Looking Back on the A CA CHALLENGE Event March 22^nd

The event was a huge success!!  A huge and wild audience cheering for the six A CA CHALLENGE contestants in the first such contest sponsored by the Harmonizers came to the famous Lincoln Theater on U Street in DC all in support of a cappella singing.

There were six groups competing for the $1000 first prize offered by the Alexandria Chapter:

UMW Symfonics

GW Vibes

Chromatics

Capital Blend

Word of Mouth

Noctonals

Each of the groups is from the DC Metro area and has grown out of singers wanting to do more singing in their work or college communities.

First place winner was Word of Mouth.  Second place was Chromatics and third place was GW Vibes

Judges were Amanda Cornaglia (managing partner at Clear Harmonies productions and The A Cappella School in Gaithersburg, MD), Danny Ozment (director of outreach with CASA); and Joe Sawyer (Harmonizer bari of DA CAPO).  Emcee for the event was Harmonizer Rick Taylor (also director of the Dundalk Chorus of the Chesapeake).

While judges scores were tallied and the audience votes collected (audience favorite votes were cast via texts to numbers assigned to each contestant), the Harmonizers performed for the enthusiastic audience.  The chapter’s own a cappella group,. TBD, sang a song as well (Kellen Hertz, Scipio Garling, Ben Roberts, Dave Hood, Terry Reynolds, Todd Ryktarsyk, Tom Kraus, Noah Van Gilder, Josh DesPortes, Josh Roots, Nick Leiserson, Troy Hillier, Jeremy Richardson)

Director Joe Cerutti and the chorus debuted two new songs for this show that will be used during the shows in Normandy France when the chorus sings there in June.  Choreographer Carlos Barillo had developed a revived “Glenn Miller Medley” for the chorus.  The strong arrangement by Jay Giallombardo of “Tribute to World Peace” was a resounding finale for the show.  The highly entertaining “Anything Goes” package from the Harmonizer’s third place medalist performance in Toronto for the BHS contest was also a hit with the audience of singers.

The show and contest pushed the old Lincoln Theater to the limits with so many performers on the stage during the nite.  So the chorus did warm up work in the lobby with assistant director Will Cox before the show, in a nearby bar that was not opening til late, and in the parking lot just before taking the stage.  The 85 chorus singers dressed where ever they could find a corner.  Terry Reynolds and Mark Klostermeyer kept the chorus informed and headed in the right directions throughout the rehearsals.  Don Dillingham, Mike Kelly and Chris Huber helped introduce songs during our part of the show.  This was the first Harmonizer show for Nathan Ritter and Tony LaRosa.

Ken Rub was over all producer for the event including getting the idea off the ground. Greg Tepe was event director and kept the stage operations rolling. Christina Ammerman was coordinator of the talent groups back stage along with Robyn McQueen.  Craig Kujawa was judge coordinator. Scipio Garling was talent scout. Noah Van Gilder was marketing head. Skip Coburn did the “showbill” advertising sales and production as well as helped with outside events such as the afterglow at Diego Lounge.  FRIENDS IN HARMONY volunteered and staffed information and will call tables in the lobby.

The hall was very full thanks to a big push of ticket sales via Groupon and the good response to ticket sales by the chapter members. 

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 of the great things going on each week during the 66^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)