Looking Back on the July 28, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting
The AACC singers were prepared for another solid rehearsal this week on their show songs for upcoming performances. The pending storms and possible tornadoes reduced attendance some, but it never did rain in Alexandria.
The chapter congratulates five members who were certified by the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) as official judges for our contests – having completed their training and evaluations recently at a BHS school in Denver. Congrats to Renee Tramack – singing category; Maggie McAlexander – musicality category; Tyler Carpenter and Terry Reynolds – administrative category; and Cy Wood – performance category!
This week the BHS was holding the annual Harmony University also in Denver and artistic director, Joe Cerutti, was there as a BHS staffer. Samantha Tramack was there as a coach, teacher for a membership class and director for general session warm ups. Of course she was also there as a member of the 2026 quartet champs, GQ
Jason Lee, assistant director of the Harmonizers, led a good warm up session for the singers at AlexRenew. He taught a children’s jingle – one of many versions of “Tony Chestnut Knows I Love Him” and Cooper Schwartz taught the body movements with the singer touching “toe, knee, chest, head for nut, nose, etc.” Of course, the faster the tempo, the more challenging it was!
After the warm up, Tony Colosimo directed the combined AACC chorus rehearsal of “I’m Still Standing,” and “We Will Be One.”
Chapter leaders alerted everyone that the chapter will not sing in Old Towne on Tuesday, August 4 – instead the meeting will be held at Fairlington Presbyterian Church that night. The outdoor sing will likely be held on Aug. 18, so stay tuned for more details. The Aug.11 meeting will be at AlexRenew. The chapter guest night on Aug. 25 will also be at AlexRenew.
The outdoor performance on Thursday, Aug. 20, at Nottaway Park, 9537 Courthouse Rd., Vienna, VA 22181, is confirmed. It will start at 7:30 pm. Arrival time will be about 6:30 pm. Uniform will be the AACC t-shirt. Each ensemble will sing and then they will join together to wrap up the performance.
Looking ahead, the chapter has accepted the invitation to sing Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach. Members should stay tuned about possible bus transportation to Virginia Beach, and other details.
Chapter secretary Cy Shuster presented membership renewals to Devin Turner for two years; Logan Glauser for three years; Charlie Rothermel for three years; Jerry Candrilli for 26 years, and Ken Rub for 35 years. As is the chapter tradition, Ken also was given his 35-year membership lapel pin.
Earlier in the week, president Craig Kujawa forwarded messages to members of both active AACC ensembles about the BHS offer to sell photos from the St. Louis convention and contest.
Jacob Broude welcomed this week’s guests and reminded members that there will be a guest night on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The goal is for each member to bring a singing guest.
This week’s guests included Elizabeth Halford, Serena Davis, David Strasser, and Matthew Dacanay, plus CJ Hunt from Pennsylvania and Chris Noga from Ohio. Terry Reynolds directed the chapter welcome song.
The two ensembles worked separately on their music. The Harmonizers worked on one more section of “The Barber of Seville.” – first in sections led by Lance Fisher for the tenors, Jason Lee for the basses, Jared Liscinsky for the baritones, and Matt Ambler for the leads. Then associate director of the Harmonizers, Tony Colosimo, worked with the full chorus.
They also worked on “Africa;” “I’m Just A Bill” with Zak Sandler and Terry Reynolds reading through the narration; and “Hey Jude” with Matt Ambler’s solo.
Maggie McAlexander directed the Metro Voices rehearsal for their show songs.
Since Joe was in Denver, there was no afterglow at the HarmoHouse. The two ensembles combined to sing “Keep the Whole World Singing” to end the meeting with David Strasser directing.
Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at next week’s chapter meetings. Members can bring their medals and give them to Tyler as early as possible at the meeting place so he can do them all. There is a small fee for the engraving.
YeEd received a note from Joel Golden about the classic rock band he is in – Riptide - with two other Harmonizers, Chris Huber and Doug White. They did a gig on Thursday evening, July 23, as part of the Fairfax County Park Authority summer concert series. Several AACC members went to hear them.
Several members reported seeing Ben Hawker in the choir for Lindsay Graham’s memorial that was televised on Tuesday.
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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