Dear Friends,
I hope that you have all had a restful summer and enjoyed the unseasonably mild weather that we have had this year. I usually write this annual letter with the air conditioning blasting as I try and describe in inspiring detail some winter wonderland theme that will be the highlight of our holiday season. What a pleasant change! Perhaps an omen of the fine season to come.
It seems hard to believe that we are about to embark on our 10th season of concerts. Those of you who have been with us since the early days will I’m sure, feel good about the accomplishments of this fine organization as we enter our10th year. Newer folks should feel great about their accomplishments as well, providing us with a continual infusion of new talent and energy. This combination of past, present and future is the formula that all successful organizations possess and it will be the prevailing theme for us in this milestone year.
The Past
The most difficult part of the past is the need to say occasional good-byes as people move on to new opportunities and challenges. This year, we must say goodbye to two people who had much to do with the identity and success of Concert Singers. As most of you already know, Jodi Adams leaves us after a six year run as our Principle Accompanist. She joins me on the Faculty of Cary Academy as Staff Accompanist for the Vocal Music program. Because of the obvious repartee that Jodi and I share, I will not name a permanent replacement for her for at least one year. This will enable me to work with several different but extremely talented individuals before naming a permanent replacement. Steve Mulder also leaves us to assume the position of Director of Choral Activities at Gordon College just outside of Atlanta. While Steve was only with us for two years, I’m sure that you will agree that his impact on Concert Singers was huge and we will miss him immensely. I will personally miss his energy, creativity, camaraderie and friendship. Since the position of Assistant Conductor was designed around Steve’s abilities and availability, we will not name a replacement at this time. The greater likelihood is that we will continue to work with the conductors of The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and North Carolina Symphony, as well as an occasional guest conductor.
The Present
On the heels of difficult good-byes, we say hello to Linda Velto who will serve as CSC accompanist this fall. Linda and her family just moved here from Brownsville, Texas where she served as Staff Accompanist and Assistant Choir Director for the Brownsville Independent School District. Linda is a graduate of Ithaca College and has Master of Music degree in piano performance and accompanying from The University of Arizona. She has just begun teaching vocal music full time at Githens middle school in Durham and her husband Bill has just joined the history department at Cary Academy. They have two children ages 5 and four months. I am excited that we have such a talented and experienced person to join us this fall.
Auditions are scheduled for Tuesday August 29th and Tuesday, September 5th at Page Walker Arts and History Center from 6:30 until 9:30. Call Kathy Hodge at 469-8697 to make an appointment or to see if you need to audition. An enclosed sheet describes the various levels of membership and the audition requirements for them.
We will again join the North Carolina Symphony for three concerts on Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 24th at 8:00 p.m.and 25th at 3:00 and 8:00p.m.) at Memorial Auditorium. William Henry Curry will conduct and we are returning at his request for this event. This concert is a major opportunity for CSC and we really hope that you can join us. We not only avoid all instrumental costs but are paid $1800 for our services. It’s great exposure and we really need your support. We will also present our own Christmas Concert on Sunday night December 10th. For the third straight year we will sing at The Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church which has proven to be one of our favorite venues. Fall Concerts this year will count as one event as we traditionally have done as opposed to what we did last year. Steve and I felt that last years experiment did not work especially well and I feel that we must link the events to one rehearsal schedule to insure the integrity of the concert commitment that we have made with The North Carolina Symphony. Spring plans are still a bit fluid, but there will be one Symphonic Choir concert and one Chamber Choir concert. Plans will be final by the end of the month.
The Future
As we reach this ten year milestone, I believe that Concert Singers has a bright future. Most of the really difficult challenges before us are on the structural and financial level as we move through adolescence and develop into a mature organization. We must continue to develop artistically, not only through the programming of the most challenging choral music, but by setting high standards for performance quality in all of our concerts. One area where we need to see significant improvement is in the amount of singers who drop out of a project after rehearsals begin. I understand that things do crop up relating to work and family, but we are seeing a troubling trend of people who start every project in a year and never sing a concert. This is most evident in the Soprano section where numbers sometime drop by 50%. Please understand that this is not in the spirit of what we try to accomplish in our work and that we are more than just an opportunity to get out of the house and sing a bit. You may not think that your presence is important in such a large choir, but the difference between 90 and 120 singers is huge when performing with a full symphony.
Ever increasing performance venues is one of the exciting parts of the Concert Singers future. The new halls next to Memorial Auditorium are scheduled to open around February and the state of the art facility at Regency Park will open in late May. As exciting as that is, the uncertainty of the exact completion of those facilities has contributed to the fluid nature of our spring plans. More to come when that is all sorted out. We also rejoice that we can celebrate our tenth anniversary by launching our first ever children’s choir. Let us know if you haven’t received the details about this exciting effort led by Roberta Thomason.
I’d like to close this letter by thanking our outgoing board members and President Dennis Aves for their fine work on behalf of Concert Singers, as well as welcoming our new Board members and President Ginny Troutman. A special thank you is also extended to David Lindquist and Joy Cox whose efforts have on many occasions, carried the organization. We could never have done it without you.
Our first rehearsal will be Monday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m. Please come early to check out your music. Looking forward to seeing you all and filling the night with joyous singing!
Larry
Updated 15 July 2003 |