Looking Back on the Feb. 4, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Meeting
This week’s meeting was an official guest night event for AACC at AlexRenew. Much of the evening was coordinated by membership director, Jacob Broude, and the chapter welcomed 10 first time guests and 8 returning guests from January.
The first time guests were Shira Perlmutter, Ruth Catlett, Erin Schmidt, Joe Capel, Alyssa Stanton, Samantha Clifford, Camara Capel, Juliane Valencia, Eric Hunstiger and Will Rippeto. Returning guests were Akshar (AJ) Gupta, Leah Bernstein, Robert Stark, Christine Pine, Patrick Horne, Muamen Alsheakh, Brigham Blackhurst, and Heather Huish.
The outline for the evening’s program and activities was:
- 7:00 pm Meet and Greet
- 7:15 Introduction and Warm up
- 7:35 Welcome / Quick Business
- 7:45 Rehearsal (choruses split)
- 8:25 Informal Social/Tagging
- 8:35 Performance
- Metro Voices – “Auld Lang Syne”
- Harmonizers – “Calling Dreams”
- Combined – “I'm Still Standing”
- 8:50 Mixer game
- 9:20 “Keep The Whole World Singing”
Tony Colosimo, associate director of the Harmonizers, conducted vocal and physical warm ups for the singers; then Maggie McAlexander, assistant director of Metro Voices, did more singing warm ups with a fun round (“to stop the train in case of emergency, pull down the chain, pull down the chain, penalty for improper use, five pounds”) and ended her session with the tag “New York Ain’t New York Anymore.” She also invited octets of singers to step out to sing it for the others.
Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, welcomed everyone and thanked the chapter’s musical leaders as he introduced them. Several of them offered comments such as “what is a tag” and helped the many guests find a section to sing in for the evening. Joe welcomed Walt Page who was back this week.
Then the Harmonizers and Metro Voices moved to separate rehearsal space to work on their new music. Guests were welcomed to sing too and were given music to use.
There was a ten minute break about 8:30 for singers to visit and members to reset the hall for a mini-show. Each ensemble sang a song for the guests who were seated in seats up front. Then the ensembles combined to sing “I’m Still Standing.”
During the business session that followed, leaders spoke about the Feb. 15 inaugural performance of the Capital Force youth ensemble. It will begin at 3:30 pm, with a 2:30 call time for the Metro Voices and the Harmonizers who will appear with them. Location is the George Washington Masonic Memorial, 101 Callahan Dr. It is free for audience members. Tessa Walker directs Capital Force. Later that evening, the Harmonizers will perform for leaders of the Honors Flights program.
Then on Feb. 20, a small ensemble from the chapter will sing at a Defense Attaché Association reception at the Danish Embassy in DC at 7 pm..
Music team admin coordinator, Terry Reynolds, reported details for the annual interview process for all AACC singers which is currently underway. All interviews will be at the Harmo House except for those scheduled via Zoom.
Ken Rub, development director for the chapter, encouraged members to buy their tickets for the March 1, 2025, Gala, “Emerald Affair, ” at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N Union St., Alexandria, VA 22314, 7:30-10 pm. Guest emcee for the event is Dr. Jim Henry, director of the Ambassadors of Harmony in St. Louis and coach of the Harmonizers. Guest quartet will be SECRET BEST FRIENDS from the Mid Atlantic District.
Randall Eliason explained how members should get auction items for the Gala such as travel events, restaurants, professional services, or recreation events. The goal is to get items that could likely be sold for $100 or more, or gift cards that could be bundled and sold as a group. Members can bring donated auction items to Randall at February chapter meetings.
Joe shared details of the latest project by the chapter - to bring barbershop singing experience to students in the DC Public School system. There will be 136 students at the Fri. March 7 event at UDC at 4 pm. Immediate need is for an AACC member to coordinate collection of waters and snacks for the youth event. Members who could help should speak to Sheryl Berlin or Stan Quick ASAP.
Jacob presented visitor pins to all the guests and Terry Reynolds directed the chapter “Welcome Song.”
Becca Williams and Devin Gerzof coordinated a fun mixer game for all singers. Attendees formed into groups of 10 or so and each group had to sing a few bars of any song with the word “sky” in the lyrics when it was their turn. In the end, one group out-lasted all the other groups with a song that had the right word!
“Keep the Whole World Singing” was the closing number for the evening. Joe issued the usual invite to the afterglow at the Harmo House explaining the location and pizza-slice-count to the many guests.
In other news from the chapter, kudos to Zak Sandler for his original musical, “Inside My Head” that was performed at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, MD, in January. Several AACC members and their partners attended. The show was endorsed by The National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Also in January, a number of AACC members participated in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter Convention in San Antonio, TX. The Seneca Valley High School Singers, Germantown, MD, directed by Tessa Walker, earned an Outstanding rating in the junior chorus festival. They sang “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It” with “Get Happy.”
Joe Cerutti was a music judge for the junior quartet contest. Former member, Paul Wietlisbach, competed with SILVER RING quartet in the senior quartet contest.
FIRST TAKE, with Tony Colosimo and Andrew Havens, was featured on the Saturday night show. Earlier in the week, Tony filled in as baritone to help a M-AD quartet, GIMME FOUR, on a show. John Santora served as Immediate Past President of the BHS board of directors. Current president of the board is, Kevin Keller, who has often coached the Harmonizers.
Other AACC family at the convention included Steve and Renee Tramack, Bill Colosimo, John Sifuentes, Sheryl Berlin, Mike Fasano, Chuck Hunter, and Bob Eckman. Based on comments that appeared on Slack, there were also a number of members who watched it live.
At the Feb. 4 chapter meeting, Joe shared that guest, Muamen Alsheakh, earned a co-championship title with his quartet, BOYSEN BLUE in the Junior Quartet Competition at the recent BHS Midwinter. He has recently moved to the DC area with his family.
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.
