City of the Hills Chorus Performs Annual Holiday Concert, Sunday Dec 4th at 3PM

City of the Hills Chorus

Seated left to right: Terry Hait, Jan McGrath, Elaine Mattice, Flora Beth Cunningham (director), Linda Allen, Sue Dana-LeViness, and Joy Sanders.

2nd row: Joanne Burdick, Liz Moeller, Mary Johnson-Butler, and Jo Melmer.

3rd row: Pat Ashe, Donna Fornito, Carole Wood, and Kathy Polley.

4th row: Chris Hughes, Bettie Bennett, and Connie Herzig.

5th row: Karen Adolfsen and Dorcas Ross. Absent from picture: Kate Brooker Milano.



Another season has come and almost gone, but this one was extra-special: our 25th Anniversary, our Silver Jubilee. Bittersweet to see it pass but we have our annual Holiday Concert to cheer us up, this year featuring the City of the Hills Chorus -- Oneonta being the city in this case. A fabulous close to an amazing year of music, their performance will start the Holiday season in a harmonious and fun-filled key.

A chapter of the Sweet Adelines International, this group of women sing a capella in four-part harmony in the American folk tradition known as barbershop style. They will perform holiday carols and perhaps a contemporary song or two (I saw something about "California Dreamin'" though I have not been given the final program yet) interspersed with sing-a-long carols for optional audience participation. To learn more about the group please see their Web site at http://www.saregion16.com/cityofthehillschorus/cityothills2.htm.

I had forgotten how sweet and infectious this style of singing is until I saw The Music Man the other week on WNYC-PBS television from Syracuse. Throughout the film a group of 4 men who called themselves the Buffalo Bills wanders the streets of the fictitious River City, Iowa breaking into song whenever prompted by the notorious Professor Harold Hill, musical con man. I defy anyone to resist smiling at their rendition of "Lida Rose" or "Goodnight Ladies." I know many a Delaware County senior citizen who jumps - to the extent they are able to - at any chance to hear barbershop-style singing, so make a senior citizen happy and bring them to this concert.


Robin Ward, saxophone

And lest we get too sentimental we are starting a new tradition at this final concert for 2011, something we hope will become a regular feature: we will hear a brief performance at the beginning of the concert by a local music student. December 4 we will hear from Robin Ward, saxophone. Ms. Ward is a high school Senior and is in the process of auditioning for college admission in her chosen field of music education. She will be accompanied on piano by Dan Chien.

After playing a year of clarinet Robin Ward began playing tenor saxophone in sixth grade under the direction of Gary LiCalzi of the South Kortright Central School.  Since then she has participated in All-county band and chorus and was selected to play in the area All-state band. Last summer she began playing in the rock band Electric Evolver, performing in Albany, Stamford and Lake Placid. She now studies saxophone privately with Christine Cummings of Hartwick College and plays in the Hartwick Jazz Ensemble. Robin has applied to several colleges including Ithaca, Gordon, SUNY Fredonia, and Mansfield.

How wonderful to hear this talented young woman and give her a local boost as she prepares to enter the professional music world! We hope you will join us for some wonderful music of the season and for great food and good company, too, on Sunday December 4th at 3PM at the Cyr Center in Stamford.

Thank you as always to all of our donors and especially to the Robinson-Broadhurst Foundation for making this concert and our entire series possible! We also thank the O'Connor Foundation for their recent disbursement of their generous grant to us, which we were able to fully match. THANK YOU to all who contributed!