ROSter #26, March 24, 2014

ROCHESTER ORATORIO SOCIETY

ROS Office: 585-473-2234

Eric Townell, Artistic Director

Email: info@ROSsings.org

Web site: www.ROSsings.org

Our Mission
The mission of ROS is to produce live choral music of the highest quality, engaging and educating our community in numerous
musical genres, and gratifying our volunteer singers with the professionalism of their art.

Our Vision
Our vision as a professional choral group is to provide our audience a consistently superior and pleasingly unique artistic experience
that will inspire their attendance and support. We expect to be regarded as the premier choral group among our peers, noted not
only for the quality of our music, but also for our engagement with the community in our art and educational outreach.

REHEARSAL PLAN
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Monday, March 24 Asbury First, Fellowship Hall

7:30-10:00pm Rehearsal Plan Tyzik, Glorecki;
Copland; Poulenc 1,2,3; Rachmaninov

MESSAGE FROM ERIC..

Dear Folks,
Congratulations on a very exciting and fun
performance last Friday! I thought everything went
very well. I especially admired the energy, good
intonation and sustained phrasing you brought to the
performance. The expression in the singing was
irresistible. I thought there was an especially good
feeling in the hall all night long, and I enjoyed seeing
audience members up out of their seats and clapping
along to our encore.
Sure, the conductor receives a good deal of public
recognition on behalf of the group at such an event.
But, as you and I know, everything we do, we do
together - that's how choirs work - and there were
many, many contributions of ideas, time, talent and
energy invested in Friday's success. A few examples:
Missa Luba was brought to my attention by one of our
volunteers at an Artistic Committee meeting in 2007;
Goin' up to Glory and Misa Criolla were both
suggestions from members; the idea of putting Misa
Criolla and Missa Luba together on the same program
came from yet another member; the idea of Bonse
Aba as an encore (although I did have this up my
sleeve) was suggested on concert night by still other
members. From the "Children of Nature" to two
separate soloists in Missa Luba, to our wonderful,
confident and able soprano and tenor soloists (Alayne
Gosson and Dan McInerney) to the stage crew,
librarian, rehearsal soloists, costume committee,
program annotator, grant writers (who won us $3,000
toward this event!) and our very able Djembe player
(Joe Eduardo), we put together a prime event for our
community and our choir. It is gratifying to see and
hear all the talent emerge and find its space in ROS.
Superb! (continued)

MESSAGE FROM ERIC (continued).

On top of all this, there was a lot of symbiosis among
other groups created by our project. Did I mention that
the Borinquen Dance Company, which rehearses at
Hochstein on Monday night, plans a performance of
Misa Criolla on April 26th? Naturally, I suggested that
she needs us to sing it! Their director did not know that
we had the Hochstein Percussion Ensemble performing
it with us. She heard part of our rehearsal on Monday
and left brimming with excitement. She later left me a
message about having voices from ROS perform with
them in about six weeks (stay tuned!). By the way, she
and her husband attended the concert on Friday night. In
other news, you should know that ROS's touring
ensemble Resonanz will perform Missa Luba and
perhaps some other music from this concert during the
dance festival at The College at Brockport, in return for
the services of Sankofa Dance on our concert. There will
be five performances, May 1-4 -certainly not to be
missed. Naturally we will do everything we can to
promote ROS there.
The nicely full (and rocking!) house on Friday should be
reassurance that we are reaching our audience and that
people come back, once they find us, at least for the
special events. But the more important lesson is that the
ROS audience is larger than ever - they are just not
seated in our concert hall at the same time. We have to
go perform where they are, often at the events of our
collaborators, such as the dance companies mentioned
above. This comes only at the cost of our members' time
and effort; naturally, we have to account for the benefits
to ROS in a different way, too - and find support for
these activities apart from ticket sales. But five years
ago, even two years ago, this would not have been
possible. It is to our great credit that our members
perform so generously, enthusiastically and consistently
well, in an extremely wide range of repertoire, no matter
the setting.
We have much of great value to offer our community and
our region, and it is great to watch the success grow,
thanks to you! Congratulations! Looking forward to the
fun of preparing and performing the next one, Eric
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REQUEST FROM SOTA

HISTORIAN CORNER
(by Jo Ann Lampman)
In reviewing old concert programs, I found the program
for Sunday, April 21, 1963, held at the Eastman
Theatre with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Program included the Francis Poulenc Gloria. This
photo of Francis Poulenc was included in the program
with the notation: To the memory of Francis Poulenc,
who died in January of this year (1963), the
performance of the Gloria is respectfully dedicated.

Eric wanted to share this request he recently received

from John Gabrieli, Director of the Rochester
School of the Arts Concert Choir.
May I ask for your help? The SOTA Concert Choir
entered a contest sponsored by the NY Lottery. We
had to write and record an arrangement of the song
"Thank You for Being a Friend," which was the theme
to the television series "The Golden Girls." We (along
with hundreds of other school across the state) entered
and our video was selected as one of the five finalists!
At this point, the winning video will be selected by
popular vote, and cash prizes are awarded to the top
three vote-getters. Here's the link:
https://www.nylthankyoucontest.com/finalists
The voting process takes you through your Facebook
account to prevent people from voting more than once
a day. You may vote more than once, but once daily.
Could you share this information with your group and
see if people will cast a daily vote for us? The prize
money (ranging from $2,500 up to $10,000) would be a
tremendous asset to our program!
(Note: The SOTA Concert Choir will be joining ROS on
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the May 16 concert program.)

Also included on this program was the Brahms A

German Requiem .
Concert was conducted by
Theodore Hollenbach. A total of 246 chorus members
participated, including 73 sopranos, 93 altos, 23 tenors
and 53 basses.
(Note: I joined ROS in 1967 and my score indicates that
we also performed the Poulenc in 1976-1983-1997.
I hope the music comes back to me quickly this cycle!)
The Jeff Tyzik composition, Psalm 150, Praise Ye
The Lord was commissioned by ROS for the
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occasion of our 60 Anniversary (1945-2005) with
world premiere on March 24, 2006 at Asbury First
United Methodist Church, Roger Wilhelm, Music
Director.
This commissioned work was made
possible through a gift from the Estate of Anna
Harms.

EUROPE TOUR UPDATE

PAYMENTS
- I will be accepting balance-due payments at
rehearsal Mon Mar 24, as we need to send final
payment to our tour operator by Apr 01.
- If you can't make your payment by Mar 24, please
let me know asap.
- Payments by check (made out to ROS) or credit
card are accepted.
PASSPORT INFO
I will have sheets at rehearsals for the next 4 weeks
or so. You may either bring in your passport and fill-in
the information on the sheets, or make a photocopy of
your passport to give me. I want to have most info
by Apr 30, if possible. Steve

TERRY FINEGAN TO RETIRE

CONCERT FEEDBACK
Facebook Comment from Lori Nolasco, ROS
Alum, who was most helpful in preparing the
Language Pronunciation learning tool for the
chorus: I was impressed with the choirs Spanish
diction during the performance of the Misa Criola.

At Monday's rehearsal, Board Chair, Carole Huther,

made the announcement that Terry Finegan, ROS
Development Director, has decided to retire
effective March 31st. Terry joined the Rochester
Oratorio Society as Development Director in
November 2009. He went above and beyond in his
role of fostering relationships with corporations and
foundations that wish to build the social fabric of our
community. He has been more than our development
director, but a part of our ROS family. We wish him
well and will miss him.
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AROUND TOWN

ROS WEBSITE NEWS

FINGER LAKES CHORAL FESTIVAL ..

The Finger Lakes Choral Festival begins rehearsals
on May 28, for an All-Bach program, including the
Magnificat, Cantata #191 (Gloria in
excelsis),
Jauchzet frohlocket from Christmas Oratorio, and
Dona nobis from the B Minor Mass. Rehearsals are
held at Perinton Presbyterian
Church, and the
concert will take place at Hochstein Performance Hall
on Sunday, July 27.
Soloists are Laura Heimes, soprano (who frequently
sings with the Early Music group Pegasus), mezzo
Ashley Hibbard (soon to be performing a role in
Merry Mount at Carnegie Hall), and you all know
tenor Pablo Bustos, and Eric Trumpowsky, bass.
In another exciting development, the Choral Festival
has just concluded an agreement to collaborate with
the Maui Masterworks Summer Festival to perform in
July 2015 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. The
event was just announced a few days ago and over
70
singers have already indicated that they will
participate.
For further information, see Jenny Horn, alto, or email
ahorn@earthlink.net. Registration forms can be
downloaded at www.fingerlakeschoral.org .

REQUEST FROM REGISTRAR

Important Reminder..If a chorus member is
planning to be absent for more than one rehearsal
per concert cycle or must back out of one concert,
you must speak with Eric for permission and also
you are requested to notify Registrar, Jo Ann
Lampman, after speaking with Eric so that your
absence is documented and seating assignments
are accurate. Thanks for your cooperation !
You are also reminded that if a chorus member is
unable to participate in a performance at the last
moment, you are requested to contact Registrar,
Jo Ann Lampman at home phone (872-0277).

There are a few new updates to the ROS website:

(NEWS Blog) By Eric Townell, A Memorable Night In
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Rochester (posted March 17 )

(NEWS Blog) By Katherine Clark, soprano, has
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prepared program notes for the May 16 concert
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program (posted on March 4 ).
(NEW) Reference Materials
1) Audio clip of the Grecki, Totus Tuus
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2) Program Page May 16 Concert
3) Rehearsal Plan March 17 thru May 16th

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Sad News.
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On Friday morning,
March 14 , the Resonanz
Ensemble participated in the memorial service for Ray
Miller, father of chorus members Nancy Schreiber,
alto, who recently passed away. A group among the
ROS chorus has suggested that we make donations
to the ROS Endowment Fund in memory of
Raymond Schreiber. Donations, payable to the
ROS Endowment Fund, can be sent to the ROS
Office.
ROS sends our Sympathy Wishes to Marie
Burnham, alto, who has recently lost both her
brother and father-in-law. Marie traveled to Arizona
for her brothers memorial service and while visiting,
her father-in-law passed away suddenly. We are so
very sorry for your family losses.
We also send our Sympathy Wishes to Tiffany Ho,
soprano, who lost her grandfather Muon Ho in
Palmyra, NY this past week.
Happy News.
Joelle Lachance, soprano, has just received notice
of acceptance to Boston University for her continued
music education. Congrats.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR..

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Wednesday, April 30 , 6:00pm, Ingle

Auditorium, RIT Campus, 1 Lomb Memorial Drive
off Jefferson Road. Eric Townell has requested
that you receive the announcement that, Tim Wise,
one of the nations most prominent anti-racist
writers, activist and educator, will be guest
speaker at RIT. (See Page 5 for flyer and further
details.)

EDITOR
Jo Ann Lampman, Registrar and Historian
Phone: (585) 872-0277
Email: joannlampman@aol.com or
jlampman@rossings.org
Newsletter deadline: Wednesday at noon
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GETTING TO KNOW OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

Lou Malucci (Bass)

I only have regret over joining ROS this year; I should have joined sooner!
And I had thought about it often. I am a lifelong resident of Fairport, and a
graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio. My wife, Dorelle, is a graduate of the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a piano major who still teaches and
performs. We have four children and six grandchildren, many of whom are
fine musicians, something they no doubt get from my wife.
I never sang in my life until after I retired from the Air Force after
flying 28 years as a navigator all over the world in B-47 jet
bombers and C-119 and C-130 aircraft. I had a book published a few years
ago on my years in the B-47 during the Cold War, and I am a Viet Nam
veteran. I did play trumpet for 30 years including four years as first chair in
the Oberlin Concert Band. However, I am not a trained musician and was
more interested in varsity baseball, basketball, track, soccer and lacrosse in
high school and college. And still play softball each summer and fall.
After my retirement, I was dragged, literally, by the arm, into the church choir now going on 32 years. About the same
time I was recruited into what is now the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, e.g.. GVOC where I have been also
for 32 years, singing tenor, bass, serving on the board and as president for a time and still into fund raising. About a
dozen years ago I joined the Finger Lakes Choral Festival, originally as a tenor, but now bass, singing last year in San
Francisco under Eric. I am looking forward to my growing friendship with my fellow ROS members in joining some of
them in Europe.

Maura Slon (Soprano) and Bob Slon (Bass)

Maura and Bob Slon have been singing together for forty years
throughout Central/Western New York. In fact their first date began at a
Cornell University Savoyards sing. Since then, they have played singly
and opposite one another in numerous community theatre musicals,
operettas, and straight plays. Their last tread on the boards together was
in the Jones/Schmidt musical, I Do! I Do! in 2007. Choral singing has
been the constant with them, whether its on the stage, in the choir loft or
on the concert risers. Their three adult daughters have lovely voices and
are known to launch into a singing grace before dinner when they are
together for family gatherings. The five of them sang with the Cathedral
Choir School when the girls were growing up.
Maura is well-known for her cantor work at Sacred Heart Cathedral for
special occasions (ordinations, Jubilee celebrations, the Chrism Mass, et
al.). She works part-time at St. Pauls Roman Catholic Church in Webster
as Liturgy Coordinator (a role that she jokingly refers to as the church stage manager), and serves as cantor at
weddings, funerals, and other liturgies in churches throughout the Diocese of Rochester.
A retired Eastman Kodak engineer, Bob is a long-standing member of the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium, of
which he is now president. His involvement in the Consortium derived from his participation in and incorporator of the
Cathedral Choir School. Now disbanded, the Choir Schools laudable mission was to introduce children to the joy of
singing the sacred choral repertoire in the tradition of the British Cathedral and Collegiate Choirs.
After three months of retirement in early 2012, Bob re-entered the workforce with Carestream Health, one of the
businesses that Kodak spun off back in 2007.
Bob and Mauras ROS debut was at the Fourth of July celebration at CMAC (Summer 2013). Maura considered it a
real bonus to stand directly behind the RPO timpanist. She loves percussion. They both regard ROS as the finest
choral group in every dimension: musical program, hospitality, involvement, leadership and direction. Introduce
yourself at rehearsal someday by asking either of them the musical question, How are things with Bob and Maura?
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