Summer
2007
303-554-7692 www.boulderchorale.org Newsletter of the
Greetings from Timothy Snyder,
Artistic Director
Dear
Members and Friends of the Boulder Chorale,
Visioning is the art of seeing the invisible. Through
our long-range planning process begun last year we have begun to identify how
we see the Boulder Chorale—not only how we see it now, but also how we see what
lies ahead.
In June I had the good fortune to attend the annual
conference of Chorus America. Chorus
America (their website is www.chorusamerica.org) is the national organization
of community, symphony and professional choruses and their leaders. Over 500 individuals from choirs throughout
the country met in Los Angeles for five days of performances and workshops on a
variety of topics dealing with chorus management and development. Four choirs from Colorado were represented,
two each from Boulder (Boulder Chorale and Ars Nova Singers) and Denver (Colorado
Children’s Chorale and St. Martin’s Chamber Choir). The conference was rejuvenating. Besides giving me an opportunity to
appreciate the health of our organization and the excellent work of our Board
of Directors, it also solidified for me the beauty of what I think makes the
Chorale special. We are a
community-based choral organization of amateur singers from a variety of
backgrounds and experience dedicated to high musical standards. In other words, at the heart of the Chorale
is a two-tiered value: inclusiveness and
excellence. This is rare in the music
world, and it’s all the more reason to chase a vision—to see the
invisible. What is invisible that you
see? Let me know! Let me tell you what I see:
•An umbrella choral arts organization of which the
flagship chorus, the Boulder Concert Chorale, is among the finest large
auditioned choruses anywhere.
•An organizational structure that allows all
interested singers and aspiring singers to enter into choral music making
without an audition.
• Smaller ensembles including the Chamber and Women’s
Chorales dedicated to music composed for special forces.
•A Children’s Chorale infecting young people from
Boulder and beyond with a love for singing.
• A professionally produced and marketed CD recording
of selected, recent performances of all three choirs.
•Expanded educational outreach programs that connect
with students and teachers in the community, and new and reliable sources of
funding to support our mission.
Ambitious, yes!
That’s the point in seeing the invisible. It’s like hearing the silent, which is what
Kim and I have had the pleasure of doing this summer in selecting the season’s
program. Please read ahead in the
newsletter for details. We think you’ll
enjoy what we have in store.
Wishing you good things for the rest of the summer and
looking forward to seeing you soon, I am
Yours
in song, Tim
Introducing Your Board for 2007-2008
The Board elected these
officers.
President: Jack Biddle
jackbcmt@aol.com,
720-304-2178
Vice
President/President-Elect: Jeff Livesay
jeff.livesay@gmail.com,
720-298-8255
Secretary: JoAn Segal
jsegalvv@earthlink.net,
303-541-1065
Treasurer: Jeff Hale
jeffhale58@msn.com,
303-494-1836
The Board made these
assignments:
Concert Manager Co-Chair: Miriam
Lindahl
miriam.lindahl@comcast.net,
303-530-2077
Concert Manager Co-Chair: Greg
Herring
gherrings@us.ibm.com,
303-440-6920
Marketing/Publicity: Risa
Booze
vitalmotionpilates@yahoo.com
303-447-3005
Development/Fund Raising:
Phil Ecklund
pecklund@aol.com
303-748-9598
Ticket Manager/Concert Dress
Manager: Karen Haimes
haimes1@aol.com
303-442-7370
Web mistress: Christine
Evenson
christie_evenson@hotmail.com
303-774-9301
Music Librarian: Sam Richman
samrichman@comcast.net 303-494-2253
Membership: Wren Fritzlan
wfritzlan@coloradorecovery.com 303-651-9318
Volunteer Coordinator: Binx
Selby
binxselby@gmail.com 303-539-9327
Member at Large: Dede
Beardsley
dede@mapletonmontessori.org 303-581-0070
Member at Large: Joan Foutz
kftz@earthlink.net 303-776-7494
Member at Large: Julie Hale
juliehale1@msn.com
303-494-1836
A New Meeting Schedule for a New Year
The
new Chorale meeting schedule for 2007-8 will be Tuesday evenings, as follows:
o
6:00 – 7:15
pm: Women’s Chorale
o
6:00 – 7:15
pm: Chamber Chorale
o
7:30 – 9:30 pm: Concert Chorale
The
tentative plan for oral announcements and Marketplace, given this schedule is:
o
Minimize the
number of oral announcements
o
Announcements to
the Women’s Chorale: 7:10 pm
o
Marketplace: 7:15
– 7:30; 9:30 – as needed
o
Announcements to
the Concert Chorale: at a time convenient for Tim, but there will not be a
break.
First Rehearsals
Tuesday, August 28: 7:00-9:30 p.m. Chamber Chorale
Tuesday, September 4: 6:00-7:15
p.m. Chamber Chorale
6:00-7:15
p.m. Women’s Chorales
7:30-9:30 p.m. Concert Chorale
Our 42nd Season 2007-2008
Saturday, November 3, 7:30
p.m.
First United Methodist
Church, Boulder
Sunday, November 4, 4:00 p.m.
Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort
Collins
Concert,
Chamber and Women’s Chorales with Boulder’s Kutandara Marimbas
Saturday, December 15, 7:30
p.m.
Sunday, December 16, 4:00
p.m.
First United Methodist
Church, Boulder
with MahlerFest XXI
Saturday, January 12, 7:30
p.m.
Sunday, January 13, 3:30 p.m.
Macky Auditorium, University
of Colorado, Boulder
Chamber
and Women’s Chorales with Chamber Orchestra
Friday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 13, 4:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church, Boulder
Concert Chorale with the
Jefferson Symphony Orchestra
Friday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
First United Methodist
Church, Boulder
Sunday, May 4, 4:00 p.m.
Green Center for the
Performing Arts, Golden
Non-Subscription Event:
Brighton
Fine Arts @ 4
Sunday, February 24, 4:00
p.m.
First Presbyterian Church,
Brighton
Fall
Rehearsal Retreats—Save the Dates!
Chamber
Chorale: Saturday, September 8 at
Atonement Lutheran Church (685 Inca Parkway, Boulder).
Concert
and Women’s Chorales: Saturday,
September 29 at First Baptist Church (1237 Pine Street, Boulder).
Both
retreats begin at 9:30 a.m., break at noon, and rehearse after lunch until 3:30
or 4:00 p.m.
Randall
McIntosh’s Missa Tariro
(“Mass of
Hope”)
At
the May transitional meeting, the Board approved Tim’s request for the Chorale
to commission Randy McIntosh to complete the Mass. We performed two movements (Kyrie and
Gloria) last season. We will perform two
new movements (Sanctus and Benedictus) this December, and will premiere the
full 50-minute work with Kutandara early in the 2008-09 season. Plans are developing for a recording session,
with the goal of releasing a CD early in 2009.
We may also explore the feasibility of a Chorale/Kutandara concert tour
to South Africa in 2009 or 2010.
Roses I Send to You: A Note from Tim About
Auditions
Thanks
to all returning members who auditioned in May, especially for submitting to
what I know is a trying experience for some.
Well done and thanks!
Open
auditions for new members in all voice parts for the Concert Chorale will be
held August 27 through September 1 at Atonement. The number of
new women we can admit is very limited. We
need to attract new men to the Concert Chorale, and I want to enlist your
help in recruiting. Many of you first
joined the Chorale through the invitation of a friend. Now’s your chance to pass it on—encourage a
friend or coworker to contact us for their audition time, or to contact me
directly if they want to know more about us.
There
will be no Concert Chorale open registration at the first rehearsal as in years
past.
All those wishing to join the Concert Chorale must audition August
27-September 1. To schedule a Concert
Chorale audition, please email: boulderchorale@yahoo.com or call (303)
554-7692.
Scrip by Dede Beardsley
SCRIP! Grocery store gift cards (SCRIP) are the
effortless way for you to make money for the Boulder Chorale. The key word here is: effortless!
It reminds me of one of my favorite fortune cookies: “You will earn thousands of dollars simply
by doing nothing!”
HOW
DOES IT WORK? If you normally spend $200
each month on groceries, you’d buy $200 in scrip and use them as cash when you
shop for groceries. We earn 5% on all
the scrip that we sell. Normally we sell
about $5000 in scrip each month earning $250 each time for the Chorale and it
couldn’t be easier.
WHAT’S
NEW? First, I am submitting an
Application to Wild Oats to join their SCRIP program. (In previous years we sold only the King
Soopers SCRIP.) Second, as most of you
know, King Soopers eliminated its paper certificates in March and switched to
gift cards. So, this fall, we’ll have
King Soopers gift cards and Wild Oats (if we’re accepted).
2007-2008 Chamber Chorale
There were a record-breaking number of
auditions this year, and the decisions were very difficult. Of course,
the size of the group must be limited--we are a chamber choir and we specialize
in music for smaller ensemble. On the other hand, it is important that we
create opportunities for new and qualified singers to join. A new policy
this year limits membership to those who have sung at least one season with the
Boulder Chorale. Thanks to all who auditioned.
SOPRANOS
Katie
Fillius
Maria
Forlenza
Sarah
Keenan
Diane
LaTourrette
Baiba
Sube Lennard
Amy
Palmer
Tambre
Rasmussen
JoAn
Segal
Mary
Weisbach
Emily
Whitsett-Pickett
ALTOS
Esri
Allbritten
Ania
Borysiewicz
Joanne
Bracken
Jeanne
Clifton
Judy
Fritz
Patricia
Gaggiani
Julie
Hale
Becky
Korte
Jane
Moore
Nina
Meyers
TENORS
Joe
Frank
Neville
Gaggiani
Greg
Herring
Manuel
Lara
Herb
Rodriguez
Ron
Roschke
Dan
Seger
Dick
Williams
Seth
Wilson
BASSES
Randy
Bender
Jeff
Hale
Paul
Haynes
Brad
Huntting
Ray
Knudson
Jeff
Livesay
Jim
Marlin
Graham
McClave
John
Williams
Dushanbe
Performance
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities, I want to express our appreciation for such a
wonderful, beautiful benefit concert at Macky. The publicity alone was
worth a great deal to our organization, with articles in all three of the local
newspapers.
I
am pleased to announce that the Boulder Sings for Dushanbe event has brought in
$30,270 – the target was $30,000 - for the Cyber Cafe for Dushanbe. This
includes a very generous $10,000 from Bill Reynolds of the W. W. Reynolds
Companies, whose donation was prompted by your efforts. These funds will
certainly make a difference in our ability to sign a construction contract for
the Cyber Cafe. [Dushanbe is experiencing a high inflation rate this
year, so we have just now caught up with the increasing construction cost
estimates.]
Whoever
thought of having a concert with the Boulder Chorale, Jubilate!, and Kutandara
was inspired, because the three groups complemented each other perfectly.
I know you all put in a lot of hard work to make this happen. Those
efforts are very much appreciated and have made a difference in this project,
which I hope and expect will eventually make a difference in the world.
Thank
you, so much.
Donald Mock, President
Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities
All Boulder Chorale members are welcome to attend Board of Directors meetings, or talk with any board member about an issue that we should discuss at the meetings.Chorale
Board Approves Record High Budget for 2007-2008
The
Chorale’s budget, approved by the Board at its May meeting, is exactly balanced
– that’s good. However, budgets are
always guesses about things like: how many tickets will we sell? How successful will our grant-seeking efforts
be? How generous will donors be? Will expenses go up? How good are our
estimates, based as they are on past experience?
You
will notice a few revenue items that are exactly matched by an expense
estimate, for instance CD sales and CD expenses; music payments and music score
purchases. This year, the two
all-Chorale retreats are to be fully funded from the budget, with no extra
contribution by the members.
Concert
fees (Mahlerfest, Brighton Fest) and ticket sales represent about 20% of the budget,
and member dues about 17%. Grants,
donations, and fund raising account for over 45%. These sources are always uncertain.
The
single largest expense is for the contracts with our staff members, almost 40%
of the total. Also please note that fund-raising expenses are high in relation
to fund-raising income. A sizeable part
of this expense is the cost of buying grocery scrip or cards. Also,
concert-related expenses are almost 60% of concert fees and ticket sales. Our routine expenses are kept to a minimum,
as you can see.
BUDGET 2007-8
REVENUE
Member dues $19,250
Music payments $6,000
Concert fees and ticket sales $23,900
CD sales $3,000
Grants $19,700
Annual fund $5,000
Other
donations $6,100
Fund-Raising $31,600
Total $114,550
EXPENSES
Board expenses (including Annual
meeting) $2,900
Chorale retreats $5,000
Staff contracts $44,950
Concert-related expenses (guest artists, rehearsal and
concert hall rent; hospitality) $14,160
Music score purchase $6,000
Office expenses (includes
phone, Postage, copying, licenses,
Rent, insurance) $5,290
Advertising and promotion $5,500
Program & ticket
production $2,250
CD production $3,000
Fund-raising expense $24,100
Miscellaneous $1,400
Total $114,550
These are our guesses and our
goals for the upcoming year. We’ll keep
you posted as to progress along the way.
If you need to make a payment, or are due a refund, please contact Jeff Hale, Treasurer. Please remember that Membership dues need to be paid in full by Tuesday, September 18th.
Chorale Board Transition Meeting
In
its annual two-day “transition” meeting, held May19 – 20, 2007, the Chorale
Board summarized activities from 2006-7 and set plans for the 2007-8 season.
Highlights
of the Board members’ reports on the 2006-7 year included:
·
Four successful
concerts, plus our first benefit (in cooperation with Kutandara and Jubilate!)
for the community, which raised close to
$30,000 for the Boulder Dushanbe Sister Cities project
·
Work of a
Planning Committee, chaired by Jack Biddle, the first stage of whose work led
to our becoming an auditioned chorus
·
A successful
financial year under the management of treasurer Jeff Hale, and a consistent
pattern of financial growth over the years, indicating organizational stability
and good stewardship
·
A coordinated
graphic design for all publicity using the rubric, “Send Spirits Soaring”, in
all brochures, ads, flyers, and programs for the year – all by Julie Hale
·
A concerted
ticket effort, including a fledgling Season Ticket effort, and a fine analysis
of ticket and audience statistics – the work of Karen Haimes
·
A well-managed
music library program, with income and expense more near the break-even point
than in the previous year; an estimate of the value of the library at about
$20,000, and the completion of the training of the new music librarian, Sam
Richman
·
Presentation of
membership statistics indicating careful management of membership information
by Peg Gorce and Wren Fritzlan
·
Review of the new
website designed by Julie Hale and Christine Evenson, with much help from
others. Maintenance has been carried out
by Christie
·
Summary of office
activities, including the newsletter, which has been published on a monthly
basis, the annual member handbook, and Greek tour management, all handled by
Erin Christensen-Mandel
·
Fund raising
efforts: a fine grants program, good returns to the Annual Fund effort, many
memorial gifts from the Duruflé Requiem and the loss of Gibb Oram, whose family
specified gifts be made to the Chorale (as well as to the Jubilate! Sacred
Singers) and three small fund-raising events: “Marimbas, Martinis, and
Margaritas” in December, Kim Needham’s
“Perfect Pair” evening in January and the Puttin’ on the Ritz event, chaired by
Esri Albritten in May
·
Social events
during the year included several group outings to the Boulder Dinner Theatre
For
the 2007-8 year, Wren Fritzlan was elected to the Board to fill a vacancy,
officers were elected and selections were made for specific board positions
(see page one).
Some issues affecting the 2007-8 year:
·
Jack Biddle will
emphasize increasing income as a way to keep the Chorale operating in the black
·
Volunteerism will
be maximized – a Board position will be devoted to this effort. A form was distributed to Board members
asking for their volunteer needs
·
The newsletter
will be enhanced to make it something the members look forward to receiving
·
Appointment of a
committee, headed by Paul Haynes and Greg Herring and including Christine and
Peg. to create a multi-use membership database to enable analysis of membership
statistics, and to link dues, music assignments, and ensemble membership to the
membership record
·
The Planning
Committee will continue its work under the chairmanship of JoAn Segal and will
look at goals, time lines, measurements of success
·
The Board will
meet at Atonement Lutheran Church on the second Monday of every month at 7:00
pm. The next meeting will be on Monday,
August 20.
·
There is a
possibility we may be able to issue our first CD (a compendium) for sale to the
general public
·
There will be two
all-Chorale (includes Women’s Chorale) retreats during the 2007-8 year, the
first on September 29, 2007, and the second on Feb. 9, 2008
·
The Chorale will
contract with Darcie Sanders for advice on publicity and marketing
·
A membership
committee was established informally to discuss registration issues, including
finding a volunteer for data entry.
The
Board adopted the budget for the year, which is summarized on page four in this
newsletter.
Other
issues discussed:
·
Increased
inclusiveness for the Women’s Chorale
·
Ticket sales
·
Dress code
enforcement
·
Stools for
singers
·
Enclosing a
return envelope in programs
·
Clarification of
policies regarding High School Choristers
Calendar of Events
Wednesday, August 1 through Tuesday, September 11—
Women’s Chorale
registration. Forms will be available
on-line (www.boulderchorale.org) and at the Boulder Chorale Office: 685 Inca
Parkway, Boulder.
Monday, August 20—Board of Directors Meeting
7:00 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church
Please let Jack Biddle know
if you plan to attend.
Friday, August 24—Newsletter deadline
Please submit articles to
boulderchorale@yahoo.com
Monday, August 27 through Saturday, September 1—
Boulder Concert Chorale
Auditions
Please contact the Boulder
Chorale office to schedule an audition:
boulderchorale@yahoo.com / 303-554-7692
Tuesday,
August 28—Chamber Chorale Rehearsal
7:00-9:30 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church
Tuesday, September 4 and Tuesday, September 11—Walk-in Registration for Boulder Women’s Chorale
5:30-6:00 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church
Tuesday, September 4—All Groups Rehearse
6:00 – 7:15 pm: Women’s Chorale / Chamber Chorale
7:30 – 9:30 pm: Concert Chorale
Saturday, September 8—Chamber Chorale Retreat
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Bring your own lunch
Atonement Lutheran Church
Monday, September 10—Board of Directors Meeting
7:00 p.m. Atonement Lutheran Church
Please let Jack Biddle know
if you plan to attend.
Saturday, September 29—Concert and Women’s Chorales Retreat
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church (1237
Pine Street, Boulder)
Thursday, November 1—Chamber Chorale Dress Rehearsal
7:00-10:00 p.m.
First United Methodist Church
(1421 Spruce Street, Boulder)
Saturday, November 3—Reincarnations Concert,
Boulder
6:30 p.m. call
7:30 p.m. concert
First United Methodist Church
(1421 Spruce Street, Boulder)
Sunday, November 4—Reincarnations Concert, Ft.
Collins
3:00 p.m. call
4:00 p.m. concert
Trinity Lutheran Church (301
E. Stuart Street, Ft. Collins)
Thursday, December 13—Dress Rehearsal
Concert, Chamber and Women’s
Chorales
6:00-10:00 p.m.
First United Methodist Church
(1421 Spruce Street, Boulder)
Saturday, December 15—Make We Joy
Concert
6:30 p.m. call
7:30 p.m. concert
First United Methodist Church
(1421 Spruce Street, Boulder)
Sunday, December 16—Make We Joy Concert
3:00 p.m. call
4:00 p.m. concert
First United Methodist Church
(1421 Spruce Street, Boulder)