The Ithaca Community Choruses enriched both the Ithaca community and the lives of over 150 singers once again during 2013-2014. Following are reports from each chorus and project, demonstrating the range and variety of our organization. Each chorus is governed independently by a steering committee, with hours of volunteer labor and professional music leadership. The board of the ICC, our non-profit, tax-exempt entity, reviews the progress of the choruses, organizes special projects, works on fundraising, and prepares and monitors the budget.
Most of the work of the choruses is done by volunteers, from setting up chairs for rehearsals to professional graphic design and bookkeeping services to maintaining registration, music libraries, web presence, and special events. The treasurers, secretaries, and presidents of each chorus, in addition to the board officers, support the annual activities. New members are always welcome, and there is no need to belong to the steering committee of your chorus. Board members for the 2013-2014 year were:
· Lynda Bogel, ICC&CS delegate
· Ken Brown, ICC Financial Officer and Voices treasurer
· Cynthia Howell, incoming Summer Sing delegate
· Noemi Kraut, Voices alternate delegate
· Joyce Morgenroth, ICC&CS secretary and delegate
· Jackie Magagnosc, ICC&CS treasurer and delegate
· Jack Miller, ICC General Secretary & IGMC delegate
· Susanne Morgan, ICC Chairperson & ICC&CS delegate
· Sherrie Norman, outgoing Voices president and delegate
· Steve Nunley, IGMC President & delegate
· Mary Royer, ICC&CS President & delegate
· Matthew Stedinger, Webmaster
· Carol Whitlow, incoming Voices president and delegate
The Ithaca Community Chorus and Chamber Singers (ICC&CS) is the original chorus of the three choruses that comprise the Ithaca Community Choruses. With many other arts and cultural organizations in Ithaca, the Ithaca Community Chorus and Chamber Singers grew from the hard work of eager volunteers and talented professionals. Now it includes many long-term members, as well as newer members, who are often students or their spouses or folks who are new to the area. In both cases, the chorus provides a ready set of music-loving friends to introduce the newcomers to the many wonderful musical offerings here in Ithaca and its surrounding towns The ICC is a non-audition chorus. Chamber Singers, a smaller and auditioned group of singers within ICC, presents shorter pieces as part of the larger concerts.
For their fall concert, which was performed in memory of long-time member Maggie Goldsmith, director Gerald Wolfe selected Gioachino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. The chorus performed the work as scored with the unique accompaniment of two pianos and harmonium (reed organ). The mass recalls the composer's beautiful lyrical operatic style, incorporating as well magnificent baroque style fugues whose dramatic endings harken back to opera overture style. At the April concert, ICC performed Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. The composer selected the text of the symphony from several poems in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass to illustrate both the natural majesty and splendor of the sea itself and the sea as metaphoric setting for the soul of man's voyage into eternity.
In the fall, Chamber Singers sang Two Motets, by Johannes Brahms, and in the spring, Eric Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine.
VOICES Multicultural Chorus has a tradition of expressing their love of the rich heritage of world music through major concerts and musical community outreach; thus began their second decade with creativity and innovative musical work. Baruch Whitehead began his eleventh season as Artistic Director, Lorrene Adams began her third year as Associate Director and Josh Condon continued as Piano Accompanist. It was a bittersweet year with him, as this was his fourth and last year since he graduated in May, 2014. VOICES singers have all loved his vitality and genius. Several new members joined the group to sing. Their nine-member Steering committee welcomed a few new members, meeting four or five times a semester to review budget, concerts, singing venues and other administrative issues. Susan Crowell designed beautiful posters for concerts and recruitment cards each semester.
VOICES ushered in the season of joy with a winter concert, “A Feast of Carols,”
In fulfillment of their mission to provide community outreach they offered two performances at First Unitarian Church, given in gratitude for the use of their annex for VOICES rehearsals. Outreach activities also included a Kendal concert and a fundraiser for Lansing High School chorus, in a joint concert with Lorrene Adams’ students. VOICES sponsored Josh Condon’s senior project, “A Tale as Old as Time: A Disney Concert,” at Ithaca College on February 16, 2014. This was a very inspirational and exciting event for all ages.
VOICES’ spring concert, “A Mother’s Love,” featured an original oratorio, Moses from the Qur’an, written and composed by VOICES member Sora Jederan Shpack. As the first oratorio ever composed based on stories from the Qur’an, Moses from the Qur’an endeavors to raise understanding, present common themes, and foster greater love among Muslims, Jews, Christians, and other religions and cultures.
This year the Ithaca Gay Men’s Chorus and director Thom Baker had their largest audience-to-date for their Fall 2013 concert! The chorus made three appearances at Kendal: two performances and one very special appearance to sing at a wedding. Their second wedding appearance of the season was at the First Baptist Church. Porchfest in September and the Ithaca Festival on May 31 fleshed out their outside performances for the 2013-14 season. The spring 2014 concert included yet another musical challenge: an Islamic Chant. Their director, Thom Baker, completed his Masters in choral conducting and will be off to the U. of Illinois to pursue his doctorate.
The IGMC also sang at the memorial service for Maggie Goldsmith, a wonderful spirit, who was a volunteer for their concerts from their first performance five years ago. We all miss her. Maggie sang with both Ithaca Community Chorus and Chamber Singers, and regularly served VOICES as stage manager for concerts. She was a steadfast supporter of IGMC. The VOICES fall concert was dedicated to her.
Singers in all three Ithaca Community Choruses contributed to the Gibbons Scholarship, a vocal scholarship established in 2001 by the Ithaca Community Choruses to honor the choruses' founding director, Paul Gibbons, and to provide a promising high school voice student with the means for musical training. This valuable scholarship is administered by the Community School of Music and Arts.
The 2013 Summer Sing, an informal eight-week chorus singing wonderfully varied short pieces, which is directed by Katie Howell, with returning piano accompanist Lisa Winans, had over seventy members, meeting at St. Paul’s Methodist church and performing a small end-of-season concert for family and friends.
The Community Sings workshop series presented a workshop led by Deborah Rifkin, Associate Professor, School of Music, Ithaca College, on Saturday, April 12. “Singing Games for Health, Harmony, and Happiness” was open to the entire community as a fundraiser for the Ithaca Community Choruses. The varied crowd enjoyed singing, learning about improvisation, and laughter.
Funding the Ithaca Community Choruses relies on volunteers, professionals, and donors, large and small. None of the choruses generates with dues enough funds to produce the concerts we all enjoy. Fundraising efforts include the sale of ads in the program shell into which is inserted the specific program for each concert. Ads are seen, then, by six very different audiences. Additional projects include calendar sales, workshops, Summer Sing, and ad hoc events organized by an individual or chorus. In addition, the broad list of people who have expressed an interest in one or more of the choruses are solicited for donations annually, and individuals are encouraged to donate when paying their dues. Some donations are designated in memory of a member who has passed away. Finally, the Ithaca Community Choruses have been fortunate to receive grants from a number of local and national foundations and endowments.
A summary of the year-end finances suggest that, for a variety of reasons, the income of ICC was almost $4500 more than budgeted, providing an unexpected boost to all three choruses. Though ad sales were well under budget, and despite particular challenges in each chorus, all ended the year in the black. The choruses do have modest funds in savings, but all proceed with conservative budgets and active fundraising.
Gratefully,
Susanne Morgan, chair and Lynda Bogel, incoming chair, Ithaca Community Choruses
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