Looking Back on the March 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting Plus DCPS Harmony Festival, and CF Showcase

 Looking Back on the March 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting Plus DCPS Harmony Festival, and CF Showcase

After a busy and full weekend of barbershop events, there was good attendance for the March 24 meeting for AACC at Fairlington Presbyterian Church, in Alexandria. Both ensembles had lots of work to recapture the lessons learned last week and to prepare for the contest in July. 

This Looking Back report includes coverage of the DCPS Harmony one-day festival on March 19; and coverage of the end-of-season showcase for Capital Force on Sunday, March 22.  A separate Looking Back report covering the weekend Mid-Atlantic District (M-AD) division contests from Towson was published earlier.  

Jason Lee, assistant director of the Harmonizers, kicked off the singing for the week with a great warm up session for the combined ensembles and the visiting Georgetown Chimes ensemble from Georgetown U.  Associate director, Tony Colosimo, continued vocal warm up exercises for the singers. 

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business session. The chapter meetings on March 31 and April 7 will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (FPC). The meeting on April 14 will be back at AlexRenew. 

Brad Jones reported that he has created a new Slack channel for the AACC Japan trip in 2027 and he shared that participants could register now.  He also shared some thoughts about payment plan options.

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, offered praise and thanks to chapter members, music team leaders, and singers all for their support of the DCPS Harmony festival and the Capital Force Showcase to end their concert season that were held recently.  (See reports below.)   He also saluted all of the quartets that participated and represented the chapter in the division contest this past weekend. Official announcement from the Southern Division contest was that INSTAGRAMPS quartet with Steve White was declared Southern Division Senior Quartet Champ. Regarding the contest results, Joe joked that it was “over-run” by AACC quartets!  He also predicted that some more of our chapter quartets will likely be offered a chance to sing at the July 2026 International based on final tallies of scores and the new “Sing In” program organized at the Society level. 

Becca Williams spoke on behalf of the Culture Triad team and extended an invite for a social event on April 22 as part of Spring-to-ACTion – stay tuned for more details. 

Jacob Broude, chapter membership director, welcomed returning guests Costanza Frakes and Brie Hebron.  First time guests were Susan Campbell and Carole Prietto.  Also this week, the Georgetown Chimes came to visit and sing for the Harmonizers. They were guests of several current AACC members who are alums of the “Chimes” including Josh Meyers, Duncan Peacock, Devin Gerzof, Sean O’Brien and Robert Della Bernarda. Maggie McAlexanderdirected the chapter welcome song for this week’s guests. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building. 

The Harmonizers concentrated on their contest song, “Harmony” with help from Turner Arndt and Jared Liscinsky to review the performance plans coached last week by Cy Wood. This week, Randall Eliason did the narration that will be part of the package for “Harmony.” The chorus also touched on “I’m Just a Bill” as well, so that other show songs will be learned during this contest preparation period. To wrap up their work, the chorus made self-recordings of “Stars in the Night.” 

Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices were busy all evening too.  They used the risers for the first half (Thanks to the many members of AACC who helped “haul” them up onto the second floor.  Good news here is that the risers can stay in the upper level of the church - thanks to the efforts by Terry Reynolds for negotiating that option.) The risers helped Metro Voices with their performance plan and positioning for shows and contest. They did the choreography that had been created and taught by Maggie McAlexander. They held sectional for “Yes I Can” with a goal to be ready for their coaching session on April 7.

The wrap up of the March 24 meeting included the 50/50 drawing organized by Alan Wile, then Joe directed “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was an afterglow at the HarmoHouse for pizza, chats and tags.

Here are other news items of interest to members of the Alexandria Chapter:

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter provided support for a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This was the third annual event for the chapter in cooperation with the music education staff of the DC School system. (It is similar to state choral festivals in other states.) 

There were about 90 student singers from five schools at the “DCPS Harmony” event – hosted this year at Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  Students and their teachers arrived at 9 am and worked on some choral skills and prepared to sing songs for an afternoon concert at which parents and other supporters were invited to attend. The chapter helped with a pizza lunch and plenty of snacks and waters for the day.

A crew of AACC helped with hosting duties and many members donated cash to cover costs of snacks and waters for the singers. The concert was on the main stage in the school using their risers. Students at the school managed the sound and stage hand duties for the concert.

AACC members and other BHS members helped with the teaching sessions during the day preparing the youth singers for the concert. Some filled in as section leaders for the concert songs. Some formed a quartet to also demonstrate the typical barbershop quartet. Plus a number of other AACC members where at the concert to cheer and support the concert. 

This program was kicked-off a few weeks ago with Melody Hine coming to DC and meeting with music educators and their students at the participating high schools in advance of this one-day choral festival. She created an original song and arrangement based on her interviews with the students during her visit. 

Robert Battle, head of the DC Public Schools (DCPS) Music team, welcomed all the students and their teachers and families and supporters who came to the 4 pm concert.  Artistic director of AACC, Joe Cerutti, was emcee for the concert.  Some of the schools prepared a song of their own to share with their fellow students.  Then all school groups filled the risers for their songs with Melody as director. Before the main song, however, Joe interview four students and their teacher, from Jackson-Reed High School, asking them how it went, how things unfolded for them in preparation for the concert.  

Student singers were given a water bottle and decal from AACC as they left the hall at the end of the concert. (Left over water bottles were offered to chapter members on Tuesday night for themselves or family and friends.)

Then on Sunday, March 22, Capital Force performed their end-of-the-season showcase at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, in Alexandria, beginning at 3:30 pm.  A good crowd of family and friends of the chapter and the singers were on hand for the free concert featuring all three ensembles of the Alexandria A Capella Collective. There was a free-will donation as folks departed the concert. 

AACC artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed all attendees and complimented the work by the Capital Force music team and the efforts of the youth singers.

Metro Voices sang two songs to kick off the concert with Samantha Tramack and Maggie McAlexander directing. Likewise, the Harmonizers sang two songs directed by Tony Colosimo. The combined AACC chorus sang two songs, one each directed by Joe and Samantha.

Capital Force sang their two songs with directing by Tessa Walker and Julian LeFlore. A quartet of Capital Force singers also sang at the concert.

Terry Reynolds was emcee for the event plus youth singers made comments during the show about their experience this season to include their favorite memories. 

Thanks to all who helped with the showcase including riser crews and sound. All singers wore an AACC t-shirt. There was a Sunday afternoon afterglow at Rock It Grill, too.

ATTN AACC Members:  do you have architecture, construction and/or home repair experience. Joe has offered for the chapter to convert the garage under HarmoHouse into dry and secure storage for the chapter’s historic collection – uniforms, photos, show scripts, board minutes, trophies and other memorabilia.  If you or a family member has some experience, please speak with Jack Pitzer sometime soon.  Need to take a look at the space and see what needs to be done to convert it and decide if it is indeed a good idea. Currently we are paying for a rental space at really high monthly rates and this would help us reduce that cost.  

Finally, AACC members are encouraged to inquire about Harmony College East, June 18-21, at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. Many long-time members have attended over the years.  It’s a great weekend of coaching and learning, singing and meeting, sharing and having fun.  It is designed to provide education for individuals, quartets and small choral ensembles. Bill Colosimo and Sheryl Berlin are deans for this Mid-Atlantic District event. One way to learn more about the weekend is to participate in a Zoom session  Sunday, April 12 at 3 pm. EDT, at this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2099589492?pwd=d2xYV0k4NWJ4SzJSMGZ3aGRoR2VrUT09

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 77^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 20-21, 2026 Division Convention and Contest with AACC Members Success

 Looking Back on the March 20-21, 2026 Division Convention and Contest with AACC Members Success

The 2026 Southern Division and Central Division contests/conventions for the Mid-Atlantic District (M-AD) were combined for a great event on March 20-21 at the Towson University Performing Arts Center in Towson. (The AACC is in the Southern Division of M-AD.) Neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices competed in the chorus contest, but there were ten quartets in the contest with active AACC members and several with former members! There were 30 quartets registered for the first round on Friday night.

The list of quartets with active AACC members included: BELTWAY with Rob Santine, Kevin Mendez, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; SIDE HUSTLE with Tanner Perdue, Matt Darouse, Ian Trent and Cooper Schwartz; MENTAL NOTE with Jeffrey Mauro, Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel (this quartet had to scratch on Friday night as the tenor was ill); SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers, and David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rob Seay, Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Alex Corson, Tony Colosimo, Drew Wheaton, and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Amanda Saudroni, Katheryn Gillis, Ali Houser and Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander, Tessa Walker. Serena Davis and Amanda Pitts.

Former members in quartets included Will Daniel Simmons in SECRET BEST FRIENDS; Garry Von Lehn in Remnant; Bob Hirsh in CAPITAL CLASSICS; and Jim Lake in SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT. 

Southern Division champ quartet was BETTER TOGETHER, second place was SUPERNOVA, and third place was BELTWAY. INSTAGRAMPS was declared Southern Division Senior Quartet Champ.

The Saturday night finals round was for those quartets hoping to qualify for the International contest in July and six AACC groups made it into that round. Some quartets automatically qualified for St. Louis (with more being named after the other qualification contests are held around the Society including GQ, FIRST TAKE and SECRET BEST FRIENDS.  

Although AACC ensembles did not compete in the chorus contest, there were a number of AACC members involved as directors or singers around the district: David DesPortes sang with Rittenhouse Chorus; Bob Arbetter sang with Old Dominion; Bob Mathes sang with Dundalk; Mike Wallen directed Richmond and Scott Beach, Mike Geipel, Jerry Candrilli. Bob Wilson and Clark Chesser sang with Richmond; Kris Zinkievich directed and Biff Gaut, Tim Buell, Bob Hirsh and Logan Glauser sang with Heart of Maryland; Julian LeFore directed True North Chorus that place second in the Central Division Chorus contest; Garry Von Lehn sang with the Catoctones; Jim Lake and Bob Hirshsang with DC; and Sean Devine was co-director of the Dream Chorus. 

The Virginians from Richmond were named Southern Division chorus champions. 

Anyone who wants more detail of scores, go to midatlanticdistrict.com, click on events and follow the trail to scores from these contests. 

As you might expect there were a number of AACC members involved as M-AD leaders and event staff for the weekend. Ken Rub was production stage manager for the contest weekend with several BHS members as helpers including Patricia Chow from AACC. Mike Kelly headed up audio video and tech matters. Mike Fasano is executive vice president of the M-AD and helped with the stage operation.  Other AACC members on the M-AD board besides Mike include Dave Welter, treasurer and Sheryl Berlin, board member at large. 

A good number of members and family and friends attended to cheer and support the contestants this year including a number of long-time members and many new members and their families.  

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 77^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 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

There was a lot of “wearing of the Green” for the March 17^th meeting for AACC  at Fairlington Presbyterian Church, in Alexandria.  A good crowd of singers and guests was present and ready to work on their music and choreo. 

Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  As part of the warm up exercises, she refreshed the singers for one of her fun tags, “Little Alligator” and then used the “We Sing Late at Times” warm up exercise.

Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, then reviewed plans for the Capital Force end-of-the-season concert that will be Sunday, March 22 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, 101 Callahan Dr., Alexandria. Riser crew is needed at 1 pm; AACC call time is 2 pm in the Cafeteria; and the show starts at 3:30 pm. It is free to the public but donations will be collected. Joe reviewed “Parting Glass” for AACC on that concert; Robert Stark and Christine Pan will sing the intro for this song on that concert. Each ensemble will sing their own songs as well.  Family and friends are all welcome.

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, led the AACC singers in their review work for “We Will Be One” in preparation for that concert. She had the chorus start out in sections in the four corners of the room, then onto the risers. AACC t-shirt and jeans is attire for this one. 

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business session. Chapter meeting March 24 and March 31 will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (FPC). Chapter president, Craig Kujawa, along with chapter secretary, Cy Shuster, held a special chapter election to fill an opening on the board of directors.  Charlyne “Chuck” Miller was elected by a unanimous vote as member-at-large.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Joe also reported on this event and offered to collect donations from AACC members to help cover costs of snacks and waters for the student signers. Everyone is invited to the 4 pm program demonstrating the youth singing a couple barbershop songs.  The festival will be at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, 3500 R St. NW, DC 20007 – parking might be a challenge so allow time - enter the main entrance. This program was kicked-off a few weeks ago with Melody Hine coming to DC and meeting with music educators and their students in advance of this one-day choral festival. 

Jacob Broude, chapter membership director, welcomed returning guests Renee Tramack, Tracy Albarracin, andSarah Lott. A youth quartet attended this week’s meeting after a recent Harmony Explosion  event with Tony Colosimo and David Breen. The quartet includes Isaac Teberen, Danny Ameduite, Ivan Diehl and John Mark Magpantay. They accepted the invitation to sing a song for the chapter – “Like a Wink and A Smile” – which earned a standing ovation from AACC members.  Owen Lyons has become our newest AACC member and received his name tag this week. Members sang the chapter welcome song for this week’s guests. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  

The Harmonizers concentrated on their contest song, “Harmony” with Cy Wood coaching the visual plan for the chorus and the six “Harmonists” out front.  He had been in the DC area for a few days which allowed him time to have a work session with those six men to teach them several special routines that they will use during the set. They had clearly been working on their part of the visual plan as well as their musical part. The Harmonizers worked until past 10 pm to get in all of the plan from Cy.

Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices worked on their contest songs, reviewed their songs for the Sunday show;  and did a recording for “Me and the Sky” to submit to section leaders. For some extra fun, director Samantha Tramack taught them the BOSTON COMMON tag for “If There’d Never Been an Ireland.”  Plus they worked on choreography for “Me and the Sky” created and taught by Maggie McAlexander.

It is exciting to recognize the many AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD. 

 Terry Reynoldsrecognized each quartet and invited their AACC members to come up front for recognition. 

For anyone who wants to attend: the Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

The list of quartets with AACC members includes: BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; SIDE HUSTLE with Tanner Perdue, Matt Darouse, Ian Trent and Cooper Schwartz; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers, David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander and Tessa Walker.

BELTWAY and SENTIMENTAL each sang one of their contest songs before the meeting ended and Cy Wood led “Keep the Whole World Singing.”

 

A good-sized crowd was at the HarmoHouse for afterglow and pizza, chats and tags.

 

ATTN AACC Members:  do you have architecture, construction and/or home repair  experience.  Joe has offered for the chapter to convert the garage under HarmoHouse into dry and secure storage for the chapter’s historic collection – uniforms, photos, show scripts, board minutes, trophies and other memorabilia.  If you or a family member has some experience, please speak with Jack Pitzer sometime soon.  Need to take a look at the space and see what needs to be done to convert it and decide if it is indeed a good idea. Currently we are paying for a rental space at really high monthly rates and this would help us reduce that cost.  

 

Finally, talk with fellow AACC members about Harmony College East, June 18-21, at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. It’s a great weekend of coaching and learning, singing and meeting, sharing and having fun.  Bill Colosimo and Sheryl Berlin are deans for this Mid-Atlantic District event. One way to learn more about the weekend is to participate in a Zoom session  Sunday, April 12 at 3 pm. EDT, at this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2099589492?pwd=d2xYV0k4NWJ4SzJSMGZ3aGRoR2VrUT09

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 77^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 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 10, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting of AACC was back at AlexRenew, on Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria.  Last week’s Put Together Quartet contest was lots of fun.  Hopefully it will result is some new chapter quartets for the future. 

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised some weeks ago.

Samantha Tramack, director of Metro Voices, led the AACC singers in their review work for “Parting Glass” and “We Are One” in preparation for the show on March 22. That is the wrap-up concert for this season of Capital Force. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will also sing on that concert. 

Everyone should bring friends and family to support the young singers. Volunteers are needed for riser crew. AACC t-shirt and jeans is attire for this one. 

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business session. Chapter meeting on March 17 will be at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (FPC) with Cy Wood coaching the Harmonizers.  Meetings on March 24 and March 31 will also be at FPC. Chapter president, Craig Kujawa, reminded members of the special chapter election on March 17 to fill vacancies on the board of directors.  He also reported the passing of Stan Quick’s father this week.

A new AACC operations team has been announced based on triad leadership teams.  They are beginning to meet and take charge of their areas of responsibility. The teams include Finance: Patrick Horne, Antony Takahashi and Dave Welter;  Culture: Matt Darouse, Kellen Hertz and Becca Williams; Membership: Jacob Broude, Katie Raimondo and Devin Turner; Community: Matt Ambler, Frank Fedarko and Ian Trent; Improvement: Leah Bernstein, Tanner Perdue and Rob Stark; Communication: Randall Eliason, Maggie McAlexander and Frank Shipp; plus Logistics: Brian Ammerman, Joe Cerutti, Patricia Chow, Catherine LaValley, Terry Reynolds and Chad Ross. (As a reminder, these teams are just starting their work and meetings, so don’t contact them yet with questions.)

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Members of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices are urged to take some time to attend and lend a hand, and to show adult support of youth singers. Watch Slack for details as to times, place, attire, what to bring, and suggestions on what you can do to help.

A number of AACC members are working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

The list of quartets with AACC members includes: BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers, David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander and Tessa Walker.

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Jacob Broude, membership director, welcomed returning guests Owen Lyons and Tracy Albarracin. First-time guests were Daniel Jo and Sarah Lott. Assistant director of the Harmonizers, Jason Lee, led the chapter welcome song. Chuck Hunter was in town from his home in Chicago and visited the chapter this week. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  The Harmonizers concentrated on their new song, “I’m Just a Bill” from Schoolhouse Rock.  Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, led that work after sectionals on the new song.  He thanked the section leaders for their dedication and preparation for service. They also worked on their two contest songs and “Africa.” 

Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices worked on their two contest songs including a push-out octet game for “With Me and the Sky.”  They took time for sectionals and sang through “Somewhere” that they will do on the March 22 show.

A special surprise to wrap up this week’s meeting was SUPERNOVA singing a contest set for the chapter. Besides Tessa Walker and Maggie McAlexander, the quartet includes Serena Davis as bass and Amanda Pitts as lead. Their fellow chapter members cheered and applauded with a standing ovation.

Then Tessa led “Keep the Whole World Singing” to close this week’s meeting. 

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 77^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 3, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the March 3, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

AACC has had a busy early-March and singers have worked hard to be prepared with their contest songs, as well as other concert songs. Rehearsal and the Put Together contest were held at Fairlington Presbyterian Church this week.

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for the AACC singers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised two weeks ago.

Terry Reynolds presided over this week’s business meeting. 

Last week, Joe announced the Harmonizers who will appear as one of the Comedic Harmonists for the 2026 contest package: Chad Ross as Harry Frommermann; Ben Watsky as Young Roman Cyckowski; Matt Ambler as Erick Collin; Rob Santine as Ari Leshnikoff; Matt Darouse as Erwin Bootz; and Rob Stark as Robert Biberti. Other appointments to be made soon. Randall Eliason will understudy for Older Roman, who will be portrayed by Stuart Zagnit for the contest. Michael Berkson will understudy the six Harmonists portrayed by fellow chapter members. 

Sunday, March 1, the chapter celebrated Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center, 1108 Jefferson Street, from 2-6 pm. Other groups invited to participate with Capital Force included the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. All AACC singers formed the demonstration chorus for a short workshop on ensemble singing technique using “We Are One.” Capital Force sang it too for this workshop. All of the ensembles wore their logo shirts to identify their chorus such as the black AACC t-shirt. AACC 

provided waters and snacks for the afternoon break period.  Terry Reynolds and Sheryl Belinwere the primary contacts and organizers for this first Youth Harmony Day in cooperation with Tessa Walker. Tony Colosimo welcomed the youth ensembles and their directors and parents. Samantha Tramack directed and taught some of the session too. Lance Fisher helped with the music coaching and tag singing that was the finale for the afternoon. Also a quartet of members from Capital Force – LOW KEY QUARTET - sang for the group before the finale. Thanks to all AACC members who came to sing and help with set up and riser work including Chad Ross who drove the truck and helped unload and reload all the equipment, and Cy Shuster who managed the sound equipment.

Chapter meeting on March 10 will be at AlexRenew; March 17 it will be at Fairlington Presbyterian with Cy Woodcoaching the Harmonizers; and March 24 it will also be at Fairlington Presbyterian.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. Members of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices are urged to take some time to attend and lend a hand, and to show adult support of youth singers. 

There is a long list of quartets with AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am on Saturday morning – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

Quartets with AACC members include BELTWAY with new lead, Kevin Mendez singing with Rob Santine, Josh Myers and Ryan Mextorf; MENTAL NOTE with Scott Beach, Jerry Candrelli and Mike Geipel; SENTIMENTAL with Rob Santine, Lance Fisher, Josh Myers v David Breen; INSTAGRAMPS with Rick Taylor, Jay Butterfield and Steve White; FIRST TAKE with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens; BREAKTHROUGH with Mike Fasano, Jordan Zimmerman, Jason Lee and Ken White; GQ with Samantha Tramack; BETTER TOGETHER with Elizabeth and Tony Colosimo, and Heather and Andrew Havens; and SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander andTessa Walker.

Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will also sing on that concert. Everyone should bring friends and family to support the young singers.

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Mark Klostermeyer welcomed returning guests Todd Minners, and Morgan Fabber this week.  First time guest was Tracy Albarracin. Assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  The Harmonizers concentrated on the two contest songs and Tony stressed the importance of the recording process as an aid to the singer.  Metro Voices worked on their new music too and director Samantha helped the singers to discover the character of their song for both music and visual emphasis. 

At the midpoint of the evening, there was a 20-minute break so quartets could warm up and prepare for the chapter quartet contest. 

The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Chapter Quartet Contest was held as the second part of this week’s meeting. This is the 60^th year the chapter has held this event promoting quartet and tag singing. It offers the option for the chapter music leaders to help members organize a quartet for the contest – and perhaps launch a new chapter quartet. 

There were nine quartets in the contest that included mixed voices, and ages and ensemble affiliations. Contestants were allowed to  sing a whole song or just a tag. The judging panel was THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS (directors of the Harmonizers and Metro Voices) with Maggie McAlexander, Tony Colosimo, Samantha Tramack and Kevin Mendez filling in for Joe Cerutti.  

Emcee for the night was Devin Gerzof who kept things lively with interviews of the judges, fun props to make a point, a phone call to Joe Cerutti who was watching the contest remotely, and  reflections of past contests!  

He did ask the question – Who is Wilbur Sparks and why is the contest named after him.  Devin confessed he didn’t know at all and asked Jack Pitzer to share some background. “Wilbur Sparks joined the chapter in 1954 after coming to DC for a job with congressman Harry Truman. Wilbur earned the complimentary title of Mr. Barbershop from his friends and fellow members during his many years of membership and leadership including serving as editor of the chapter bulletin, The Echo, for 28 years.  He was president of the chapter, then the Mid-Atlantic District, and then the Barbershop Harmony Society.  And all the time he was involved in leadership, he continued to serve the chapter.  In 1966, he offered to organize the first Put Together quartet contest as an effort to promote quartet singing in the chapter and to get quartets formed.  He would help members find three other parts and helped them select a song.  He was also known as Mr. Put for years.  Thus tonight’s contest celebrates the 60^th year for a Put Together Quartet Contest.  It was named after him following his passing. (For those interested in more about Wilbur, go to the 50^th anniversary history book, Breathless Moments, to pages 185-186.)”

Tyler Carpenter was contest administrator and helped the judging panel with score cards. Cy Shuster made certain there were mics and sound for the contest. Medals were awarded for the tag category, comedy category and regular quartet category, and were presented to each singer by the judges.  The judges sang “Bye Bye Blues” and “Ebb Tide” while Tyler tabulated the scores.

Top tag quartet was FOUR OVER PAR with Kellen Hertz, Joel Golden, Heidi Brown and Ricky Savage. They sang “I Made You Cry.” (Best wishes to Heidi who recently had a sports injury but came to sing anyway!)

Second place comedy quartet medals went to FOUR BELOW with Brian Ammerman, Randall Eliason, Steve White and Frank Shipp. The were decked out in snow gear and had snow shovels for their parody “My How It Snows.”

First place comedy quartet medals went to POLAR EXPRESS with Devin Gerzof, Randall Eliason, Terry Reynolds and David Hillinck.  They too pulled out winter gear and then launched in to a parody of “Toyland” about “Greenland” with Greenland flags as props. 

Second place regular quartet medals went to THE BALLSTON COMMON with Devin Gerzof, Josh Myers, Lance Fisher and Robert Della Bernada. 

First place  regular quartet medals went to STARK NAKED with Rob Stark, Christine Pan, Brigham Blackhurst and Rob Santine.

After some final words from Terry Reynolds and a thank you to the judges and other contest helpers, all AACC singers locked arms for an enthusiastic rendition of “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 77^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. 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

   Looking Back on the Feb. 24, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

This week’s meeting was back at AlexRenew in Alexandria.

Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted the 7 pm warm up session for an overflow number of AACC singers on the risers.  After the warm up exercises, he continued work on “Place on the Risers for You.”  He didn’t have time though to let them sing the tag, as promised last week.

Terry Reynolds presided over a business meeting for all before they concentrated on new music. 

Looking ahead: Sunday, March 1, the chapter will celebrate Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center from 2-6 pm. NOTE: there are two Lee Centers in Alexandria – this one is at 1108 Jefferson Street.  Other groups invited to participate with Capital Force include the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. All AACC singers will be the demonstration chorus for a short workshop on ensemble singing technique using “We Are One.” Capital Force is learning it too for this workshop. Singers should arrive no earlier than 1:45 pm to help with risers and to meet and greet.  Non-youth can depart about 3 pm or stay to the end after each youth chorus sings for the others. The black AACC t-shirt is suggested or a plain black one.  There is also an appeal for providing snacks for the afternoon – money or supplies, coordinate with Terry Reynolds. Terry and Sheryl Belin are contacts for this first Youth Harmony Day. As usual, it would be great for the youth to see a number of singers supporting the event during the day.

The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Chapter Quartet Contest has been rescheduled for the March 3 chapter meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian. Members still looking for fellow singers to form a quartet can get help from music team leaders.  Quartets can be mixed genders, guests can sing in the contest, quartets can sing a whole song or just a tag, costumes and comedy have always been a popular part of the event and in fact, there are awards for the best comedy group. Quartets are asked to use the registration form in advance of Tuesday night. A VIP judging panel will score the contest and award medals to the top three regular quartets and top three comedy quartets.

Chapter meeting on March 10 will be at AlexRenew, and on March 17 it will be at Fairlington Presbyterian with Cy Wood coaching the Harmonizers.

On Thursday, March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major, annual event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. 

There are several quartets with AACC members working to compete at the Southern Division contest and convention, March 20 and 21, at the Towson University Center for the Arts in Towson, MD.  The Friday night first-round for quartets starts early –3:30 pm – with 30 contestants. The chorus contest starts at 9:30 am – here again there will be AACC members appearing with other choruses (neither the Harmonizers nor Metro Voices will be competing since they are already qualified for the International contest in July to represent the Mid-Atlantic District).  The quartet finals on Saturday night will begin at 6 pm. 

Finally, Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will sing on that concert. 

The AACC interview process is rolling along so that every member meets with a chapter musical leader and can offer input or suggestions and ask question.  

Membership director, Jacob Broude, reminded members to be sure they have added their photo to Slack.  He welcomed returning guests Todd Miners, Owen Lyons, Brie Hebron, and Morgan Fabber. It was great to see Dixie and Chris Buechler at the meeting – she received her new AACC membership pin. Plus Jordan Zimmerman who sings in a chapter quartet with other AACC members; Costanza, wife of Josh Frakes; and Mike Fasano, who is a chapter member and is in his second term as executive vice president of the Mid-Atlantic District of BHS. Assistant director of the Harmonizers, Jason Lee, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles began work sessions on their music in separate spaces in the building.  Metro Voices kicked off their rehearsal with sectionals to work on their contest song, “Yes I Can.” and then gathered in the large meeting hall for a coaching session with Maggie McAlexander for a new song, “Me and The Sky.” 

Steve Armstrong, the arranger for the two Harmonizer contest songs for this summer, was present this week from Canada to help the chorus dig deeper into the meaning of the songs.  It went great since the chorus was well prepared, and Steve gave them many insights as to how the arrangements could enhance the delivery of the message. 

The two ensembles regrouped as one to wrap up the work for the night. Alan Wile offered the 50/50 drawing for the week. Then Joe thanked Steve Armstrong for his work session with the Harmonizers and invited him to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.” There was a large group of members and guests who came to the HarmoHouse for pizza and the afterglow.

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 77^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. 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

   Looking Back on the Feb. 17, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting

Weather was not a factor for the Feb. 17 AACC meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian Church starting at 7 pm.  

Jason Lee, assistant director of the Harmonizers, conducted the warm up session for the nearly 65 AACC singers present.  After the warm up exercises, he helped them learn “Place on the Risers for You.”  He teased them though, and didn’t let them sing the tag, with a promise to do that next week.

Stan Quick presided over a business meeting for all before they concentrated on new music. 

Next week the meeting, Feb. 24,  will be at AlexRenew, 1800 Limerick St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Steve Armstrong, the arranger for the two Harmonizer contest songs for this summer, will be on hand to add his suggestions and notes to their contest plan. Luckily, the men are really making fast progress on those songs and will be eager to have him share what he had in mind for the arrangements. Steve is a noted coach, judge and director - and friend of the chapter.  

Looking ahead: The Wilbur Sparks Memorial Put Together Quartet Contest has been rescheduled for the March 3 chapter meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian. Members still looking for fellow singers to form a quartet can get help from music team leaders.  Quartets can be mixed genders, guests can sing in the contest, quartets can sing a whole song or just a tag, costumes and comedy have always been a popular part of the event and in fact, there are awards for the best comedy group. 

Stan thanked the members who sang on Feb. 14 in the Alexandria community for Valentine’s Day. 

 Dean Rustprovided this copy about the day: Brian Ammerman, Jeff Burkey, Ken Rub and Dean Rust represented AACC on this community outreach project. These men were the only signups on Slack but with Ken reverting to bari and Jeff singing lead – they had four parts. Dean arranged visits to five Alexandria senior facilities: Goodwin House, Cogir of Alexandria Fillmore, The View, Woodbine Rehab and Healthcare, and Sunrise of Alexandria. They sang for 140 residents and staff with many breaking into smiles and singing along on the well-known love songs. After singing, the quartet socialized briefly with residents and heard many requests to come back. The quartet left behind specially designed Valentine  cards from AACC. 

President Craig Kujawa thanked the membership of AACC for their many nominations for 2025 chapter distinguished service awards.  The task force appointed by Craig has completed their 

considerations and now Craig is interested in any suggestions as to when/where the awards ceremony should be held. 

Recently, Terry Reynolds shared a run down on the upcoming activities of the chapter’s youth ensemble.  

Sunday, March 1, they will celebrate Youth Harmony Day at the Lee Center from 2-6 pm. Other groups invited to participate include the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Alexandria Children’s Chorus, and the GenOUT Youth Chorus from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. 

On March 19, the AACC chapter will support a day-long choral festival for schools in DC.  This is a major event for the chapter in cooperation with music educators in the DC School system. 

Sheryl Berlin, admin for Capital Force, announced that AACC members will be needed to manage admin and support activities for both events such as providing bottled waters and snacks and set-up duties. Stay tuned for signup opportunities. 

Finally, Capital Force will have their wrap-up concert for this season, on Sunday, March 22. Both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers will sing on that concert. 

Terry also emphasized the need for AACC members to submit their pre-interview survey in advance of their assigned interview time.  Check schedules for interviews published in Slack and posted at the chapter meeting.  Members are asked to contact Terry directly if it turns out they can’t make the interview on the date assigned.  This is all part of the chapter’s major effort to interview all singers each year to get a pulse on their needs, concerns, ideas or suggestions. Interviews will be done by musical directors and/or section leaders.

Chapter secretary, Cy Shuster, presented Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) membership renewal cards to the following members: Chad Ross for 4 years; Jeff Berkey for 8 years; Frank Fedarko for 24 years; and Frank Shippfor 24 years.

Membership director, Jacob Broude, reminded members to be sure they have added their photo to Slack.  He also showed everyone the new name tags for a member of each ensemble who didn’t remember to wear their name tag – 5x6-inch signs that say, “Oops I forgot my name tag!” (Thanks to Tyler for making the fun tags.) This continues a long-time tradition in the chapter that goes back at least 60 years!

Jacob welcomed two returning guests Todd Miners and Owen Lyons; and three first time guests Joe Drack, Annabel Waggoner, and Dana Wooster. Assistant director of Metro Voices, Maggie McAlexander, led the chapter welcome song. 

At this point, the two ensembles moved to work on their music in separate spaces in the church. 

Reporter Annie Ermlick, shared that Metro Voices worked on their contest songs, held sectionals to work on “Yes I Can” – a new uptune arranged by Steve Tramack, and then worked on “Preamble.” The Harmonizers worked with their associate director, Tony Colosimo, to iron out more parts of “Harmony” and then progressed to singing it without music.  They were preparing for their session next week with arranger Steve Armstrong.  The Harmonizers held sectionals on their other contest song, “Stars in the Night.”

The two ensembles regrouped as one to wrap up the work for the night.  Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, led them in “Keep the Whole World Singing.” He invited everyone to the HarmoHouse for an afterglow, now that the snow had melted and there was plenty of street parking.  A large crowd attended this week including several new dads who were comparing notes about the fun and challenges of raising little ones. 

In other chapter news, Dean Rust keeps track of how many people the chapter sings for during the year. He uses the info when he is submitting applications for grants that the chapter might earn. The total for 2025 was 6,044 including over 1,300 for veterans.  

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

 

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