Looking Back on the June 5-7, 2036 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Retreat
This year’s retreat weekend was a great success, lots of fun, a terrific chance to get to know more members, and enough time to improve the contest packages for the trip to the BHS International contest in St. Louis.
The chapter held this year’s retreat at AlexRenew in Alexandria and members had the challenge to travel into to the city on Friday night from 7-9 pm, then Saturday from 9 to 9 followed by an afterglow at Astro Beer Hall, and again on Sunday from 9 until noon.
The chapter’s music team invited two out-of-town coaches for the weekend for each ensemble. Darin Drown from Denver, CO – a retired music educator and gold medal quartet singer in STORM FRONT; and David McEachern, from Canada and one of the coach team members who developed the Harmonizer package, worked with the Harmonizers for the weekend.
Patrick McAlexander from Houston, TX, certified BHS judge, director of the Space City Chorus, and tenor of PANDA RING quartet (and Maggie’s brother); and Blair Brown from California, a certified BHS judge, former BHS board of directors, and a member of DOUBLE DATE quartet, worked with Metro Voices for the weekend.
Steve Tramack was on hand for the weekend too as an extra set of coaches eyes and ears.
Many chapter members volunteered to help with the retreat operation such as: transportation and hosting for coaches, sound and riser set ups for two rehearsal spaces, clean up on Sunday, and hosting fellow chorus members to save them from long drives back and forth all weekend. The chapter leadership triads all had a role, especially the Culture team (Becca Williams, Kellen Hertz and Matt Darpuse) who helped keep a water supply on the ready and provided donuts and coffee and such for Saturday breakfast, then dinner Saturday evening. There were ice cream treats on Friday night during break too. President Craig Kujawa was on hand to represent the chapter leadership team, as needed, all weekend.
A unique aspect of the weekend was the display of Harmonizer memorabilia that has been removed from the chapter storage units recently. It was all on display for members to review, pick through, and take home any and all they wanted before it was to be all tossed. Thanks for the many who helped haul in the boxes and cart loads up to the meeting space in AlexRenew and to Chad Ross for bringing it in the Harmo truck. (And then taking it to the disposal company.)
Certainly, the music team was key to making the weekend run smoothly and to promote solid learning and member training. Starting with artistic director, Joe Cerutti, and Terry Reynolds who carried the load of admin for the weekend. Then the Harmonizer directors Tony Colosimo and Jason Lee, and Metro Voices directors Samantha Tramack and Maggie McAlexander. Section leaders for both ensembles were also ready to help as needed and to make certain the suggestions and instructions from coaches get passed on to their singers in the next couple weeks.
Friday night started with a game – each members got a sheet with ten spaces where you were supposed get a signature from a member you talked with before things got started that matched the sentences – like ‘has two or more pets,’ ‘is left handed, or ‘has been in barbershop for more than 20 years.’
After the fun mixer, the AACC chorus gathered on the risers for warm up with Jason Lee. Before serious rehearsal started, chapter leaders introduced our newly hired executive director, Nandita (Dita) Rao, then Joe directed the chapter “Welcome Song” for her.
After introducing the coaches for the weekend, there was a bandana check! This included the newest addition to the Class of 2026, Ben Hawker, who joins the 10 Harmonizers: Matt Darouse, Robby Della Bernarda, Cooper Schwartz, Jerry Candrilli, Devante Lucas, Billy Ermlick, Ben Raja, Owen Lyons, Josh Frakes and Logan Glauser; and five Metro Voices: Susan Friel, Morgan Fabber, Laura Rutledge, Renee Tramack and Sarah Lott. Each of the class had their bandana on display! Thanks to Tyler Carpenter for creating the bandanas again this year!
Then it was work by each ensemble until break time - about 8:30 pm for the ice cream bars Jack Pitzer brought. After the break, the singers changed risers for the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning, there was coffee and lots of donuts and fruit for all to enjoy as they arrived for the 9 am start – Tonydid warm ups for the Harmonizers and Maggie did warm ups for Metro Voices. Work continued on the contest packages with the coaches.
For the lunch break, members went out to eat on their own with suggested locations from the Culture Team as to nearby spots. Then it was back to rehearsals until about 6 pm and a longer break and relaxation period for the singers who had spent most of the day on the risers. At one point in the afternoon, Alex Chen was introduced and recognized for his work with social media to promote the Harmonizer package and the story of the Comedian Harmonists. Also, there was the annual group photo taken of the Class of 2026 – in anticipation of their skit later that evening.
At 6 pm, the Harmonizers dressed in their contest attire (for a visual check by leadership) and then they sang their contest set (“Harmony” and “Stars in the Night”) for Metro Voices. Then it was a switch for Metro Voices to sing their set (“Yes I Can” and “Me and the Sky”) for the Harmonizers. The show time was followed by more rehearsal until dinner at 7:30 pm – brought in by the Culture Team – sandwiches and chips and fruit and cookies (plus a big tin of homemade cookies from Ruth, Brendan White’s fiancée).
After dinner, everyone gathered for business and formal presentations. Joe presented a 20-year membership card and lapel pin to Frank Fedarko. Then he presented a 50-year card and pin to Dave Welter with other 50-year members Rick Savage, Carl Kaufmann and Jack Pitzer looking on,.
President Craig reminded members that they could still purchase an individual day pass for the BHS contest in St. Louis for any friends or family. He also suggested it is a wise idea to confirm that members have a hotel reservation and a convention registration.
Then Craig began the presentation of the chapter’s 2025 Distinguished Service Awards to members as nominated by a committee of Annie Ermlick, Bob Blair, Carey Fagerstrom, Chuck Miller, Jack Pitzer, Steve White and Mark Klostermeyer.
Craig first announced a Meritorious Service Award chosen by the president to Sheryl Berlin for her work with Capital Force, Metro Voices, and M-AD.
New Note Award for Metro Voices was presented to Christine Pan and New Note for the Harmonizers was presented to Devin Turner – both members who jumped in and gave it their all right from the start of their membership. The Open Arms Award was presented to Jacob Broude for his major efforts to welcome and on-board the many new member of the two ensembles. The Family Spirit Award was presented to Annie Ermlick, Heidi Brown – plus recognizing Dave Ermlick andBilly Ermlick too – a family in action for both ensembles in the chapter. The chapter Outreach Award was presented to enthusiastic Ashley Merryman who has helped connect the chapter with many community groups and agencies. The 2025 Honor Award was presented to Brad Jones for his behind the scenes work in several areas but especially in his coordination of another international tour for the chapter in 2027.
The Scott Werner Music Award for the Harmonizers was presented to Jason Lee for his work and leadership as an assistant director for the Harmonizers and his work to help new singers when they join the chapter. The Elaine Cooper Music Award for Metro Voices was presented to Carey Fagerstrom for her dedication to the music team of her ensemble.
The 2025 Legacy Award – the highest honor awarded to a member – was presented to Stan Quick to recognize his work to continue growth of leadership teams and to improve operational work with the chapter of several ensembles.
Craig thanked past president Alan Wile for his help to order the plaques and awards to be presented each year. The it was time for the Class of 2026 skit!
Owen Lyons was their emcee and welcomed everyone to a talk show like Family Feud – the class invited members on the riser to answer questions as projected by Billy Ermlick on the big screen. Cooper Schwartz was interviewed by Owen at length, before each member of the class had to introduce themselves.
The Saturday night session ended with Becca Williams and the Culture team inviting everyone to the Afterglow at Astro Beer Hall = there was a good attendance and it was a fun evening.
Sunday morning, folks gathered back at AlexRenew with coffee mugs in hand. A few folks brought goodies to share with coffee.
Maggie did the warm up for the AACC chorus at 9 am and used a fun tag to get the bodies and voices ready. Tony led another review of the “Lifetime” tag. Then the coaches worked with the ensembles for another solid block of rehearsal time.
After the wrap up of rehearsal time, there were a few administrative announcements: a reminder for everyone to pay the $25 fee for the retreat – give payment to a Culture Team member; a thank you to that team for their work; and a plea for everyone to help with putting away risers, cleaning up the memorabilia, and generally making sure that everything was clean and left as we'd found it.
Artistic director Joe then saluted the members involved in the operations transition:, all 24 people in the triads and the logistics team. He reminded the AACC chorus that his vision for the chapter is for our best work to be things we do in our community and not something that we take hundreds of miles away. And he led a chapter thank you and a round of applause for the directors, assistant directors, and coaches who worked to help us all weekend.
Joe invited the coaches to say any closing words, and initially none of them had anything to say. He then asked Blair to conduct the “Lifetimes” tag, at which point she encouraged the members to appreciate the Harmony and Great Spirit there is within the chapter.
“A lifetime’s not too long, not too long, to live as friends!” was the final tag for the weekend.
Members all pitched in to take down risers and various sound and furniture items used for the weekend to be stored at AlexRenew.
Don Thompson summarized the weekend very well in his note to all via Slack: “we came away from the coaching weekend with a feeling of accomplishment and a gratitude for the coaches and deep respect for our musical leaders and the musicians we stand beside!”
(Thanks to Cooper Schwartz for helping report on the weekend.)
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 78th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement: Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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