Looking Back on the September 13th 2022 Harmonizer Virtual Chapter Meeting

 Looking Back on the September 13^th 2022 Harmonizer Virtual Chapter Meeting

 

Chapter leadership decided to hold a brief meeting this week via Zoom to get all the details and logistics to members for their appearance at Wolf Trapp on Sunday, Sept. 18^th

 

And then let the men have the rest of the evening off after all the work in recent weeks to prepare for the fall show.

 

When the call opened, however, artistic director Joe Cerutti thanked the chorus members – singers and non-singing helpers – for an awesome show. One of the best ever!  Many men on the call shared reactions. The mayor of Alexandria stayed for the whole show. 

 

Joe paid tribute to the extraordinary efforts by shows director Doug White who had to fill in as show producer as well as director.  His efforts to communicate with the chorus leadership as well as the staff at the venue made it all work smoothly. 

 

Then we all got to see the video that was shown while the chorus sang “Remember Me.”  The chorus didn’t get to see it while they were on stage. (Several men admitted it was a good thing they couldn’t see it or there would have been no singing.  It was an emotional moment even on the Zoom call.)  It was a wonderful way to honor Harmonizers and Harmonizer friends and family lost during the pandemic.

 

Joe thanked Mike Kelly for his efforts to produce all the videos used on the show.

 

Members should be on the lookout for a Pulse Survey about the show from the music team leadership. 

 

Here are the details, as Joe knows them at this time, for the Wolf Trap performance Sunday Sept. 18^th with other major choral groups from the DC area. The show organizers have asked us to sing “Circle of Life” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” from our repertoire   

The Harmonizers will share the program with seven other groups:  Children’s Chorus of 

Washington, Duke Ellington School of the Arts Concert Chorale, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and GenOUT, The Heritage Signature Chorale, Towson University Singers, The Washington Chorus, and the Washington Performing Arts Gospel Chorus. All of these singers will combine to perform two numbers as a group – “We Are Love” and “United in Purpose. ” 

 

The music for those songs is available on the chapter’s Groupanizer space as are learning tracks. Joe suggest singers should at least listen to those two songs a couple times. Singers can use the music for these songs,  but you must bring your own copy to go into the folders.  Joe also would welcome any other singers who would change from “maybe” or “not singing” to participate.

 

Uniform will be blue suit pants and vests and orange tie. No medals.  Chorus members should arrived dressed and should bring as little as possible. However, a snack or health bar might be wise.  Joe did suggest everyone watch the weather for that day and prepare ahead. Masks must be worn whenever inside – such as for the bathrooms.

 

The chorus call at Wolf Trap will be 1 pm. – no later!  There will be a warm up someplace near the stage.  The Harmonizers stage time will begin strictly at 1:50. At 4:30 pm, the chorus will join all the other featured ensembles to work on the combined two songs on stage. Then they will all stay on the stage for the 5 pm show opening.  Friends and family should not arrive in the concert area early with their singer.  Parking is reportedly free. 

 

According to Joe, each singer will not need to buy a ticket, but details about getting two other free tickets has not been communicated to the chapter. Therefore, Joe is working to get clarification on the ticket questions and promises an email if and when he gets answers! It is also not certain, but it appears that guests might be able to get a lawn seat for $10 at the door.  Stay tuned.

 

Also during this week’s Zoom call, Joe  announced the planned songs for the 2022 Holiday Show that will be on Friday, Dec. 9^th at Schlesinger. There will be a lot of songs we have sung at previous holiday shows.  A couple of new ones include “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and “Winter Wonderland.”  The new METRO VOICES project chorus will sing one song on the holiday show too. Work will begin on the holiday music on Tues. Sept. 20^th.  Guest artists are still being invited. Chapter quartets that are interested in singing a number on the show should contact Joe. 

 

Finally, Joe shared that final details about our appearance at the M-AD fall contest are still being worked out. 

 

The call ended with a viewing of the other videos used for the show.

 

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 74^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)

 

 

Looking Back on the September 10th 2022 Harmonizer Fall Show

 Looking Back on the September 10^th 2022 Harmonizer Fall Show

 

There was a great swell of joy and happiness when the Harmonizers presented their first  fall show in  few years.  The theme for the show, “A Beautiful Morning,” was the central message of all of the songs and the remarks by presenters during the 90-minute show on Saturday, September 10^th  at Schlesinger Hall in Alexandria.  The auditorium was nicely full on the main level and lower balcony.

Artistic director Joe Cerutti summed it up best in his “Welcome to the Show” message in the digital show program: “This show was three years in the making! The chorus began learning much of this music in late 2019, in anticipation of our 2020 fall show. Then, of course, the pandemic shattered those plans and plunged us into a world of Zoom rehearsals and no live performances. During 2020 we pivoted to planning for a show that would celebrate our community’s emergence from the crisis, not knowing when that day would come. And it turned out that one of our new pieces, David Wright’s stunning and innovative new arrangement of “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” from “Oklahoma,” provided a perfect theme for a show focused on the passing of the pandemic’s foreboding shadows and dawn of a new day.”

There were many volunteers who helped at the show taking and selling tickets, helping guests find their way to seats, and passing out a survey on behalf of the City of Alexandria Office of the Arts. Randall Eliason and Susan Fitzpatrick coordinated that crew of Harmonizer members and family friends. The show program was coordinated by Susan and Frank Shipp.  It included messages from Joe and president Noah Van Gilder and a number of advertisements which members had sold or in some cases, purchased for their own company or firm.

Greg Tepe was stage manager, and a tech team headed by Mike Kelly included John Sifuentes, Lance Fisher andTessa Walker.  Joe Sr. and Janet Cerutti helped with stage set up and decorating the platforms which the chorus stood on for the show, instead of the traditional risers. Jack Pitzer organized backstage refreshments for the singers. 

The 1:00 pm tech session ended early so the chorus did its warm up session on the stage conducted by associate director Tony Colosimo. This session also allowed the singers a chance to adjust their personal performance plans while standing on the platforms – especially challenging for “42^nd Street.”

There were two members who were singing on their very first show as a Harmonizer – David Hillinck and Cy Shuster. Uniform for the show was the blue suit pants and vest and orange tie.  The front row guys wore orange sox too, as did Joe!

The show opened with the theme song “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” with the lights coming up like the sun in the morning and soloists singing a single phrase – ‘oh what a beautiful morning’ - sung by Turner Arndt, ‘oh what a beautiful day” - sung by Frank Fedarko, ‘I’ve got a beautiful feeling’ – sung by Michael Berkson.  The chorus came in during Michael’s last note to sing the song. 

Tony stepped up to speak about our joy of singing again and the celebration of singing for an audience – which was the signal to start “42^nd Street.”  The six guys from 17^th Street Dance ensemble from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, joined our front row to tap the finale of this exciting number. Our Harmonizer front row guys included Randall Eliason, Terry Reynolds, Michael Pugh, Doug White, Ken Rub and Reed Livergood with Bruce Roehm as front row captain.  

Randall told the audience that they had just heard and seen our contest package from July when we earned a third place medal at the barbershop convention.  He also shared that we were honoring front line workers and early responders tonight.  Those in the audience were encouraged to wave and be identified. The chorus sang “Help from My Friends” as a salute. A video of typical scenes from COVID era was projected.  Thanks to Dean Rust for his work in inviting these guests. 

The chorus sang  “Somethings Comin” which was the cue for special guest pianist and songster, Drew Tepe, who appeared on stage sitting at his piano rising up from the orchestra pit of the stage. His enthusiastic style got the audience singing, with help from projected lyrics, on classics like “Fly Me to the Moon,” a couple Beatles songs, and ending with “My Way.” He thanked the chorus for letting him share the stage for the show and saluted the chapter for all it does in the community to get folks singing.

The chorus sang “Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” and then Joe spoke about the benefits of singing for one’s health and happiness. This merged into the chorus singing “Sing a Song” directed by Tony and then the audience singing too.  As the song faded away, a video of the Northwell Health Nurse Choir from NY appeared and their spokesperson shared that they “shared the strong belief in the power of music and its ability to heal, inspire and change lives.”

We honored the memory of many membes of the Harmonizer family who we lost during the Pandemic by projecting their pictures while the chorus sang “Remember Me.”  It was a moving presentation that was hard to sing through for the men on the risers. The final slide of the show was “There will always be a place on the risers for you.” 

Then the chorus sang “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which is one of the songs they will sing on Sept. 18^th in their appearance with other major a cappella groups at an event at Wolf Trapp. 

A special announcement at the show was from Tessa Walker, lead section leader for the Harmonizers, about the formation of a new soprano/alto chorus to be called Metro Voices.  That chorus begin working soon on a couple songs ready to sing on the Harmonizer holiday show in early December. Then the new chorus will launch in earnest in January.  Interested singers can contact Joe, Tony or Tessa or check at Hamonizers.org.

The special guest quartet for this show, FIRST TAKE, sang a fantastic set and performed a great variety of songs for our audience.  The quartet was excited to have new dad and bass, Andrew Havens, on stage – he and his wife Heatherjust added twin daughters to their family a few days before the show. Tenor is Alex Corson,  lead is Tony Colosimo, and baritone is Drew Wheaton. They were proudly wearing their fifth place bronze medals from the contest in Charlotte. During their time on stage, the quartet thanked David Breen for filling in for Andrew when the babies were born and the quartet had a show appearance.

FIRST TAKE then sang “Impossible Dream” and the chorus stood from their seating positions on the platforms to join the quartet for the powerful tag.

The final number for the show was “Circle of Life” which brought the audience to its feet.  The powerful song, with great choreography, color and a special rhythm section organized by chorus friend Ben Hawker to include Bob Blair, was a fitting end to our show for our friends, family, patrons and many former Harmonizers.

Kudos to the music team for their extra work in recent months to help the chorus singers prepare the great music for the show. Joe paid tribute to the extraordinary efforts by shows director Doug White who had to fill in as show producer as well as director.  His efforts to communicate with the chorus leadership as well as the staff at the venue made it all work smoothly. 

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 74^th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)