Dear Chorus:
I trust you are all having a wonderful summer and a welcome rest before our new season begins this coming August. As we discussed throughout our previous season, there will be some changes starting this year. As announced earlier this year by the ASO, our group has officially become the Alabama Symphony Orchestra Chorus (“ASO Chorus” will be our official “shorthand” - ASOC is already in use). Our Board of Directors and the ASO have been working on this collaboration for many months and we are pleased to finally see it come to fruition. You should receive an email later this summer from Curt Long, Executive Director of the ASO, formally inviting each of us to become a member of the ASO Chorus and welcoming us to the ASO family.
I am certain you are wondering what this means for you going forward. In general, you should not see any changes in the way we operate rehearsals or work through performances. The first question I am sure you have is, "what about our staff." Since the ASO Chorus is part of the ASO our staff are now employees of the ASO. We are pleased to announce that Philip Copeland is returning in his role as Director of the Chorus. You may also have seen that Philip has accepted a position at Samford University as Director of Choral Activities -- congratulations Philip! The other returning member of our staff is Dale Reynolds, who this year will be be our Accompanist. We are adding a third staff member this year -- Rick Atkerson -- who will take over Dale's previous role as Manager. Rick is a current member of our group and is a minister at Riverchase Presbyterian Church when he is away from the Chorus. We have recommended Rick for this position to the ASO and are looking forward to having him as the logistical director and primary contact between the Chorus and the ASO management. Please join me in welcoming Rick and wishing all of our staff a wonderful upcoming season.
I am sure the next question on your mind is auditions. Please be on the lookout for an email from Philip detailing the audition schedule for this season. All Chorus members are required to audition annually, unless otherwise dictated by our Director and the ASO. Once auditions are completed, Registration will take place as usual. You may see some new faces assisting us with Registration as the ASO becomes more involved with our group. One thing that will be different is that your dues will be paid to the ASO, and not to the BCC. The ASO has agreed to keep dues for the Chorus at the current level (for the next two years), that is, $80 for members, and $40 for full time students and for music educators. The ASO has also agreed to make available scholarship assistance to qualified members with a demonstrated financial need. Additional information regarding scholarship and Registration will be sent out later this summer. Efforts will be made to allow members to pay dues via PayPal as we have done in prior years.
Speaking of our website, we will continue to maintain our own website as well as our Chorus blog. Both tools have been tremendously helpful to us during our recent seasons. Look for some visual changes to occur as we transition to our new ASO Chorus logo. If you are interested in assisting with the website transition or in maintaining either site please let me know, we would love to have your help. Our 2010-2011 season schedule will be up on the BCC site soon, but in the meantime here is a quick review of our upcoming performances: Mozart's "Great" Mass, October 15-17 (yes, the Sunday date is correct); Handel's Messiah, December 17-18; and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Symphony No. 9, May 21. Please be aware, this schedule is subject to change and we are aware of at least one additional concert in the works for February. We will pass that information along as soon as possible.
The biggest change you will see next season is in our Board of Directors. Under the BCC Bylaws we were required to have both officers and a Board made up of fifteen members to govern our group. The ASO Chorus will have neither officers nor a Board, but will instead have an Advisory Committee made up of chorus members elected by the general membership, just as the BCC Board was. The Committee's purpose is to give feedback and suggestions to ASO management about the operation of the Chorus and all matters of concern to its members, and will fulfill all functions previously carried out by the Board. Our current Board members will serve as the Interim Committee until we meet in the fall and elections can be held. If you are interested in serving on the Committee please let me know.
All in all, we have a wonderful season ahead of us and I hope each of you are as excited as I am about getting started again. Be on the lookout for additional emails as we come closer to rehearsals, and if you should have any questions in the interim please feel free to contact me or any of our current Board members (here is a link to our email addresses: http://www.concertchorale.org/addendum/board.html). I look forward to seeing each of you again soon.
Sincerely,
Dan Bell
BCC President
