: Jacob will have cards to pass out during the sing in Old Towne on Aug. 18, and will be looking for volunteers or maybe non-singing members or friends.

This week’s guests included returnees Danny Ameduite (Congrats to Danny who passed his audition this week!) and CJ Hunt plus first timers Sean O’Connor and Anne Lefeuvre. Maggie directed the chapter welcome song. 

The two ensembles worked separately on their music. 

The Harmonizers worked on “I’m Just A Bill” with Zak Sandler and Terry Reynolds adding the narration (music leaders added a couple measures to the vamp so the comedic narration fits easier). Joe will be the speaker for the “executive pardon” gag so Tony will direct this number. 

Harmonizers had more sectional work on “Barber of Seville” in order to have the song well prepared for upcoming performances – especially for the Feb. 4 appearance at the BHS Midwinter. Section leaders for these sessions were Lance Fisher for tenors, Matt Ambler for leads, Jared Liscinsky for baritones, and Calvin Schnure for basses. 

After the sectionals, Joe directed the Harmonizer chorus for a long rehearsal of this piece.  Then he pushed the chorus to do a run of “Hey Jude,” “Africa,” and “Wonderful World.”

 

Meanwhile in the board room at the sixth floor or AlexRenew, Metro Voices director, Samantha Tramack, andassistant director, Maggie McAlexander, used the second half of the meeting to continue preparation for their show songs.

After the 50/50 drawing, Joe surprised Heidi Brown and invited her to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.”  A fun crew made it to the HarmoHouse for the afterglow and they enjoyed the outdoor room to swap stories and visit with the food and drink.

In other news related to the AACC: it is time to start recruiting for the new season for the Capital Force youth chorus in the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. To launch the new season, Tessa Walker submitted a call (in announcements in Slack recently) for someone to fulfill a volunteer administrative role for Capital Force youth chorus.  Chat with Tessa if you or someone you know might be interested. 

Other members of AACC ensembles are encouraged to share information about Capital Force with youth in the area (or their parents) about joining.  The first meeting for the 2026-27 season will be on Sunday, Oct. 18 – location to be announced soon as well as the meeting schedule for the new season. 

PLUS  there is exciting news that Capital Force will take part in the Youth Chorus Festival at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach in February 2027!  

Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at chapter meetings. Members can bring their medals and give them to Tyler as early as possible at the meeting place so he can do them all.  There is a small fee for the engraving.

YeEd received a note from former member and quartet promoter, George Azzam, reporting that his quartet, CHORAHOLICS, will be singing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Nov. 24 as part of a large choir event.

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 78^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 August 4, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

Looking Back on the August 4, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting 

Even though it is “summer vacation season,” there was a good attendance of AACC singers at Fairlington Presbyterian Church for rehearsal this week.

Jason Lee, assistant director of the Harmonizers, led the warm up session for the combined ensembles. He incorporated “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for his drills for proper vowels.

After the warm up, artistic director Joe Cerutti led the combined AACC chorus rehearsal of “I’m Still Standing.” 

Next Joe gave a thorough report of a long list of  major “good news points” about the great Alexandria chapter!

He started with the news that four members were certified by the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) as official judges for contests – having completed their training and evaluations recently at a BHS school in Denver. Congrats to Renee Tramack – singing category; Maggie McAlexander – musicality category; Tyler Carpenter and Terry Reynolds – administrative category!

Also four members will be retiring as official judges after years of service: Chris Buechler, Alan Lamson, Joe Cerutti and Tony Colosimo. 

Joe was excited to report on the successful Harmony University held recently in Denver, CO, with 100 attendees from all over the USA and other countries including Japan, Columbia, Canada, England and Sweden (those are the counties he could mention off the tip of his tongue).  Both Joe and Samantha Tramack were faculty.

Certainly the chapter is overjoyed to celebrate having a gold medal quartet member as part of the weekly meeting – Samantha from GQ (a first in the nearly-80-year history of the Alexandria chapter). Joe encourages all members to attend the celebration event on Monday, Aug. 24, at 7 pm, somewhere at Towson University (where the quartet got its start).  He did suggest that the planning committee is eager to hear from any current or former members who could make a donation to help support the event.  Let Joe or Becca Williams know if you can help with that. There is an RSVP form in Slack for folks to use so the committee has an idea of how many will be there to cheer and congratulate the quartet.  The celebration will be a joint celebration with the Parkside, PA, chapter.

The success story of GQ was noted by the Mayor of Alexandria, Alyia Gaskins, and she addressed the news in a letter to the quartet and the chapter.  The mayor acknowledged the super accomplishment for a quartet to have won the gold medal, and shared her pride as mayor by adding her accolades.  Mayor Gaskins also expressed her congratulations for the success of the entire AACC chapter including FIRST TAKE that earned a fifth consecutive top-five medal, the Harmonizers for earning their 22^nd chorus medal, and to Metro Voices for making an incredible debut as one of the top 20 barbershop choruses in the world. 

Looking ahead, the Aug.11 meeting will be at AlexRenew, and the chapter guest night and rehearsal on Aug. 25 will also be at AlexRenew. 

The outdoor sing originally scheduled Aug. 4, will be moved to Aug. 18, so stay tuned for more details and the exact location.  

The chapter will perform an outdoor performance on Thursday, Aug. 20, at Nottaway Park, 9537 Courthouse Rd., Vienna, VA 22181. It will start at 7:30 pm. Arrival time will be about 6:30 pm. Uniform will be the AACC t-shirt or any black t-shirt. Each ensemble will sing and then they will join together to wrap up the performance.

  Singers will be allowed to step off the risers for some songs during the performance if needed. In the past, these sorts of outdoor concerts were well attended by chapter member families and friends.  Sometimes folks have organized picnic dinners or gatherings in the area before report time. 

As a reminder, the chapter has accepted the invitation to sing Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach.  Members should stay tuned about possible bus transportation to Virginia Beach, and other details. 

The music team sent word to the members via Joe that work on holiday music will begin in September.

Jacob Broude welcomed this week’s guests and reminded members that there will be a guest night on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The goal is for each member to bring a singing guest. The annual guest night events are always fun and a great chance to entertain prospects, plus a chance to help newer members sing the repertoire. Thanks to Maggie McAlexander for creating and sending out via Slack a couple attractive flyers that members could download and post in efforts to get more prospects to attend guest night.

This week’s guests included Elizabeth Halford, Matthew Dacanay, Danny Ameduite, Jonathon Meyer, and Mattfrom the Ambassadors of Harmony who was in town for work. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song. 

The two ensembles worked separately on their music.  The Harmonizers worked more on “The Barber of Seville.” – first in sections led by Joe for the tenors and baritones, Jason Lee for the basses, and Matt Ambler for the leads.  Then Joe pulled the sections together and did a lengthy session on adding more color to the performance in addition to accuracy. He also organized a “push out” quartet for extra drills (there were enough new members present that Joe had to explain how a “push out quartet” works. A good problem to have to solve!).

They also worked “I’m Just A Bill” with Zak Sandler and Terry Reynolds reading through the narration.

Meanwhile in the basement room of the church, Metro Voices director, Samantha Tramack, and assistant director,Maggie McAlexander, used the second half of the meeting to continue preparation for their show songs.

About 9:15 pm the two ensembles regrouped and worked on “Defying Gravity,”  “Parting Glass,” and “We Are One” which Zak Sandler directed. 

After the 50/50 drawing, chapter leaders welcomed Rob Stark and Christine Pan back from their travels - first to give Rob his medal from St. Louis since they departed for their trip right after the chorus contest in July; and second, since it was also Christine’s birthday, Joe invited her to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.” 

In other news related to the AACC: Tessa Walker submitted a call (in announcements in Slack) for someone to fulfill an administrative role for Capital Force youth chorus, the third active ensemble in the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. It is a voluntary position and generally is tied to that ensemble’s concert season.  The volunteer does not need to be an AACC member and might be a friend, spouse or partner of a member.  Chat with Tessa if you or someone you know might be interested. 

Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at next week’s chapter meetings. Members can bring their medals and give them to Tyler as early as possible at the meeting place so he can do them all.  There is a small fee for the engraving.

YeEd received a note from former member and quartet promoter, George Azzam, reporting that his quartet, CHORAHOLICS, will be singing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Nov. 24 as part of a large choir event.

At this week’s meeting, YeEd presented chapter history books to several recently added new members of AACC – both the 50 year history and the 75 year summary.  If you have not gotten the set of history books, let Jack know so he can bring them to you at a coming meeting.  Everyone is entitled to have the set. 

Finally, cheers for the dozen or so fellow AACC members who are classroom teachers in the area (several are music educators). They will be reporting back to their schools soon to get classrooms ready and lesson materials set for the next school year. 

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

 

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