Looking Back on the March 20^th Together in Harmony Show 

The Alexandria Harmonizers joined forces with the Alexandria Singers to host Vocal Collective from Christchurch, New Zealand, in a concert Wed., March 20^th, at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.  The sellout crowd filled the grand auditorium in the Memorial as a tribute and in support of the victims of the violence recently in Christchurch.

Vocal Collective is on tour in the USA and added the stop in Alexandria to join with barbershop friends here for the concert. But after the massacre in their hometown, the trip took on a whole new dimension. After this stop in Virginia, they will go on to New York and later sing at Carnegie Hall.

About 200 singers combined for the finale of the Together in Harmony show! The night started with remarks of encouragement and thanks from New Zealand Ambassador Rosemary Banks. She set the tone for the whole event with her assessment that the evening would be “unity and love exemplified by music.”

Emcee Bill Colosimo, director of the 80-member Alexandria Singers, also welcomed Imam Zia and Ms. Fatimah Popal, co-founder of Makespace American Muslim Community, who spoke and offered comfort as well as appreciation for early responders and the outpouring of national support for their brothers and sisters who lost their lives in Christchurch mosques. She suggested that “music can soothe and will make our hearts lighter.”

The 80-men of the Alexandria Harmonizers barbershop chorus were first up with an excitement-building performance of “Blow Gabriel Blow” featuring our great front row and Tony Colosimo as Gabriel.  Director Joe Cerutti thanked all those who came to support the effort and explained a little about the roots of barbershop which lead right into the chorus having fun with their rendition of “There Must Be a City” made famous by our friends THE FAIRFIELD FOUR. Frank Fedarko did the solo for this one. The chorus wore their black camp shirts.  

Our contemporary a cappella group, TBD – Jacob Broude, Josh Roots, Troy Hillier, Nick Lieserson, Noah Van Gilder, Connor Goss, Terry Reynolds, Clark Chesser, Brian Ammerman, Kellen Hertz, and Jeff  Berkey – sang “Rhythm of Love. ” 

For their final numbers, the Harmonizers performed Neil Diamond’s “America” and then involved the audience in singing “All You Need Is Love” with an interlude for everyone to hug and greet the person next to them. Clyde Crusenberry did the solo on this song. 

Without much break, the Alexandria Singers took center stage dressed in their royal blue and black combination outfits. The mixed voices group was formed in 1975 to sing pops music. They have grown and perform often in the DC metro area and have traveled overseas several times.

One of their songs featured songs from American Bandstand and that got folks in the audience doing the twist in the aisles.  Their piano accompanied show also included an Irish song they sang in Ireland and a great arrangement of “Shenandoah.”  Their special group was a cabaret set with Spanish guitar and dancers. Their finale was a collection of songs from the new movie “Sing.”

During the show, emcee Bill announced that the two Alexandria choruses would be giving their share of the show’s profit to the New Zealand support fund.  And he also announced the late breaking news that the venue hosts of the Masonic Memorial were also yielding their fee for the use of the hall to the fund raising effort.

The 40 singers from Christchurch took the stage next wearing black outfits with accent pieces in bright pastel colors. Their artistic director, Matthew Everingham was their accompanist and spokesperson.  He too spoke about the special treat to share the joy of their music with the other singers and the audience.  They had a number of friends in the audience waving New Zealand flags and leading the cheers!
 
Their mixed voice 40-singer group is an outgrowth of the Christchurch Pop Choir. They sang Bruce Springsteen’s “Up for the Rising” and Carol King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” They sang one beautiful song in the Maori language.  Their special group was a barbershop quartet with David Merriman, tenor;  Ed Dempsey, lead, both barbershop singers from NZ who are in Vocal Collective; Bill Colosimo from the Singers on bari; and Andrew Havens from the Harmonizers on bass.  They sang “Now Is the Hour” with a second verse with the NZ guys in their language and the Virginia guys in English.  It was awesome.

The Vocal Collective finale was “Bridge Over Troubled Waters.”

Then there was a huge finale of all three groups! The Harmonizers and Vocal Collective sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” accompanied by Matthew. And then the Alexandria Singers joined the stage for all three groups to sing Joe Liles’ original song and SATB arrangement of “Let There Be Music, Let There Be Love.”

The newsworthy event did attract local media from NBC and Fox and they both had coverage on the late evening news. It was broadcast via Acaville.org to their subscribers. 

Leaders who coordinated the event from the beginning and then adjusted many aspects of the night after the disaster in New Zealand included Bill Colosimo, Joe Cerutti, Randall Eliason, Liz Birnbaum, Joe Cerutti Sr., Catherine Colosimo, Robyn Murane, Shawn Tallant, and Steve Murane.

Ticket chairman was Dean Sherick. Robyn coordinated a large crew of volunteers to manage tickets sales and collection, usher guests, host singing guests, and collect donations to the relief fund. The Harmonizer usual riser crew was on hand to move in and out. Mike Kelly and Dennis Ritchey and crew provided the sound equipment for the show.

There was a program insert distributed to all attendees for the show offering a QR Code for individual giving.  The link is https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund for those who might wish to contribute to the fund suggested by the Vocal Collective.

There was a fun afterglow at Chadwicks in Old Town Alexandria after the show with a huge crowd of singers from all three choruses there to meet and greet and support the new friends from New Zealand. 

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 70^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd

Looking Back on the March 19^th Chapter Meeting 

The chorus arrived at the meeting place ready to work on the music for Wednesday nite’s Together in Harmony show.  Associate director Tony Colosimo conducted the warm up session in conjunction with Reed Livergood.  Then Tony worked with the singers on the two songs we will sing in the show finale with the Alexandria Singers and the Vocal Collective.

Director Joe Cerutti then announced some major changes for the show because of the awful news that came in from New Zealand a few days ago. Our goal is to help our singer friends from Christchurch in Vocal Collective to know that we support them in light of the disaster that happened in their home town just before they had to depart for the USA.

Song selection changes meant we would not sing “Empty Chairs” and replace it with “America.” 

There will be some special guests on hand for the nite including the New Zealand Ambassador. There is already word that there will be media on hand from local NBC and Fox Channels.

With that news, it was on to work on the songs for the show.  The chorus has worked hard on their own to prepare the music and visual presentation for the package.  The front row has worked extra hard too, as have all the brand new chorus members who had it all to learn!

During the evening, the chorus also worked on some of the brand new songs we are adding for 2019. 

Three guests were on hand from NZ early in the evening.  Joe welcomed barbershopper Ed Dempsey, Loretta Dempsey, and David Merriman.

Communications director Steve Murane conducted this week’s meeting which included some details about arrivals and duty assignments for the show. Mostly note that the chorus arrives warmed up and dressed at 5:15 pm.  Earlier groups will be there to set up risers and ticket counters and such. 

There will be tickets for sale at the door. Just $10 ea. There will be an afterglow at Chadwicks in Old Town after the show.

Our next big chpater event is the Youth Harmony Festival on Fri. April 5^th.  Harmonizer education director Sheryl Berlin has increased the number of student attendees to 130!!

Then comes Spring2ACTion – one of our major fund raiser activities – April 10^th.

President Shawn Tallant reported that Mark Klostermeyer ruptured his achilles tendon over the weekend.  Stay tuned for more details.  Joe reports that Scott Kahler’s dad, Ray, has been placed in hospice.  Both Scott and his dad were Harmonizers.

Chapter secretary Chris Buechler presented membership renewal cards to Connor Goss for 2 years; Turner Arndt for 5 years; Dave Branstetter for 14 years; Kevin McKenzie for 20 years; and Chris Huber for 27 years.

In addition to the guests from New Zealand, Jimmy Miotto was present for his second visit.  He is a tenor singer and friend of Jacob Broude.

In other chapter news, the Harmonizer history team was happy to receive four boxes of former show scripts from Ken Fess who is preparing to sell his home and is downsizing.  Thanks to committee member Bob Rhome for getting the donation from Ken.

Thanks to Dean Sherrick for offering to take on the project of scanning our 50^th anniversary book “Breathless Moments.”  And thanks to Gary Cregan for spotting a coffee pot for a good price on sale at a thrift store to replace the one we lost this winter. 

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 70^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd