July 8, 1995
Dear Friends,
It's hard to believe that we are about to embark on our fifth season of concerts, but the calendar never lies. Someone once asked me if I worried about running out of ideas for concert events and repertoire for The Concert Singers. I told them that I believe that there are so many challenges and opportunities in the choral world that we have just begun to explore that it was not a major concern. This past season was our best to date and I feel that this upcoming season will be even stronger. Let me lay out the specifics of the 1995-96 season and give you a hint of what is to come in 1996-97.
Auditions - are schedule for Monday through Wednesday August 21, 22 + 23 at the Page-Walker Hotel, 6:30-9:00 PM. Our bylaws require re-audition for members who miss two consecutive seasons. Since we only had two this past year, anyone who participated in the Christmas performances or spring Peaceable Kingdom performance will not need to re-audition. If you do need to re-audition, there will be a notice enclosed with this letter.
Holiday Pops - as most of you know by now, the symphony has invited us back for 1995. I found out later from Jack Parkhurst what a compliment to our group that really was. Not too long ago, the symphony made a philosophical decision to change the look of the Holiday Pops concerts on a yearly basis, to keep things fresh. After last year, the response to the Concert Singers was so strong that the symphony board broke from that policy and invited us to return. They also requested that we add a Saturday matinee to the Friday and Saturday evening concerts, which was approved by our board. The symphony in turn agreed to raise our performance fee. The implications of this are as follows. First, a Thanksgiving weekend commitment will not be an every year proposition, which will hopefully have a positive influence those of you who are sitting on the fence about participating this year. Second, we will again have a clear slate to do something different in the fall of 1996 (read further on for information about those plans.) Thirdly, we will have the opportunity to do something with the symphony in the spring of 1997 (again, read on.)
Christmas Program - we are well aware that we have outgrown every performance space in Cary for our Christmas concert. We will however, return to White Plains one more time. The reason for this is the board's decision to begin charging admission to our concerts. Since we do not know what impact that will have on our attendance, we felt that everything else must remain the same from last year so that we can get an accurate reading of its impact. Details about admission charges will be forthcoming, so please delay going ballistic if you have concerns about that until the details have been worked out. You might be pleasantly surprised. The program for this concert will include Vivaldi's Gloria, Pachelbel's Magnificat in G (newly discovered in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall) and assorted Christmas carols. Solos for womens voices are available and we are trying to make copies of the music available to those that might want to use the August auditions to sing them for me. The orchestra will consist of strings, trumpets, oboes, bassoon, percussion, harpiscord and organ.
American Boychoir School, CSC joint concert - based at a boarding school in Princeton, N.J. built around choral music, this choir of 28 boys grades 5-8 is one of the finest boy choirs in the world. Under the direction of James Litton, this group has recorded with some of choral music's finest recording labels. We will present a joint concert with them on Friday, February 2 at the Cary Community Center. We will have four rehearsals to prepare 20-25 minutes of music. Some will be our full group and some will be our men joining their boys to form an SATB group. They will perform about an hour's worth on their own. This concert is likely to be a blockbuster. This group has a tremendous following which when joined with our audience should provide a full house.
Mostly Mozart - we will perform an all Mozart program on Saturday night, May 18 at The Cary Community Center. The program will be built around the Requiem, which was the musical part of the story line in the movie Amadeus and a work that Mozart himself started, but was finished by one of his students (hence the Mostly Mozart title). We will round out the program with other selections that showcase his genius.
Spring 1997 - The North Carolin Symphony is reviewing plans for us to do a spring concert at Memorial Auditorium. Possibilities include a concert of opera choruses or a Rodgers and Hammerstein program led by either Jack Parkhurst or Gerhardt Zimmermann. Ideas for this were presented to the symphony at their planning meeting in June and enthusiastically received.
I thought you might like to know that our recording is on track and will be released for public sale at Lazy Daze in August 26. It will be titled Joy to the World: Christmas with the Concert Singers of Cary. I must confess that the editing process was tedious, challenging and for me, very educational. All numbers except Infant Holy (unresolvable pitch problems) and Jesus Child (poorly arranged for brass) were included. For those of you who ordered copies in advance, details regarding time and method of pickup will be coming to you from the Board of Directors.
I'd also like to let you know that we have a new President, Priscilla DeLuca, and several new faces on the Board of Directors. Priscilla is a charter member of The Concert Singers and has served the board as Membership Chair and President Elect. She dearly loves our group and I'm really looking forward to working with her. Our organization has been blessed with outstanding leadership and we are truly fortunate to have her at the helm. We welcome new board members Richard Bloom, Audrey Cook, Kasey Knight, Don Mott, Don Niebling, Debi Radisch, David Ward, and Patti Wilson. Great to have you all on our team!
On the outgoing side, our deepest thanks go out to departing members Rosemarie Balla, Scott Hansen, Connie Hiller, Katherine Lusk, Brian McFeaters, Waltye Rasulala, Viola Suddaby, and Donna Parker. Much was achieved and we couldn't have done it without you. I'd like to extend a special debt of gratitude to David Lindquist who carried us at times this past year. In addition to the day to day pressures of running the chorus, David oversaw a number of new initiatives. Thanks to his organization and leadership the group achieved the following over the last year.
- We had two solid, reviewed concerts of our own with capacity crowds at each.
- we reached Memorial Auditorium and performed Holiday Pops before nearly 4400 people.
- We held a wildly successful fundraiser that made over $5000 in one "Enchanted Evening".
- We made our first commercial/professional recording.
- "A Song for All Seasons" was a smah hit with more than $2500 in revenue.
- We added more than 30 new singers to our rolls in August and January auditions.
- We held a special program for men's voices which attracted over 15 new tenors and basses.
- we started a new community outreach program at Apex High School.
- we solved the nagging problem of uniform choral attire.
- We finally have a professional group photo.
- we ended the year (June 30) with a substantial reserve of funds.
Bravo and well done! David will be continuing his service to the Board as Past President and we are very grateful and fortunate that he will still be involved.
My rest of summer activities include a conducting workshop with Robert Page at the University of South Carolina, a trip to New York City to join 25 other Westminster Choir College alumni in the making a recording of small ensemble choral works with Joseph Flummerfelt, a few days at Sunset Beach and if all goes well, the purchase of a new house. While I can't say that I'm ready to jump back into rehearsals as of this writing, I feel confident that I will be in September. I hope that your summer has been restful. I sincerely hope to see each and every one of you return this fall for what is sure to be an exciting year!
With warm regards (90 degrees)
Larry
Updated 16 July 2003 |