Looking Back on the Jan. 11-13, 2024 Alexandria Participation at BHS MidWinter
(Thanks to reporters Cy Shuster, EJ Herold, Brad Jones, and Dixie Kennett for their reports to help create this report. YeEd).
Members of Alexandria A Capella Collective made their way to NYC for the 2024 Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) MidWinter convention and contests January 11-14. Many by train or bus. All events were at the Sheraton NY Times Square Hotel. Many members took advantage of the trip to see some Broadway shows as well.
Both the Harmonizers and Metro Voices were invited to sing on the Thursday, Jan. 11 show with a large contingent of other Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) ensembles.
Here is a report from EJ Herold: The Harmonizers and Metro Voices assembled throughout the day on Thursday, arriving by all manner of conveyance to the Big Apple. As they gathered in their color-palette-approved raiment, they presented a feast for the eyes that would soon complement that for the ears.
Warm-ups were led by Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, as voices and bodies were limbered up to dispel tension and pre-performance nerves. Under Terry Reynold’s watchful-eye, the group was ushered through movements and stage blocking to prepare for a professional-looking series of on-stage transitions. Following a sound check of “Defying Gravity,” there was a warmup with Parkside Harmony, Parkside Melody and Gotham to prepare the closing song, “How Can I keep From Singing?” There was a palpable sensation of the camaraderie of singing.
During the performance, artistic director, Joe Cerutti, was at the helm for the combined Alexandria ensembles for stunningly emotional renditions of “San Francisco” and “Defying Gravity.” “New York, New York” proved to be a crowd-pleaser getting amused reaction to the “kick line;” and Samantha Tramack’s solo in “Gravity” was a tour de force that brought the audience to their feet. “San Francisco” got whoops and a standing “o” from the audience, as well. Finally, “Why We Sing,” with a touching introduction about the importance of the barbershop family, was another hit.
The Metro Voices performance appeared to go well but we were backstage with no way to observe the performance or audience reaction, other than hear enthusiastic applause. Samantha directed their performance.
Ye Ed gathered the following information about other Alexandria participation at the convention. There was a last minute change for the Harmonizer performance when Zak Sandler had to miss the trip to NYC due to illness and wasn’t there to accompany the Harmonizers for “San Francisco.” He helped Joe locate a piano accompanist in NYC about midnight before the performance! The substitute did a great job with little or no extra work with the chorus.
Tessa Walker’s mixed youth chorus, Seneca Valley Singers, from Germantown, MD, earned an Outstanding Rating in the Next Generation Festival for Junior Choruses on Friday, Jan. 12. There were 36 students in the group that sang three songs. She is a music educator at their school.
Many members from AACC went to the Massed Sing at Times Square as reported on SLACK.
Also, there were a large number of Alexandria singers in the M-AD Seniors Chorus that competed in the MidWinter Senior Chorus contest on Friday. The chorus was directed by Keith Harris. They sang “How Lucky You Are,” and “That Old Quartet of Mine.” The following members sang on the contest stage and earned gold medals for their first place finish: Bob Blair, Chris Buechler, Frank Fedarko, Mike Geipel, Brad Jones, Adele Jones, Carl Kauffmann, Dave Welter, Steve White, Rick Taylor, Bob Wilson, Chris Yates, Mike Wallen, Tim Buell, and Biff Gaut.
SILVER ALERT quartet with Kris Zinkievich, Kevin McKenzie, Mike Edison, and Steve Murane placed 21st in the 2024 International Seniors Quartet finals contest, Saturday Jan. 13. They sang “Just in Time” and “Blue Velvet” – with some original words and arrangement work by the quartet family.
Society president, John Santora, attended meetings. Former BHS president, Alan Lamson, attended, as well. Bill Colosimo attended as chair for the BHS Leadership Development Committee. Chris Buechler, Steve Tramack, andMike Louque were involved as judges at the convention. Joe was a busy member of the BHS staff as well as directing our chorus, and directed a mic tester chorus of convention attendees (which included several Alexandria singers).
For the Saturday night show, FIRST TAKE was one of the medalist quartets from last July’s contest invited to sing on the MidWinter show with Tony Colosimo, lead, and Andrew Havens, bass. As it turned out, their baritone, Drew Wheaton, was unable to make the trip, so seven other baritones each sang one of the songs with FIRST TAKE including Vince Sandroni, Ben Hawker, Heather Havens, Lance Fisher, and Tim Waurick.
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.
