Concert Singers of Cary

Minutes of Combined Board of Directors and Chorus Committee Meeting

July 17, 2007, 7 PM

Page Walker Hotel, Cary, NC

All Directors and members of the Chorus Committee had received advance notice of the meeting. These Board of  Directors and Chorus Committee Members were present:

Board of Directors

Karen Davis: Board President

Artistic Director: Larry Speakman

Executive Director: David Lindquist

Treasurer: Don Cariss

Members at Large: Donna Parker, Joe Ferguson, David Lee, Ellen Schloemer

These Board of Director members were absent: Brian Wong (Secretary), Judy Fourie (member at large), Daphne Ashworth (Honorary Member)

Chorus Committee

Chair: Geiselle Thompson

Soprano Section: Barb Klimala (also, temporary Recording Secretary)

Alto Section: Terri Ring

Tenor Section: John Picha

At Large: Eleni Steadman, Amber Farrelly, Liz Cummings

These committee members were absent:

At Large: Barb Holbrook

Librarian: Emiko Kuroda

House Chair: Greg Tarsa

Volunteer Chair: Cherie Spehar

Bass Section: David Britt (Recording Secretary)

Introduction:

Karen called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. Everyone enjoyed snacks provided by Geiselle and Karen, and Karen had everyone introduce themselves around the room.

Approval of previous minutes:

The minutes of the June 19, 2007 Board of Directors meeting were approved as written.

BUSINESS REPORTS

Treasurer’s Report:

Don Cariss presented the June end of season report, which had a few discrepancies which needed to be resolved by David and Don. This was taken offline. These need to be resolved before the books go into audit.

Role Review:

Karen Davis did a review of the Role of the Board of Directors for the combined meeting audience. In short, the role of the Board is to generate income for Concert Singers and spearhead the grant writing process for the organization. The role of the Chorus Committee is to handle the “nuts and bolts” of the day-to-day operations with regard to auditions, rehearsal, concerts, etc.

Geiselle Thompson added that the mission of the Chorus Committee mission is to help people get involved in Concert Singers. Some ideas were discussed to increase member involvement.

Executive Director’s Report:

David Lindquist’s Executive Director’s Report is published in electronic format on the CSC website. David presented a preliminary schedule for Major Events and Activities for FY 2008 for Concert Singers and C-Four. The next most pressing issues are getting Larry’s summer letter and other information out to the singers in July. He was anticipating getting a notice out for volunteers for a mailing party for this important communication. Next major effort will be for auditions in August, a request for volunteers for the Latin-American event in early August, and then at Lazy Daze the last weekend in August. Ad sales (spearheaded by Eleni Steadman) are going on, but this year we have a little extra time with no Fall concert scheduled (discussed later). Liz is beginning to handle scheduling for auditions. We have a scheduled Voice Care event with specialists from Duke University on August 13, at 7:30 in Room A in the Herb Young Center. This is free. Liz asked whether refreshment will be served on the first night back for rehearsals and the committee decided that it would go forward with that. David will include it in a note to the choir, but it will be finalized at the next Chorus Committee meeting.

Artistic Director’s Report:

Larry had indicated that his summer was actually the busiest time of his year, because so much effort was involved in arranging inexpensive musicians, collaborations, and working out details for venues for the upcoming season. He is very excited about this coming year’s schedule. Much of the scheduling was influenced by the availability of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, with whom we will be collaborating on two events: Voices of Light (about Joan of Arc) on January 12th at the Unitarian Universalist church in Raleigh and Alexander Nevski on April 26th at Koka Booth Amphitheatre. Both of these events are performed with a film being shown and will generate a great deal of press interest. CSC will be collaborating with Triangle Wind Ensemble in May for the Memorial Day Weekend special, where we will dust of the Frostiana pieces in addition to some patriotic favorites. We will also reprise the Jefferson Testimonial piece (and maybe get a second chance to record it for a record company demo album). The Christmas program will be the second weekend of December at St. Paul’s where we will reprise the Kyrie along with the other pieces from the McClure Mass of the Americas, accompanied by steel drum—and traditional Christmas favorites as well.

There was some discussion about the cost of dues being influenced by a need to charge singers with a “non-refundable rental” rather than a purchase fee for the Voices of Light concert. The music is not for sale and is only available for rental. This effort is similar to performing a Broadway production with real scores. Per Larry, the composer may be coming to the performance (details not finalized).

NEW BUSINESS

The following business was finalized at the meeting.

David Britt was officially nominated as Recording Secretary for the Chorus Committee by Barb, seconded by Liz, and unanimously approved by the membership present. Geiselle was nominated by Amber Farrelly as President for the Chorus Committee, seconded by Terri Ring, and approved unanimously.

Likewise, for the Board of Directors, Karen Davis was named as President of the Board, Brian Wong as Secretary, and Don Cariss as Treasurer. These positions were approved unanimously.

Karen provided a handout and asked everyone who was able to participate in helping the Musicales get off to a good start this year. It is not too soon to get started.

Next meetings:

The next meeting of the Chorus Committee is scheduled for August 7, 2007, location TBA. Next Board of Directors is August 21, at Page Walker.

The meeting closed at 8:43pm

Respectfully Submitted,

Barb Klimala

Acting Secretary

CSC Chorus Committee