July 5, 1998
Dear Friends,
It's early July, so it's now time for what the board affectionately calls my "state of the chorus letter." For the many of us who were around for the founding of The Concert Singers of Cary, it seems hard to believe that we are about to embark on our eighth season of concerts. My deepest gratitude to the many hard working people who have helped make this dream a reality, and it is my sincerest hope that we will all be around for many years to come. As we come off what I believe was our finest season ever, I am writing this letter to let you know the status of our plans for next season, as well as visions and goals for the next couple of years.
Membership
The enclosed brochure provides the details and thinking behind our new membership opportunities for the coming season. There has been a lot of misinformation out there concerning the structure and purpose of the membership program, so I encourage you to review this before you make any decisions about your preferences. This structure is not by any means new or unique. Choral organizations all over the country have similar structures and it is a testament to the Concert Singers organization that we are attracting enough singers and performing opportunities to move to this format.
The 1998-1999 Concert Season
I informed the board at our last meeting that it is getting more and more difficult each year to schedule orchestras and suitable venues for our concerts. Relief is on the way for performance venues, with The Cary Academy Fine Arts Center coming online for the 1999-2000 season and the new symphony hall adjacent to Memorial Auditorium scheduled for completion the year after that. The Town of Cary has ambitious plans for a Tanglewood style outdoor amphitheater and the plans for a performance arts center in RTP are gaining momentum as a legacy for the late Terry Sanford. This is wonderful news on all fronts, but none of it will help us this coming season, hence our only partially complete schedule. What do have in place is the following:
Sunday, November 8 - Songs by Brahms including Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Nanie (Song of Lamentation), Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny) and some smaller works for semi chorus. We will be joined by 35 members of The North Carolina Symphony. Our tentative locayion is The Cary Community Center.
Saturday, December 19 - Holiday Concert - returning to our old format of both sacred and pops selections, singing a number of our old standbys from the previous 7 years. We will be joined by a brass octet and two percussion players. Our hoped for location is the new sanctuary of Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church.
Friday/Saturday, January 8 and 9 - tentative recording project of Christmas music for future release. Music will come from the December 19 Holiday concert. Location not yet determined.
Saturday, April 17, Sunday, April 18, and Monday, April 19 - we will participate in our first collaboration with The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle under the direction of Lorenzo Muti and perform Beethoven's Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II and Haydn's The Seven Last Words. There will be three performances. The performance on Saturday, April 17 will be in Cary, the performance on Sunday, April 18 will be in Chapel Hill, and the performance on Monday, April 19 will be in Raleigh. Performance venues to be announced.
May 3-10 - Production week for a possible run of fully staged performances of Puccini's Madame Butterfly involving 40 Semi Chorus members with the North Carolina Opera Company at Memorial Auditorium.
Sunday, June 13 - American Music including eight part arrangements of well known songs such as Simple Gifts, America the Beautiful, Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, Deep River, Shenandoah, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Home on the Range, Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and When the Saints Go Marchin In. Location is not yet determined, but we are hoping that the Cary Academy Fine Arts Center will be available.
September of 1999 - Recording Project - we will revive the music from the above mentioned American Music program to produce our second commercial recording.
Final details will be available when our seasonal brochures are printed next month.
Auditions
Our usual annual auditions are listed below for prospective new members or inactive members. This year however is different
in that current members of the Symphonic Choir who wish to be considered for the Semi Chorus will also need to schedule
an audition. Another change this year is that we return to our original practice of scheduling appointments for singers
as opposed to having walk up times. This will make better use of time and save singers from long waits at peak times.
An audition for Symphonic Choir is a 10 minute slot and one for the Semi Chorus roster is 15 minutes. All singers will be
notified in writing regarding the results. Call Joy Cox for an appointment at 481-3745.
Saturday, August 22, Noon-6:00 PM
Monday, August 24, 6:30-9:30 PM
Tuesday, August 25, 6:30-9:30 PM
Tuesday, September 8, 6:30-9:30 PM
In Closing
I say again that I feel the 1997-98 season was our best ever. It was certainly a pressure packed year, but it featured our strongest Holiday Pops, an outstanding performance of an unusual and under performed St. Nicolas, a fabulous performance of Beethoven and Schubert masses, and a first rate debut as an opera chorus. We finished the year with a men's invitational that netted five new chorus members and our first music reading class.
Our first rehearsal for the new season will be on September 14 and a complete rehearsal schedule will soon be forthcoming. Hope you are all having a great summer and I look forward to seeing you at the start of the new school year!
Warmly (95 degrees),
Larry
Updated 15 July 2003 |