Aiken Choral Society
Aiken, South Carolina
Pictures from Valentine Ball at Banksia 2008
Contents (click on underlined link to go to item)
Rehearsals
each Thursday, 7:30 PM to about 9 PM
Rehearsals for the Autumn 2008 season will start September 4, 2008.
Auditions first two rehearsal days, 7 PM.
Location:
Cornerstone Baptist Church 100 Cornerstone Drive off Hitchcock Highway
For
more information about singing with Aiken Choral Society, see How To Join, below
Usually second Thursday of each month, 7:00 PM
Cornerstone Baptist Church
Annual Meeting August 24, 2008 -325 Magnolia Lane Court, Aiken 3:00 p.m.
Christmas
Tour of Homes, second Saturday in December, 4 to 7 PM. Several beautifully
decorated homes and other classic buildings of Aiken are open for the tour.
Tickets may be purchased in advance at various locations, and at the tour
headquarters on the day of the tour. Maps to the homes are give to ticket
holders at the tour headquarters on the day of the tour
2008
Twentieth Anniversary Tour of Homes:
· Saturday, December 13, 2008, 4
to 7 PM
· Tour headquarters: Banksia, Aiken County Historical Museum
· Ticket price $9 per person in
advance, $10 on the day of the tour at tour headquarters.
· Tour headquarters opens at 3:30 PM to 5:00 on the day of the tour for map pickup.
Advance tickets may be purchased at Aiken Chamber of
Commerce, Aiken Office Supply and Bookstore, Showtime and Aiken
Drug Company
Rossini,
Petite Messe Solennelle, recorded at Piccolo Spoleto Festival,
Charleston, SC, June 1999
Compact disk, 74 minutes. Wonderful music, a great performance, and a
high-quality, professional recording.
Order
by mail, or purchase at our concerts
Price
by mail $12, including mailing, payable by cash, check or money order.
To
order by mail, print out, fill in and mail the Donation
and Order Form, with your check or money order in the correct amount.
You may also contact us by mail, email or phone to request an order form; be
sure to include your name and address with your request. See Contact Aiken Choral Society,
below, for mail and email contact information.
We
depend on donations from generous friends to sustain our operations and our
musical excellence. Most members are volunteers, who give freely of their time
and talents. However, we incur expenses. We pay our excellent Music Director a
modest stipend, pay the small number of professional musicians who sing with
us, pay small honoraria to other soloists, pay our accompanists, rent grand
pianos for concerts, and incur additional administrative expenses. Sales of
tickets and CD recordings, fund-raising events, and grants from public agencies
pay only a portion of these expenses. We depend on donations for most of our
funds. You can print out and use the Donation and Order
Form to make a donation. Your generosity is appreciated.
Aiken
Choral Society is a non-profit tax-exempt organization; donations to the Aiken
Choral Society are tax deductible.
Want to
sing with the Aiken Choral Society?
Anyone
with acceptable vocal talent, determined by audition, is welcome to sing with
the Aiken Choral Society. Ability to read music is highly desirable, and
ability to sing harmony parts is necessary. The Artistic Director conducts
auditions at the start of each season. You can come directly to the audition,
or call the Artistic Director,
Singers
pay dues of $30 per season for adults, $10 for students.
Rehearsals
are held each Thursday at 7:30 PM, usually at the Cornerstone Baptist
Church. Additional rehearsals may be held in the weeks just before a
concert.
Singers are expected to attend all rehearsals, unless excused by the
Artistic
Director. The music is complex and demanding, so regular rehearsal is
essential.
Aiken
Choral Society is a semi-professional organization. The Society is a member of Chorus America.
The
Aiken Choral Society performs two major concert series each year, in
the winter
around Christmastime, and in late May/early June. The winter concerts
are held
in Aiken, typically in an area church and/or the Aiken County
Historical Museum at Banksia, and focus on seasonal music. The Spring
concerts are usually held in an Aiken-area church and/or Banksia. The
music for the Spring
concert typically includes important classical and contemporary works.
The
Society also sings at various fund raising and benefit events, including the
Aiken Tour of Homes during December. Music for this event usually includes
seasonal music.
Membership
is open to anyone who displays acceptable vocal talent by audition. The ability
to read music is very desirable, and the ability to sing harmony parts is
necessary. Auditions are held at the start of each rehearsal season. The Music
Director conducts the auditions.
Membership
at present comprises about 25 singers. They range in age from high school
students to mature adults, and include professional, semi-professional and
skilled amateur singers. Solo parts are performed by members selected by the
Music Director. Professional pianists and other instrumental musicians
accompany the performances.
Our new full time Director beginning in January 2008 will be Dr. Maureen Simpson. A "native" Aikenite, Maureen has had the privilege to study and perform with some of the world's most influential musicians. After graduating from Winthrop University, she was accepted into the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where she worked with conductors Max Rudolf (Curtis), Julius Rudel (Metropolitan Opera), Richard Woitach (the Met) and Richard Bonynge and Cornelius Eberhardt; directors Renato Capecchi, Frank Corsaro and Bernard Uzan, and the incomparable Gian-Carlo Menotti. She has appeared with Luciano Pavarotti, Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Rita Hunter, James Morris, Diane Soviero and Louis Quilico. She attended the AIMS program in Graz, Austria where she studied and coached with American and German professionals in the field. With over forty operatic and musical theater roles in her repertoire, her favorite roles are Tosca in Tosca, the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, and Dolly Levi in Hello! Dolly!
Maureen
has graduate degrees from Indiana University-Bloomington and the
University of South Carolina. She has taught at USC in Columbia,
Benedict College, USC Aiken, and for the past nine years at Georgia
Southern University in Statesboro, GA. Currently she is also full-time
Director of Music at St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church in
Aiken, SC.
The
Society is governed by a Board of Directors, who are elected to three year
terms. Directors include both singers and other members of the Aiken community.
All are volunteers; the Society has no regular paid staff. (The Music Director
is paid for services, as are other professionals who perform services for
the Choral Society.) Officers are elected to three year terms. Officers include
President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Corresponding Secretary and Recording
Secretary. Director candidates are nominated by a Nominating Committee of the
Board in the spring, and are elected by vote at the general meeting, which is
held in the summer. The newly elected Board of Directors elects its officers in
its first meeting as a board. Anyone interested in the Aiken Choral Society is
welcome to attend the Annual Meeting. The date, time and place of the Annual
Meeting are announced by mail and e-mail to members.
The
Board also sponsors committees to plan and carry out certain tasks. Committees
include the Program Committee, which plans musical programs; Publicity
Committee; committees to plan and carry our fund raising events; and others.
Committees include Board members and other interested persons.
Current
officers are:
President:
Julia Westbrook
Vice-President: Owen Clary
Treasurer: Patricia Carter Hall
Recording Secretary: Gretchen Schaffner
Corresponding Secretary: Joann Hartley
Expenses of the Society include a payments to the Music Director, professional
accompanists and a few professional singers; rental of pianos and other
instruments; honoraria for soloists; the printing and distribution of
advertising material, concert programs, tickets, etc.; and the production of
recordings. These expenses amount to several thousand dollars each season.
Funds to pay these expenses come from contributions by individuals and
corporations, sale of tickets, fund-raising events, sale of recordings, and
grants from funding organizations including the South Carolina Arts Commission.
The Aiken Choral Society is a non-profit organization, and contributions are
fully tax deductible. Donations are gratefully accepted at any time.
Contributors receive written acknowledgment of their donations. Top
Mail:
Aiken Choral Society
P.O. Box 2161
Aiken, SC 29802