Choral Society New Season (August, 24, 2008) 

CHORAL SOCIETY NEW SEASON

Submitted by Stephanie Crowe________________Baldwin Register August 24, 2008

The Eastern Shore Choral Society began rehearsals for its 17^th season with a potluck supper at the First Baptist Church in Fairhope.  Rehearsals will continue each Monday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the church.  New members include, from left, front row, Rachel Grant, Glenna Grant, Megan Rae Dillard, Cameron Stallings, Alba Russo, Kyndall Haywood, April Starr Shamma; back row, Alison Inscore, Joshua Davis, Randy Smith, Frank Hixon, Claire Heard and Coleman Tharpe.  New singers are still being accepted.

 

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Choral society announces 

upcoming concert schedule 

Eastern Shore vocalists plan 

Carnegie Hall performance

in 2009 

 
Submitted by Stephanie Crowe

     Eastern Shore Choral Society will initiate its 17th season of choral performances by holding a potluck dinner on August 18 for members and new singers interested in learning more about the organization.

    The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the social hall at the First Baptist Church, 300 S. Section Street in Fairhope. 

    Singers interested in challenging themselves to learn exciting music and meet other singers with the goal of contributing a professional choral sound for the community are invited to attend. The Eastern Shore Choral Society's purpose is to perpetuate the art of sacred classical music, as well as performing secular pieces. 

    Music will be distributed, membership dues of $45 will be collected  and vocal evaluations will be conducted at this gathering.  Rehearsals will begin at 7:30 p.m. August 25 and meetings are held every Monday evening.

    The concert season will include the winter concert, which is scheduled for December 4 and 6 at St. Francis Traditional Episcopal Church in Point Clear, featuring the masterwork, Magnificat, by Antonio Vivaldi.

    A communitywide "Messiah Sing-Along" is set for December 15 at Fairhope United Methodist Church and the spring concert will be April 28 and 30 at the First Baptist Church in Fairhope. The spring concert's masterwork will be John Rutter's Requiem.

    A highlight for the choral society next year will be the performance of  Requiem at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with Director Terry Maddox leading the performance.  Singers interested in performing at Carnegie Hall are invited to contact Maddox by e-mail at tmaddox@gspcmobile.org.

    Positions to join the choral society for this trip are still open.  For further information about the Eastern Shore Choral Society, call Stephanie Crowe at 929-1896 or visit the Web site www.escs.org .

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IN CONCERT

 

Just call him  the Music Man

 

►Terry Maddox to direct       

Eastern Shore Choral Society’s

16^th annual spring concerts                 

today and Thursday in             

Fairhope.

 

By AMY BROWNING 

Correspondent                                  Baldwin Register -  April 22, 2008   

   Baldwin and Mobile counties have their own music man.

 

   Terry Maddox is director of five choirs in Baldwin and Mobile counties and also serves as musical director of Touro Synagogue in New Orleans.

 

   He conducts the Mobile CommunityChoir, the Spring Hill College Chorale, the sanctuary choir of Government Street Presbyterian Church and the Eastern

Shore Choral Society.  He also conducts the students ages 7 to 13 who make up the Boys and Girls Clubs Honor Choir of

South Alabama.

 

   “With all my various positions, I direct seven choirs per week,” Maddox said.  “It’s a lot of time.  It’s a lot of energy.”

 

   Lately,  he spends time traveling from group to group to prepare for

each of the upcoming concerts.

 

   “He tries to get the best out of singers’voices,” said Stephanie Crowe, a member of the Government Street Presbyterian Church sanctuary choir and the Eastern Shore Choral Society.  “He does so much for the community.”

 

   "Misty Mozart," a Mobile Community Chorus concert that had been scheduled for Sunday at Government Street Presbyterian, has been postponed until June.  A specific date will be announced later.

 

   Maddox has been conducting the Boys and Girls Club choir, which is made up of 18 young singers, for a year and a half.

 

   "They're a great bunch of kids from Mobile and Baldwin Counties," said Maddox.  "They have high energy and high enthusiasm.  It's wonderful to see what music has done to turn these children around."

 

   The Eastern Shore Choral Society will present its 16th annual spring concerts today and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Fairhope.  The 60-voice choir will perform songs including Dvorak's "Messe in D" and a selection of spiritual and gospel favorites.  A small instrumental ensemble will provide accompaniment.

 

   The church is at 300 S. Section St. Tickets are $10 and $12 at the door.

 

   Maddox has also been rehearsing with the 20-voice choir on the campus of Spring Hill College.  The fine and performing arts department will present a spring concert by the Spring Hill College Chorale at 4 p.m. Sunday in St. Joseph's Chapel on the college's campus  The title of the concert is "Sounds of Spring from the Hill."  It will feature sacred and secular classics, classical pieces, spiritual songs,  Broadway and pop arrangements.

 

   The concert will also feature soloists from the college's private voice studies program.

 

   Maddox earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Evansville in Indiana and his master's degree in choral conducting from Loyola University in New Orleans.  He has completed half of his doctorate degree there as well, he said. 

 

   He spent eight years living and working in New Orleans where he is employed part time as musical director for Touro Synagogue each Thursday through Saturday.  Before living in New Orleans, he lived in Jackson, Miss.

 

   Maddox served as the assistant preparatory conductor of the Greater Mobile Bay Chorale Association when it performed at Carnegie Hall in 2007.  The group, which includes 175 singers, was invited to sing at the hall.  The choir includes singers from the Mobile Community Chorus,  the sanctuary choir from Government Street Presbyterian, the Eastern Shore Choral Society and the Touro Synagogue.

 

   He has been invited to return to Carnegie Hall in March 2009 to serve as conductor for his chorale association.

 

   "Im very excited about the invitation," said Maddox.  "It's a very great honor."

 

   Anyone interested in being a part of the association is invited to join, said Maddox.

 

   Although he has no one favorite group, he said that there are differences between directing children and adult choirs.  The children are naturally full of enthusiasm and energy.  Getting all the singers focused becomes his goal.

 

   For the adult choirs, the focus is there but he has to keep them energized and driven, he said.  When he is successful, he said, he has a "powerful force of focused musicians."

 

   Each group has its own character, strengths and weaknesses, said Maddox.

 

   "He has got a wonderful personality that is effervescent," Crowe said.  "He is demanding.  He wants it to be fun.  He helps you develop vocal techniques.  He is intense about his music."

 

   According to Maddox, a good conductor pushes his singers to their potential.  He leads them by sharing his passion for the music with his singers.  He is also led by their enthusiasm and energy.  It's a reciprocal relationship that is full of passion and purpose.

 

   "I hope that's what I offer them," said Maddox.  "Every group is unique and that's what makes it fun."

 

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The Eastern Shore Choral Society recently announced the winners of the fifth annual Edna Traccarella Scholarship competition held at Trinity Presbyterian Church.  First place was Nicole Corley, a junior at Daphne High School, who received a $500 grant to pursue vocal studies.  Second place went to Cethia Scott, a junior at Baldwin County High School, who received a $400 grant.  Third place went to Virginia Lynn, a freshman at Foley High School, who received $300.  Honorable mention was awarded to Mallory Searcy, a sophomore who is home schooled.  The winners are, from left, front row, Scott and Corley; back row, Searcy and Lynn.

 

Below:  Competing for the sholarships included, from left, front row, Scott; Lottie Jackson, Baldwin County High; Katy O'Neill, McGill-Toolen Catholic High; Corley; Lynn; and, back row, Jackie Pober, Bayside Academy; Cary McKinney, Robertsdale High; Cardinal Seawell, Daphne High; Searcy; Michala Mesler, home schooled; Shelby Graham, home schooled; and not pictured, Rebecca Merchant, Robertsdale High.

Submitted by Stephanie Crowe                           
BALDWIN REGISTER                                                                           February 10, 2008

The Eastern Shore Choral Society recently inducted several new members.  They include, from left, front row, Cynthia Hyatt, Hope Stembridge, Debbie Burker, Mallory Searcy; and second row, Carrie Owens, Toby Gurley, Eunice Ng, Sharon Moore and Marjorie Searcy.

ESCS is preparing for Spring concerts scheduled for April 22-24 at First Baptist Church in Fairhope. 
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HER PASSION FOR MUSIC EVIDENT IN PROFESSIONAL, PERSONAL LIFE

By BRENDA G. ANDERSON
Correspondent                                                Baldwin Register  -  February 10, 2008 

Get to Know Ann Whatley
Birthplace:  Mobile
Hometown:  Fairhope
Family:  Husband, Richard; children, Aaron and Adam
Occupation: Elementary school music teacher/piano teacher 
Activities:  Travel, shopping, kayaking, singing, Alabama football

   Ann Whatley's classroom at Fairhope Elementary is brightly decorated with musical notes, pictures of instruments and posters of songs.  On this interview day, Whatley's purple sweater adorned with beaded musical instruments sewn on the front reflects her passion - music.

   But then, she had parents who were musically talented.  "My mother, Erin Rhodes, started teaching me piano when I was 3.  My grandmother also played the piano.  When I was older I took lessons from Mr. Ambrose in Bay Minette.  My father, Dusty Rhodes, played the piano by ear," Whatley said.

   Singing at age 5 at First Baptist Church in Bay Minette set the foundation for her future years.  For the past eight years, she has performed with the Eastern Shore Choral Society.  "I used to sing with the choral society when it first began, but quit because I was too busy with my children.  I joined again after I found out the society was touring Italy the following year.  I had gone to the concert to hear my friend, Dorothy Bodiford, sing a solo when that announcement was made," said Whatley.

   "I'll treasure that experience for the rest of my life.  We sang in cathedrals in Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice.  I'm used to singing with elementary children so my voice has grown since rejoining the choral society," she said.

   "Last year I sang a solo on my birthday when the society sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City.  It is such a joy to sing, expecially with Terry Maddox, our director who is so talented," said Whatley.

   In addition to singing, Whatley has other talents, such as roller-rink skating.  "My father died when I was 12 so we moved from our 300-acre farm in Bay Minette to Grove Hill, where my grandparents lived.  My grandfather farmed but he also owned a portable skating rink that he'd move from town to town, and I'd go with him.  I still have my original skates, and I can still skate," she said, proudly.

   Following a family legacy, Whatley attended Judson College and majored in music education.  Her first job after college graduation in 1969 was in Tuscaloosa teaching music.  She later got her master's degree in early childhood education from the University of Alabama.  Then she decided to "search for greener pastures."   She moved to Pensacola but first spent a couple of weeks in Mobile where she met her husband, Richard, to whom she has been married 33 years.

   Because of her husband's job, they lived in Dallas, New Orleans and Houston.  "After experiencing Houston's traffic for five years, we decided it was time to come home;  that's when we moved to Fairhope in 1989," she said.

   The next year, Whatley began working in the Baldwin County Public School system.  Seven years ago, she initiated the annual countywide Music Extravaganza, in which more than 300 children participate.  She also has been recipient of the 2007 C.F. "Cliff" Spanier Award at Fairhope Elementary.

   Whatley has interests besides music.  She has ridden a horse as the head marshal in the Order of Mystic Magnolias Mardi Gras parade for 12 years, traveled around the world and enjoys bargain shopping.
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ESCS SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE APPROACHING

 

Submitted by STEPHANIE CROWE          Baldwin Register  -  January 16, 2008

The Eastern Shore Choral Society announced its fifth annual Edna Traccarella Voice Scholarship  competition, which will take place March 8 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairhope. The application deadline is February 15.  The competition is open to high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are residents of Baldwin County.  The award for first place if $500, second place is $400 and third place is $300.  Discussing the event, from left, are scholarship Chairwoman Jane Blaum, 2007 scholarship winner Melinda Price and 2007-08 Eastern Shore Choral Society President Stephanie Crowe.  For more information, call Blaum at 232-1098 or visit www.escs.org.

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CHORAL SOCIETY SETS REHEARSALS FOR SPRING

Submitted by STEPHANIE CROWE      Baldwin Register  -  December 27, 2007

   The Eastern Shore Choral Society will begin rehearsals for its spring season at 7 p.m. Jan. 7 at First Baptist Church in Fairhope.

  

   Singers interested in challenging themselves to learn music and meeting new singers with the goal for contributing a professional sound for the community are invited to attend.  ESCS's purpose is to perpetuate the art of sacred classical music.  Secular music is also performed.

   Music will be distributed, dues collected ($35 per semester) and vocal evaluations conducted at this meeting.  All other rehearsals will begin at 7:30 p.m. every Monday.

  The choral society's spring concerts will be April 22-24 and will be performed at First Baptist Church in Fairhope.  This year's concert will feature Antonin Dvorak's "Messe in D" and a collection of spirituals.

  

   ESCS is planning a trip to Europe in July and will perform the repertoire in several cathedrals in Prague, Vienna and Budapest.  Singers and friends interested in the trip should contact Terry Maddox at 434-9325 or email at tmaddox@gspcmobile.org.

 

 For more information, call Stephanie Crowe at 929-1896 or visit www.escs.org.

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SOUNDS OF THE SEASON 

 Photos by BRENDA G. ANDERSON

Correspondent                                                              Baldwin Register  -  December 14, 2007

Melinda Price, winner of the 2007 Eastern Shore Choral Society's Edna Traccarella Scholarship Competition, received a standing ovation for her performance of "Gesu Bambino" at the Choral Society's 16th annual Christmas concert held at St Francis Traditional Episcopal Church in Point Clear.   Price is a senior at Spanish Fort High School. 

Terry Maddox puts his heart and soul into directing the Choral Society.  Maddox is minister of music and fine arts for Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, music director of Touro Synagogue of New Orleans and an adjunct professor at Spring Hill College in Mobile.

 

A portion of the Eastern Shore Choral Society's tenor section performs during the holiday concert.  The tenor section, made up of Stephanie Crowe, Cindy Webster, Chris Benoir, Ron Howell, Glen Jenkins, Ron Stevens, Carl Thomas and Chris Winston, sang before a full house at St. Francis.

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