Tag Archives: Fairfield County Chorale

Roundup: “Below Surface” At The Y, Dot Day At GFS …

Posted on September 26, 2024 | 2 comments

If you haven’t seen “Below Surface” — the inspiring 20-minute documentary that “reveals the extraordinary power of community through an unlikely subject: a YMCA Aquafit class” — now’s your chance.

In fact, even if you have seen it, you should see it again.

After all, the film is not just about any Aquafit class.

This one was shot at the Westport Weston Family YMCA.

Thanks to YMCA USA and Pfizer, “Below Surface” will be shown — for free — today (Thursday, September 26, 7 p.m.).

The livestream will be followed by a panel discussion. Among the participants: Patty Kondub, the Westport Y Aquafit instructor whose special talents — as a teacher and community builder — form the heart of the film.

After the live broadcast, viewers can an access an on-demand recording any time, through October 31.

Click here to register, and for details.

=================================================

You may have missed International Dot Day last week.

But Greens Farms Elementary didn’t.

The entire school participated in a read-aloud of “The Dot.” Peter Reynolds’ book emphasizes that everyone has creative potential, and small acts of encouragement can lead to great personal growth.

It also celebrates the ideas that creativity can be nurtured, and every person has something unique to contribute to their community.

After the reading. the entire school gathered on the field to create a large “GFS.”

The act symbolized the value each unique individual — or “tiny dot” — plays in the fabric of the Green’s Farms School community.

GFS!

==================================================

Due to incorrect information provided, “06880” reported the wrong time for the Artists Collective of Westport trunk show at Jesup Green on Sunday, October 6.

The correct time is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Art of all styles and genres will be on sale. Artists will talk about their inspiration, creative process (and future commissions). There is music and food, too.

==================================================

Westport Police made 1 custodial arrest between September 18 and 25.

A 36-year-old Bronx man was arrested for criminal attempt to commit larceny, illegal possession of personal identifying information, illegal reproduction of a payment card, identity theft, forgery and interfering with an officer, following an report that a man was attempting to cash a fraudulent check at TD Bank on Main Street. The suspect attempted to flee. He was found with fraudulent checks, and forged debit and credit cards.

Police also issued these citations:

  • Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 5 citations
  • Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 3
  • Failure to obey traffic control signals: 3
  • Failure to obey state traffic commission regulations: 3
  • Traveling unreasonably fast: 2
  • Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 2
  • Larceny: 1
  • Distracted driving: 1
  • Improper use of markers: 1
  • Driving with a foreign license after 60 days: 1
  • Failure to renew registration: 1
  • Violation of motor vehicle license class: 1

After 60 days, a foreign driver’s license is verboten.

===============================================

Kemp Harris brings his special combination of blues, soul, folk and jazz to Voices Café on October 5 (8 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport).

He is a singer, songwriter, an expert weaver of American musical styles — and an actor, activist, author, storyteller, and award-winning educator who has instructed public school students for more than 40 years.

Downbeat says Kemp’s artistry “earthly, inspiring, haunting … sacred and profane.”

Voices Café concerts support social justice programs. Click here for tickets and more information.

Kemp Harris

==================================================

Speaking of music: The Fairfield County Chorale seeks singers. They rehearse Monday evenings in Norwalk Concert Hall.

Click here for audition and rehearsal information.

Questions? Email info@fairfieldcountychorale.org.

The Fairfield County Chorale. (Photo/Matt Fried)

==================================================

Today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature is the first of what I expect will be many similar ones this fall: trees (already) turning, at the Westport Weston Family YMCA.

We’re in for our annual treat, all over town!

(Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)

==================================================

And finally … today in 1969, the Beatles released “Abbey Road.” The songs were as iconic as its cover. 55 years later, it remains a classic.

(You can’t go wrong with the Beatles — or “06880.” You can’t support them any longer. But you can sure help us. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)

2 Comments

Posted in Arts, Education, Entertainment, Police, YMCA

Tagged , , , , ,

Fairfield County Chorale Sings New Tune

Posted on August 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Fairfield County Chorale Sings New Tune

On March 3, 2020 Deborah Harper Bono was enjoying her weekly rehearsal with the Fairfield County Chorale.

A tenor — a systems analyst by day — said he’d been following Johns Hopkins’ COVID dashboard, and was worried. The Chorale was planning a trip to Italy in May; that country was already hit hard.

Five days later — just before a Chorale performance — he told Bono, “This is much worse than people realize. It’s really scary.”

The afternoon performance at Norwalk City Hall went beautifully. That night though, municipal officials announced the building would be closed indefinitely.

The Fairfield County Chorale is a venerable institution. Founded nearly 60 years ago, it has presented more than 250 choral works (“from Bach to Bernstein, Brahms to Britten”), including world premieres, in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and throughout Europe.

The Fairfield County Chorale, performing live in 2018. (Photo/Matt Fried)

Approximately half its more than 100 members — including executive vice president Bono — are Westport residents. Ruth Steinkraus Cohen was a founder.

When the pandemic halted rehearsals and performances, many singing groups went on hiatus.

The Fairfield County Chorale never considered that option. Despite an older demographic — some singers have been with the Chorale for over 30 years — the group pivoted quickly. Leaders — including president Art Gang, another Westporter — embraced technology. Members quickly followed suit.

The day after that March 8 performance, the regular Monday night rehearsal was canceled. But music director David Rosenmeyer resumed them the next week, online. “We don’t know what we’ll do,” he told his singers. “But we won’t miss a beat.”

He soon added lessons on sight reading, and music history and theory, on Wednesday night. The office manager helped members figure out Zoom.

The season usually ends in May. Though that concert was canceled, Monday rehearsals continued through July.

David Rosenmeyer leads Fairfield County Choale’s first in-person gathering since Covid, in June,

Bono was “thunderstruck by the enthusiasm, support and innovation” of her fellow singers and leaders.

They took August off. But then they regrouped, figuring out how to make December’s online performance work.

Rosenmeyer chose familiar music — a mix of holiday, slightly spiritual and multicultural songs. The finale was “Amazing Grace.”

On Zoom, singers do not rehearse out loud together; everyone is on mute. But over 3 months, each recorded their own parts at home. Rosenmeyer taught himself video production, to stitch every voice together.

A Fairfield County Chorale Zoom rehearsal.

No one knew how it would all come out. Bono — who did not see the final product until it went live — was “gobsmacked.”

A surprise benefit of the concert — livestreamed once, then available twice more — was that the Chorale reached an audience far beyond the usual Norwalk City Hall. Thousands of friends, relatives and former members watched from as far as London, Tel Aviv and Singapore.

Donations poured in.

And the FCC gained over 20 new members. Some were newcomers to the area. Others were college students, whose own chorales had shut down.

A second performance, in March, featured a reimagined Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” with an electric guitar and Argentinian instruments. It was a way to look ahead to spring, through a bright, hopeful piece.

Fairfield County Chorale tenors and basses perform “Gloria,” with David Rosenmeyer conducting the orchestra.

“Few organizations could have navigated this. I can’t say enough about David’s energy, and our embrace of all this,” Bono says.

“We’re not digital natives. But we got something none of us could have imagined.”

The Fairfield County Chorale is preparing for a live return in December. Their concert will be part season, part on homage to 80-year-old composer Adolphus Hailstork.

Then comes March — Mozart or Fouré’s “Requiem” — and Handel’s “Messiah” near Easter.

“We’ll end the season with hope and grandness,” Bono promises. “Whatever the limitations, we’ll rise to the occasion.”

David Rosenmeyer leads the Fairfield County Chorale, in pre-pandemic days. (Photo/Matt Fried)

(For more information on the Fairfield County Chorale, click here.) 

Comments Off on Fairfield County Chorale Sings New Tune

Posted in Arts

Tagged , ,

Chris Coogan’s “B Minor Blessing”

Posted on March 6, 2019 | 8 comments

Chris Coogan is getting married.

Fairfield County’s favorite jazz and gospel composer/pianist/singer/ teacher/choir director/producer ties the knot in June with Marion Howard. She’s got her own artistic background.

Marion Howard and Chris Coogan.

But that’s not what this story is about.

As Chris was thinking about his impending step-fatherhood, Marion was reading to him from a recently discovered memoir. “U Bernátū” describes the lives of her Jewish ancestors from Osek, a tiny village in Bohemia (today it’s the Czech Republic).

Marion had discovered a link to that heritage through an English-language Radio Prague story. Her uncommon family name Wedeles was noted in the story as “Wels.” She realized the piece was about her own ancestors.

In a beautiful passage mixing heartbreak and joy, the narrator describes how his mother prepared luggage for her 2 children, before they emigrated to America in the late 1850s. She knew she would likely never see them again. Her 14-year-old son was leaving to be spared from enforced conscription, as happened to many Jewish peasants.

The mother stuffs baked goods into the luggage, then fills even tinier spaces with dried fruit. Her children’s journey will be long; she does what she can to help them make it, with food and love.

The Wedeles family: Marion Howard’s ancestors.

At the same time, Chris was writing a new composition. He chose B minor, because of the key’s mystical and meditative qualities. It ends in D major, signalizing the realization of hope for the next generation. Marion’s relatives’ losses — not everyone made it out of Bohemia alive — and triumphs live forever now, in Chris’ “B Minor Blessing.”

One stunning moment — the children are loaded onto an oxcart to carry them to the train bound for Bremen; the mother runs after them shouting prayers and blessings, following behind until it disappears from view — is reflected in the music.

Marion and Chris learned from the “U Bernátū” memoir that the ship was lost at sea for months. The passengers’ food was cut to 1/4 rations. Many became weak, and illness spread. But because of the mother’s loving foresight, the dried food kept her children fed and well.

The “B Minor Blessing” starts with one female solo voice — the mother — singing an Aaronic blessing in Hebrew. The choir then follows. The music swells to a piano solo by Chris; it represents the overseas journey.

The final verse is in English. It’s quiet and reflective — much like a prayer for the now-distant family, sung in the language of their new lives.

The Fairfield County Chorale presents the world premiere of “B Minor Blessing” this Saturday (March 9, 7:30 p.m., Norwalk Concert Hall). It’s part of the evening’s “journey through time and across the globe.” Chris will accompany the chorale on piano.

The other day, he shared his new piece’s back story with the Chorale. They connected on a personal level. Nearly everyone, Marion says, has a similar tale of brave immigrant ancestors who boarded boats, mules or planes — or arrived somewhere on foot.

Everyone does have a family story. As Chris Coogan and Marion Howard prepare to merge theirs, they’ve collaborated on a new story — told in music — for all of us to hear, think about, and appreciate.

(The Norwalk Concert Hall is at 125 East Avenue. Tickets to the March 9 Fairfield County Chorale performance are $30 in advance, $5 for students, and $35 at the venue. Click here to purchase, and for more information.)

8 Comments

Posted in Arts, History, Media, Organizations, People

Tagged , , , , ,