Looking Back on the Dec. 9, 2025 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting
AACC held the pre-show rehearsal and chapter meeting at Fairlington Presbyterian Church which will be the venue for the shows. It was a busy night but admin chief, Terry Reynolds, kept everyone informed as to next steps and things flowed well. Artistic director, Joe Cerutti, and directors Tony Colosimo, Jason Lee, Samantha Tramack and Maggie McAlexander were well prepared and helped the ensembles keep their performances at a high level. The singing was awesome!!!!
Maggie led warm up exercises for the AACC chorus before Jason worked with them on more vocal exercises. Next, each ensemble took a few minutes to work out chorus line ups to determine where the singers would stand in the sanctuary for their songs.
Then the AACC singers ran the entire show with only a stop for a business meeting mid evening. The show run-through included emcees and soloists (they were so terrific – GREAT JOB), as well as how the ensembles would move to the ‘stage’ between sets. It all worked smoothly – thanks to chorus leadership who had a plan in advance.
A couple sneak previews here – the wranglers to help sections of the audience sing each of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” went well – everyone got a kick out of the ‘five golden rings’ signers – Joe, Tony, Samantha and Maggie – as they milked the chords and stole the show! The Harmonizers pretend microphones for “White Christmas” was a laugh too – spoons, water bottles, drum stick, and a piece of picture frame wood were just some that YeEd noticed!
The chapter’s holiday shows are scheduled for Friday December 12 at 8 pm, and December 13 at 7:30 pm, both at the Fairlington Presbyterian Church, 3846 King Street. Call time for both shows is 5:30 pm for all AACC singers. Uniform for both ensembles for the holiday show will be all black dressy with red and/or green accents. For the Harmonizers, that also means no white shirts. If there is a question, contact Becca Williams.
Catherine LaValley, show producer, reinforced lots of details and logistics that members will need to know regarding parking options for members with thoughts about how members could get their family to the show. Again, she emphasized the need for members to each sell five more tickets to the shows. Tickets for the shows, “Follow the Season,” are available via Eventbrite. We are not sold out yet! There will be tickets sold at the door.
Recent messages on the Slack channel from Randall Eliason confirmed the location of a lot of on-street parking spaces.
Catherine also asked for members or their friends who are willing to volunteer outside at the show to direct the parking situation. She emphasized that this year’s parking and venue challenges are well documented with intentions to remedy next time.
Looking ahead:
AACC will have their traditional holiday carol sing in Old Town on Tues. Dec. 16, gathering at Market Square at 7 pm. Wear colorful scarves and gloves if it is cold. This is a fun evening and singers will pop into restaurants along the way to entertain folks inside. (Usually someone brings a supply of Santa hats for singers to use for the event.)
There will be no rehearsals on Dec. 23 and 30. The Jan. 6 meeting will be the traditional kickoff session for the 2026 year and will be held at AlexRenew. Terry announced a change in plans and that the chapter’s next Put Together Quartet Contest will be postponed until Jan. 13 at AlexRenew.
President Craig Kujawa re-emphasized his recent message on Slack about housing at the International convention in St. Louis this summer. All members need to carefully study his recent message via Slack on getting room reservations. The key is to do it on Dec. 15 using the link from Craig. That will get our chapter members into early bird housing (which is a perk for those choruses competing in the contest).
On another subject, Craig asked members to be watching for a new chapter form to use in suggesting fellow members for any of the official chapter awards to recognize 2025 participation. A list of the awards with a description and a list of former recipients will be sent out with the form.
Membership director, Jacob Broude, welcomed returning guests this week: Billy Ermlick, Josh Frakes and Logan Glauser. Also Patrick Horne’s child Riley was in the audience.
Word went out this week that the local WETA station used the Harmonizer recording of “O Come O Come Emanuel” during holiday programing on Monday, Dec. 8.
Theis week’s rehearsal wrapped up about 10 pm. A good crowd of members enjoyed the afterglow pizza and snacks at the Harmo House.
On Thursday of this week, a study task force will also meet at the Harmo House at 7 pm to discuss the official launch of the Vintage Blend mixed gender daytime ensemble as part of AACC. Terry Reynolds will be the director. The task force includes Terry, Joe, Jack Pitzer, Alan Wile, Bob Bates, Mary Cooper, David Welter, Don Harrington, and Chuck Miller.
In other news reported by E. J. Harold, Sunday, December 7, saw the Harmonizers singing Christmas carols for the Blue Star Family Christmas gathering and Santa Meet and Greet held at the BAE Headquarters in Falls Church, VA. The chorus had over 20 voices singing for a large gathering of families – about 250 people.
Blue Star Families is a charity established in 2009 to empower military families to thrive as they serve. The organizers work to connect military families to their neighbors creating vibrant communities of mutual support. A blue star family is the family of a currently serving military member, including active duty, National Guard, Reserve forces, and those transitioning out of service.
The Harmonizers, a balanced group of voices outfitted in their Holiday Show black outfits, with red and green accents, performed in the lobby entrance of the building and sang a rotating play list of their Christmas repertoire. The run time was about an hour and a quarter and, once the families had processed in through the lobby, the singers joined them on the 10th floor for three final songs before departure. Audience appreciation was keenly felt and the interactions with several children brought smiles all around. The performance was directed by Tony Colosimo. Terry Reynolds andFrank Fedarko handled all logistics for the event, which was first signaled to us by Dana Richardson, Military Outreach co-coordinator.
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 77th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
