Looking Back on the Jan. 17, 2023 Alexandria Kickoff Chapter Meeting
The Alexandria Chapter had taken a break from regular chapter meetings after the December holidays and into the first few weeks of January. No meeting was held on Jan. 3 or 10. It is the tradition to launch the new year with reports from the music team and artistic director, Joe Cerutti. The evening was interspersed with tag singing taught by David Breenand guests Ian Kelly and Maggie
McAlexander.
This year’s kickoff session was unique in that it was a kickoff session for two ensembles – the Harmonizers and Metro Voices. Joe set the stage with his opening remarks that “we are at a rare moment for the chapter with the launch of the 75th anniversary of the chapter and the launch of the Metro Voices ensemble. For the anniversary, the thrust is to focus on the significant past that previous singers have created and then build upon that for the future such as by adding new ensembles to the chapter such as a youth and a senior chorus.” The point was made repeatedly that both of these ensembles are part of the same chapter with plans to add additional ensembles.
Joe shared the new 75th anniversary logo via projection thanks to the tech support of Dennis Ritchey this week. Joewas assisted by Terry Reynolds as well for the presentations.
There were two new guests this week for the Harmonizers – Ian Kelly, a tenor from the Seattle area who lives in MD now and sings in the Army chorus; and Matt Ambler, a friend of Ben Watsky with whom he had sung outside barbershop. Stephen Gudauskas, bass, was back for his third visit. It was also great to see some members back in the hall that we have missed including Jim Kirkland, Chris and Dixie Buechler, Clyde Crusenberry, Calvin Schnure and Zak Sandler. There was also a large number of members on the Zoom connection this week too.
The Metro Voices “project chorus” ended in December and this night was the formal launch for that group as an ensemble in the Alexandria Chapter organization. There were about 20 singer guests who registered for Metro Voices. Those singers will be auditioning over the next month or so, and once accepted, will join BHS and the Alexandria Chapter. They will be members of the chapter but not the Harmonizer chorus. The near term priority is to get MV established musically, and in the not-too-distant future some of their members will serve on chapter leadership teams.
The Metro Voices music team will be headed by Joe as artistic director for all ensembles. Tessa Walker will continue as interim director with a goal to move over to direct the youth chorus (she is a music educator currently and that is a good fit for her skills). Joe praised and thanked her for dedication and hard work to get the project chorus rolling.
The new musical director for Metro Voices will be Samantha Tramack. She is currently a music educator in NH and will finish out her contract there and move to our area in the summer. The assistant director will be Maggie McAlexander. She has a quartet gold medal in Harmony Inc. and has moved to the area recently from Nashville.
The 2023 musical team for the Harmonizer chorus will be headed by Joe as artistic director, Tony Colosimo as associate director, and Terry Reynolds as assistant director. Randy Lazear will be tenor section leader. Ben Watsky and Lance Fisher will be co-section leaders for the leads. Jason Lee will be section leader for the baritones. Then there is a vacancy for a bass section leader at this time. Tyler Carpenter will fill a new role as bass section admin coordinator. The plan is to add a similar admin person for the other three sections. Turner Arndt will be visual leader again.
Joe thanked Ryan Mextorf for his leadership as bass section leader in recent years. Ryan and his wife just added a new baby girl to their family. Joe also thanked David Breen for his work in leading the bass section.
As mentioned above, there are plans to establish the Capital Force seasonal (Sept. – Jan.) youth chorus starting in September 2023. Then as early as 2024, the chapter will establish a Seniors Chorus that would be a day-time group. This expansion and growth leads to “a singing organization for all people within our community.”
The plans and schedule/calendar was shared and certainly shows that the singers will be busy during 2023. For the Harmonizers, the calendar was shared in more depth in an email that went to singers as they prepared for their annual interview with Joe. The interviews will be held from Jan. 20-Feb 22 – either at the Harmo House or via Zoom. Board member Dave Kohls will be an observer for the interviews.
Here are some highlights of the year for the Harmonizer chorus - some of these events will include other ensembles:
· a bus trip to Newport News, VA, for show at Christopher Newport University, April 22;
· a talent cabaret will be added to the Spring2ACTion activities;
· annual Crawfish Boil at Harmo House for all members
· there will be a retreat at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD in June (there will be an annual retreat even in years when the chorus does not compete at International);
· there will be a celebration party for the members and family to recognize the chartering of the Alexandria chapter in mid-June;
· host Heavy Medal chorus from Germany in the DC area prior to their sing in Louisville at BHS contest
· outdoor concert at Franconia (formerly Lee) District – a Fairfax County Park Concert on Telegraph Rd.;
· 75th Anniversary Show – Sept. 9, Schlesinger
· Launch of Capital Force seasonal youth ensemble combined with annual youth harmony festival – Sept. 10
· Mid Atlantic District Contest/Convention – Sept. 29-30
· 75th Anniversary Gala – Oct.
· Veteran’s Day sing out – Nov. 11
· Holiday Carol Crawl Tues Dec. 12 – promote holiday show
· Holiday Show – Dec. 16-17
There were a couple business announcements during the evening: the SRT in DC offered to waive the rental fee for the holiday show the chapter had there it we could have a group sing for them Feb. 4th. Terry Reynolds is working to collect names of available singers.
Craig Odell announced that the funeral service for Linda will be Jan. 28, 2022, at the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home. Barbershoppers will join in singing “Irish Blessing.”
John Sifuentes was selling swag shirts for FIRST TAKE quartet promotion at Mid-Winter convention this month.
Terry also presented a proposed meeting night options plan for both ensembles. These options will mean that rehearsal time and the space in SRT is well used. That plan also could mean some alternative locations some nights. Some events will be included in these additional nights such as the annual Put Together Quartet Contest.
The board of directors for the Alexandria chapter includes Noah Van Gilder, president; Cy Shuster, secretary; Terry Reynolds, treasurer; Devin Gerzof and Tuner Arndt, members at large; John Greene, Dave Kohls, Carolyn Griffin, community members at large. Carolyn will also be vice president. There is one vacancy on the board at this time. Steve White is 75th anniversary chairman. This board concerns itself about budgets, policy and oversite plus comparison with the strategic plan.
The day-to-day operation for the entire chapter (all ensembles) include:
Executive Director – Randall Eliason,
General Manager – Susan Fitzpatrick
Artistic Director – Joe Cerutti, Jr.
Music Team Admin – Terry Reynolds
Membership Director – Jacob Broude
Contest Director – Craig Kujawa
Chapter Secretary – Dave DesPortes
BHS Finance Director – Dave Welter
AHI Finance Director – Carl Kauffmann
Communications Director – Steve Murane
Director of Shows – Doug White
Operations Director – Gary Cregan
Education Director – Sheryl Berlin
Volunteer Activities Director – vacant
Archivist/Historian – Don Harrington
Each of these directors needs a team of helpers. Any members interested should volunteer or offer their name to Randall.
Ken Rub presented the important money raising or development plan that will enable the chapter to launch new ensembles, conduct anniversary events, and expand chapter programs. In short, the chapter has confirmed a major donation in honor of the 75th anniversary, then the chapter plans to raise a match to that donation from monies from the members, then the chapter will also raise a match to that donation from monies collected from non-members. Some of those matching amounts will be received in already existing programs such as Spring2ACTion, dues replacement, Giving Tuesday Campaign, the anniversary GALA, grants, plus shows and concerts.
The final announcements from the music team shared the repertoire for the anniversary year.
For the Harmonizers, a few songs will be kept from 2022 for the early April performances, but work will begin immediately on returning songs, “I’m the Music Man” and “New York, New York.” Other songs to be added include “Music of the Night,” ‘”San Francisco” from “I Am Harvey Milk,” and a new arrangement of “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat.”
Metro Voices will work on “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” “I See the Light,” and “If I Were A Bell.”
A couple new songs will be sung by both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices – “Defying Gravity” and “Why We Sing.”
As part of the 75th year, the music team has been working to have 3-5 song commissioned for this anniversary year. Composers were invited to write original songs. There will likely be 3-5 of those for the Harmonizers, and 1 for Metro Voices. This project was funded as a memorial for Sandy Stamps by her husband, Mick, and the family.
At the end of this long evening, Joe invited folks to the Harmo House at 3916 N Stevens St., Alexandria, VA, for the afterglow. The 50/50 winner was Randall Eliason. The other half of the funds go to the Mid Atlantic District Endowment Fund.
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 74th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)
