Looking Back on the August 11, 2026 Alexandria A Cappella Collective Chapter Meeting
There were some singers gone this week, some parents getting kids ready to go to school or college, and some members on vacation. But overall the meeting of AACC singers at AlexRenew was well attended and full of energy.
Tony Colosimo associate director of the Harmonizers, led the warm up session for the combined ensembles. He incorporated some rhythm drills and used the popular “We Sing Late at Times, Canned Goods” exercise for proper vowels. Then he used some of “I’m Still Standing” for warming us the voices.
After the warm up, artistic director Joe Cerutti jumped into action to have the AACC chorus continue rehearsal of “I’m Still Standing” and then moved on to “Defying Gravity” in the pitch needed for soloist Christine Pan to sing at upcoming performances. Then Joe invited Zak Sandler to direct “We Will be One” followed by Joe directing a run-through of “Parting Glass.”
Then there were announcements about the upcoming schedule for AACC.
The outdoor sing in Old Towne Alexandria on Tuesday, Aug. 18, will start at 7 pm with a few warm ups before singing for the assembled folks in town. The two ensembles will take turns performing before combining for the finale. Usually the evening ends with an afterglow at Chadwicks which is the last spot where the chorus sings on these annual Old Towne sing-outs. Attire is AACC t-shirts or a plain black t-shirt. For years the chapter has gathered on Market Square by City Hall, but this year that whole property is blocked off for construction and repair. So the gathering spot will be the large stairway leading into the Torpedo Factory at the river and King Street. NOTE: if weather is bad, chapter leadership will send out a message to cancel by 4 pm.
Then two days later, Thursday, Aug. 20, the chapter will have an outdoor performance at Nottaway Park, 9537 Courthouse Rd., Vienna, VA 22181. It will start at 7:30 pm. Arrival time will be about 6 pm. Uniform will be the AACC t-shirt or any black t-shirt. Joe encourages singers to at least make this Thursday night sing, if possible. Singers will be allowed to step off the risers for some songs during the performance if needed, so everyone is encouraged to plan to sing the songs they know. Besides it will be another fun evening. In the past, these sorts of outdoor concerts were well attended by chapter member families and friends. Sometimes folks have organized picnic dinners or gatherings in the area before report time. NOTE: here again, chapter leadership will issue a call to cancel by 4:30 pm that afternoon.
The celebration for GQ is Monday, Aug. 24, 7 pm, at Towson University. Any members who had not signed up to attend were asked to speak to culture team coordinator Becca Williams before this week’s meeting ended. The chapter is overjoyed to celebrate having a gold medal quartet member as part of the weekly meeting – Samantha Tramack, bass, from GQ. The celebration is a joint celebration with the Parkside, PA, chapter.
Looking ahead, the chapter guest night and rehearsal will on Aug. 25 at AlexRenew. Meetings for the first two Tuesdays of September on the 1st and 8th will also be at AlexRenew.
As a reminder, 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.
Also looking ahead, the music team announced that work on holiday music will begin in September.
Terry Reynolds announced the need for “Facebook streamers” for Tuesday nights – members who bring their laptops or such to connect meetings with Facebook users who could not attend in person. Volunteer to Terry if you can help.
Chapter president Craig Kujawa happily reported that at this point near the end of the chapter’s fiscal year, members have added over $8,000 income for the chapter by purchasing gift cards. Members who have not set up a plan to purchase them can see Craig and he can help get members started.
Craig also announced the resignation of Cody Leihgeber-Carpenter who has served as a community board member for the chapter for a number of years. Many thanks to Cody for his service and support of the chapter. Alex Chen was named to fill the vacancy by the chapter board. In this regard, Craig is seeking volunteers to serve on a nominating committee for the next board election. See Craig to offer to help.
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. The annual guest night events are always fun and a great chance to entertain prospects, plus a chance to help newer members sing the repertoire. Thanks to Maggie McAlexander for creating and sending out via Slack a couple attractive flyers that members could download and post in efforts to get more prospects to attend guest night.
ALSO: Jacob will have cards to pass out during the sing in Old Towne on Aug. 18, and will be looking for volunteers or maybe non-singing members or friends.
This week’s guests included returnees Danny Ameduite (Congrats to Danny who passed his audition this week!) and CJ Hunt plus first timers Sean O’Connor and Anne Lefeuvre. Maggie directed the chapter welcome song.
The two ensembles worked separately on their music.
The Harmonizers worked on “I’m Just A Bill” with Zak Sandler and Terry Reynolds adding the narration (music leaders added a couple measures to the vamp so the comedic narration fits easier). Joe will be the speaker for the “executive pardon” gag so Tony will direct this number.
Harmonizers had more sectional work on “Barber of Seville” in order to have the song well prepared for upcoming performances – especially for the Feb. 4 appearance at the BHS Midwinter. Section leaders for these sessions were Lance Fisher for tenors, Matt Ambler for leads, Jared Liscinsky for baritones, and Calvin Schnure for basses.
After the sectionals, Joe directed the Harmonizer chorus for a long rehearsal of this piece. Then he pushed the chorus to do a run of “Hey Jude,” “Africa,” and “Wonderful World.”
Meanwhile in the board room at the sixth floor or AlexRenew, Metro Voices director, Samantha Tramack, andassistant director, Maggie McAlexander, used the second half of the meeting to continue preparation for their show songs.
After the 50/50 drawing, Joe surprised Heidi Brown and invited her to direct “Keep the Whole World Singing.” A fun crew made it to the HarmoHouse for the afterglow and they enjoyed the outdoor room to swap stories and visit with the food and drink.
In other news related to the AACC: it is time to start recruiting for the new season for the Capital Force youth chorus in the Alexandria A Cappella Collective. To launch the new season, Tessa Walker submitted a call (in announcements in Slack recently) for someone to fulfill a volunteer administrative role for Capital Force youth chorus. Chat with Tessa if you or someone you know might be interested.
Other members of AACC ensembles are encouraged to share information about Capital Force with youth in the area (or their parents) about joining. The first meeting for the 2026-27 season will be on Sunday, Oct. 18 – location to be announced soon as well as the meeting schedule for the new season.
PLUS there is exciting news that Capital Force will take part in the Youth Chorus Festival at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) Midwinter convention in Virginia Beach in February 2027!
Tyler Carpenter will continue to engrave new Harmonizer medals or to make a replacement name tag at 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 former member and quartet promoter, George Azzam, reporting that his quartet, CHORAHOLICS, will be singing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Nov. 24 as part of a large choir event.
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.
