Looking Back on the April 8, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting
There were a lot of singers present this week and artistic director, Joe Cerutti, was excited to have so many members and guests on hand to make music. He said, “We can always make great music when everyone is together.” It is great to see so many new singers come join us – both former barbershop singers and those who were eager to sing or perform and found AACC on YouTube.
Associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, did an extensive warm up session for the entire AACC chorus. Then Joe welcomed some folks and reported on some things. First, he is better but still had a lingering cough. He eagerly welcomed Clyde Crusenberry back with us.
Joe welcomed his pal and former quartet tenor with Joe prior to the Harmonizer years, from New Hampshire, Matt Mercier. And Joe recognized Jackson Bird who has just finished his appearance in his school performance of “Grease.”
Finally, Joe reported that Bruce Roehm won the men’s basketball contest, and Callie Cirillo won the women’s contest. Joe also claimed that he had out-scored Tony for the third year in a row (but it was revealed Tony didn’t even enter this year!! Sooooo?)
Members should mark their calendars for the May 9 appearance at the Alexandria Choral Society’s anniversary concert. They invited several groups to sing and that included both Metro Voices and the Harmonizers. The AACC combined ensemble will sing “I’m Still Standing,” “Defying Gravity” and “Hey Jude.” There will be aa finale song that all singers will perform together and AACC members will be on their own to prepare for that.
Next week, AACC will gather at City Hall at 7 pm in Old Town and then walk around to sing for crowds there. A mini sort of show will be done on the covered stairs at the Torpedo Factory. The group will sing the same songs that will be used on the May 9 gig, as a rehearsal.
The April 22 and 29 meetings will be at AlexRenew.
At this point, Joe was eager to get the members singing. First up was “Hey Jude” with Matt Ambler doing the solo.
Then the two ensembles worked on their music.
The Harmonizers adjourned for sectionals to work on the new Irish song, “The Parting Glass.” New members met separately for one of their orientations – this one on the history of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) and the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. Terry Reynolds facilitated this session.
Annie Ermlick reports that Metro Voices section leaders worked on “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.” That was followed by the whole ensemble singing it with time to make recordings to submit. And then they worked on their contest song.
The two ensembles came back together for some business items: (1) any chapter quartets interested in filling requests that the chapter gets for singing gigs should contact Frank Fedarko to confirm their interest and be sure he has their contact information. (2) Calvin Schnure and Callie gave a pep talk on Harmony Brigades – another opportunity to sing barbershop in the Mid Atlantic area. One opportunity is coming up Aug. 8-10 in Wilmington, DE. There are scholarship for these events too – speak to Calvin about them!
President Craig Kujawa shared a success story of how Randall Eliason used scrip to earn a major addition to the chapter’s funds. Randall made it sound pretty easy. Secondly, Craig shared a message from past president, Ken Fess, who made a charitable donation to the chapter as a result of his managing his Required Minimum Distribution matters as part of Federal Income Tax programs. Thirdly, Craig reminded members that although we do not pay chapter dues, the decision to eliminate those dues was made so that more members could afford to join us; but that those who could, would donate their dues (or more) – about $100. Fourthly, Craig confirmed the chapter will try to bring in the most donors for spring2ACTion between 3-4 pm on Wed. April 9 – in hopes of getting the prize for the most different donations by any nonprofit. He also thanked those current and former members who donated funds for an almost $10,000 matching fund.
Becca Williams presented a paper on new uniform plans for the AACC. It included details of options and colors to add as accents. Watch for your own copy of the paper that was projected on the screen.
As a reminder, the Honors Flights will be on May 31 in the morning. Watch for more details.
Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed returning guests Heidi Brown, Susan Friel, Max Demers, Jackson Byrd, and Stephanie Byrd. First time visitors were Donald Medor and Matt Mercier. Maggie McAlexander directed the chapter’s “Welcome Song.”
After the business meeting, the two ensembles met to work on their own materials.
The chapter will also have some current or former members singing in quartets at the Northern Division/International prelims contest, April 25-26 in New Jersey, including LEGACY with Rick Taylor; GQ with Samantha Tramack; and PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel.
The evening ended after the drawing for the 50/50 about 10 pm, followed by “Keep the Whole World Singing” directed by lead section leader, Matt Ambler.
Great to see so many new members for both ensembles at the division contest: basically all of Metro Voices were in their first contest. For the Harmonizers, there were nine first timers – Rob Stark, Ian Trent, Suranjan Sen, Josh Berenhaus, Jimmy Miotto, Brandon White, Brigham Blackhurst, Rob Santine, and Tanner Perdue.
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 76th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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