Looking Back on the Jan. 16, 2024 Alexandria Chapter Kickoff for New Year
The snow storm on Tuesday prompted chapter leadership to hold this important meeting via Zoom. It was weird to go back into Zoom-mood – even music team administration guy, Terry Reynolds, admitted he was a little “rusty” at setting it all up like we did during the Covid era.
The meeting had been planned for The Bike Club in Alexandria with refreshments and a relaxing evening. But as it turned out, there were 83 attendees on the call including three guys from far away – Bob Rhome, Keith Jones andMike Edison.
In recent days, all members have received the complete set of slides used by chapter leadership for the kickoff presentation for Alexandria A Cappella Collective (AACC), so this report will give the general highlights of the meeting. Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, spoke on behalf of the music team. Before launching on 2024 plans, he welcomed comments about the successful and fun trip to NYC for MidWinter last week. He was proud and complimentary to the chorus, soloists, quartets, the student chorus from Seneca Valley, and the gold medal winners of the senior chorus contest.
Topics for this week’s Zoom presentation included announcement of music team members for both ensembles. There were basically no changes for the Harmonizers. The expanded list of section leaders for Metro Voices includes Elisabeth Cosh, for tenors; Sophie Clark, for leads; Sheryl Berlin for baritones; and Leah Musico for basses. Tessa Walker will be director for Capital Force youth mixed gender chorus for students in grades 8-11. There is a need for volunteers to help with the launch of this third ensemble – interested members or family members or former members should contact Tessa or Sheryl.
The plan to kick-off another ensemble of all gender seniors (age 55 and over) for a daytime chorus will be in 2025. Terry Reynolds is expected to be director for that group. Senior members of current ensembles will be welcome to join Vintage Blend as well as sing with the Harmonizers or Metro Voices.
The calendar of events for 2024 was reviewed and all members are encouraged to post those events in their own calendar. Joe acknowledged that it will be a very busy year. There was a reminder to leadership to add the chapter’s annual Put Together Quartet contest to the calendar. Also, members were reminded that the meetings will be at AlexRenew for the year ahead except on the third Tuesday of the month. Alternate meeting locations will be used on those Tuesday nights – often for social or networking or outreach in the community.
Joe shared some details about the work with DC Public Schools on March 8. Gold medal quartet, SIGNATURE, will be back to work as clinicians for the day along with a guest soprano and alto clinician. The chorus will sing in the evening for the students and their family members.
He was eager to share early plans for the trip to Lake George, NY, for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Northeastern District Convention and Contest. There will be a bus go up on Friday afternoon so we can do classes and coaching and networking, plus sing a couple times He hopes members will plan to participate in this important and fun weekend.
Songs for a return appearance at Wolf trap with six other choral groups in the area will be “Defying Gravity” and “Hey Jude” for the combined ensembles. That same weekend May 31- June 2 will be the annual retreat. We won’t go to Westminster, MD, this year but hold the combined weekend nearer the Metro Area. Things will start at 7 pm Friday and end between 2-3 pm on Sunday. Likely coaches for that weekend will be Steve Scott and Steve Tramack.
For the July BHS convention and contests, Metro Voices will sing in the Festival event in Cleveland and the Harmonizers will sing “Lullaby of Broadway” and “But the World Goes Round” in the chorus contest. David Wright and Kevin Keller have arranged the songs for us and work will begin soon. Cy Wood will be creating a visual plan for the contest package.
A couple other tidbits of info about the ’24 calendar: the holiday show will be two concerts at Fairlington United Methodist church; a search is on for a venue for a fall show; and with a reminder from Dean Rust, there will be an opportunity for chapter quartets to deliver Valentine appearances in the local community area.
Joe did share that there is talk about a possible International trip in 2025 – current idea is to go to Ireland.
The current board taking AACC into 2024 are : Noah Van Gilder, from the Harmonizers – President; Carolyn Griffin, from the community - Vice President; Terry Reynolds, from the Harmonizers – Treasurer; Cy Shuster, from the Harmonizers – Secretary; Turner Arndt, from the Harmonizers – Member-at-Large; Dave Kohls, from the community – Member-at-Large; Mary Cooper, from Metro Voices – Member-at-Large; Charlyne “Chuck” Miller from Metro Voices – Member-at-Large; and Michael Berkson from the Harmonizers – Member-at-Large.
Priorities for ’24 at to continue work on fundraising/development; address public relations and outreach; continue managing inclusion and diversity. Goals reported for the board are to update the strategic plan, support and oversee the rebranding process, develop new outreach strategies and to approve a balanced budget for ’25.
Day-to-day matters are managed by the operation team coordinated by executive director, Stan Quick. Other members of that team are:
General Manager – Susan Fitzpatrick
Artistic Director – Joe Cerutti, Jr.
Music Team Admin – Terry Reynolds
Membership Director – Jacob Broude
Contest Director – Craig Kujawa
Chapter Secretary – Heidi Krukowski
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
As a reminder, the mission of our organization is “Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.” Stan has established a six-point measurement scale to determine the value and importance of activities. His “Measure of Impact” points include Quality, Community Outreach, Brand Awareness, Financial Health, Culture of Fellowship and Growth of the Organization.
Ken Rub shared some early plans for the March 2, 2024 Gala – our first development gala in recent years with committees at work to make ‘A Night at the Speakeasy’ a success. It will include a silent auction and all members have been asked to gather major gift cards and such for that event. Recent district quartet champ, SMOKE RING, will sing in our speakeasy-themed venue at The Garden on Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria. There will also be a live auction.
Ken also has plans for the Spring2ACTion event with another cabaret watch night at The Bike Club; and Giving Tuesday efforts to include a push for replace-my-dues from members.
Communications director Steve Murane stressed the importance that all members be certain the chapter has correct personal emails. Michael Berkson was thanked for his work to launch SLACK as a new communications tool for the chapter.
Terry Reynolds and Joe took time to explain the traditional interview process for every. Member. Also, they explained the important survey each member needs to take before their interview that will be issued soon. Watch for complete details. Metro Voices will meet with Joe and their director, Samantha Tramack. New Harmonizers will meet with Joeand their section leader. All other members will meet with their section leader.
Joe did take time to review plans for the repertoire in the year ahead. Metro Voices will be adding “Happy Together,” “After You, Who?,’ and “The More I See You. The Harmonizers will add the two contest songs mentioned earlier and bring back “Hey Jude.” Joint songs for the two ensembles in AACC will be “Defying Gravity,” “Why We Sing,” and a new arrangement of “My Romance.”
The mic was open for questions and everyone bid farewell.
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 75th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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