Choral Society Makes Donation (December 4, 2009)

Lights of Christmas (Fairhope Tree-Lighting) (November 20, 2009)

Get to Know Toby Gurley (November 1, 2009)

New members (September, 2009)

Eastern Shore Choral Society,
(Edna Traccarella Voice Scholarship competition) (January 29, 2009)
Choral Society Rehearsals Begin (January 9, 2009)
Holiday Happenings (December 23, 2008)
Choral Society's Christmas Concert Set (November 27, 2008)
Society to Perform Christmas Concert (November 23, 2008)
Choral Society New Season (August, 24, 2008)

Choral society announces upcoming concert schedule (July 25, 2008)

Click here for Press Releases 2007

 

Choral Society Sets Rehearsals for Spring (December 27, 2007)

Sounds of the Season (December 14, 2007)
The  "Messiah" Concert/Sing-Along (December 9, 2007)
Music's been a life long 'natural fit' for Massachusetts native -
Get to Know Paul Anderson (October 2007)
Music Lover finds harmony in Fairhope -
Get to Know Stephanie Crowe (October 24, 2007)
Choral Society Welcomes New Members (September 21, 2007)
Choral Society turns 16 this year (August 26, 2007)
From Teen years to retirement, Lillian Man continues to sing -
Get to Know Jim Strawn (August 23, 2007)
Choral Society to Begin New Season (August 3, 2007) 

CHORAL SOCIETY MAKES DONATION

Submitted by Bruce Sims                                             Baldwin Register - December 4, 2009

 

Eastern Shore Choral Society has presented Robertsdale High choral instructor Bill Thomas with $500, which will be used to buy sheet music for the spring semester.  The society, which donates money on a rotating basis to choral programs in Baldwin County, does so as a way of encouraging young people to get involved with the choral arts.  On hand for the donation are, from left, Jane Blaum, Thomas and Eunice Ng.  Blaum and Ng are from the Eastern Shore Choral Society, which is now preparing the group's Christmas program.

LIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS

Streets of Fairhope are shining after ceremony

November 20, 2009                                   Press-Register, Mobile

The city of Fairhope kicked off the holiday season Thursday night with its annual tree
lighting ceremony.  Many trees lining downtown streets were lit up.

The entertainment included the Fairhope High School Band, Fairhope Middle School
band and the Eastern Shore Choral Society.  At right, choral society singers belt
out a Christmas tune.

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Retired engineer says he refuses to be ‘porch sitter'

By LEIGH T. MOORE                    
Correspondent________________                            ___Baldwin Register - November 1, 2009

    Get to Know Todd Gurley

    Birthplace:  Lenoir, N.C.
    Hometown:  Montrose
    Family:  Wife, Betty, children
    Mark Gurley, Penelope Prett;
    four grandchildren
    Occupation:  Retired
    Activities:  Singing, church
    work, gardening

     Todd Gurley, raised in a little town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, recalls moving with his family to Mobile as a teenager.

     "I was a Murphy High School graduate in 1961," he said.  "It was the largest class in the state, and there were more than 1,200 graduates in my class."

     He went on to obtain his chemical engineering undergraduate and master's degrees at Auburn, and he remains a faithful supporter of the university and its creed.

     I contribute to Auburn, and I try to be a good alumnus," he said.  "It's a super place, and I enjoy sending students there."

     He worked only five years as an engineer in the chemical field in Louisiana and Alabama before he became a manufacturing representative selling heavy equipment to chemical plants and paper mills in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

     "I did that 35 years, and it was great work.  I've been in every manufacturing plant in the region," he said.  "I was a registered professional engineer, and in 1994 I was selected as the engineer of the year by the Mobile Area Council of Engineers."

     He was also an avid sailor in those days and served as commodore for the Buccaneer Yacht Club in 1985.

     "I started sailing in my 20s.  I went out with a friend and fell in love with it," he said.  "My wife and I did competitive sailing 25 years, but I'm too old for that now."

     Upon retirement, Gurley said he found himself getting involved in activities that he never had time for when he was younger and working.

     "I'm an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church, and I started singing in the choir a number of years ago," he said.  "Then a friend suggested I join the choral society, so I've been with them three years now."

     As a baritone with the Eastern Shore Choral Society, Gurley has traveled with that group to Carnegie Hall to perform and said he looks forward to sharing this year's Christmas program with the community.

     "Our Christmas program this year is going to be jazzy and upbeat and very entertaining," Gurley said. 

     He also enjoys cooking for large church groups, and he is active at Trinity, serving as both a deacon and an elder through the years.

     "I was a delegate to the national convention last year, and I participated in the Academy for Equipping the Saints, which is done through the presbytery," he said.  "It was an intensive, four-weedend Bible study, and I learned so much.  I was challenged, and it changed the way I look at things."

     Gardening is another of his favorite pastimes, and Gurley said he looks forward to staying active through his retirement.

     I root things and end up with pots everywhere.  Master Gardeners is one of the things in my bucket list," he said with a laugh.  "I don't want to be a porch sitter."   

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From Left to right: Back Row: Karen Clements, Monique Simone, Nick Youngblood, Josh Mccoy and Josh Davis. Front Row: Rebecca McCoy, Phyllis Bruce and Sharon Sims.  Not pictured are Steve Trott, Nancy Mark, and Debra Blackburn.

 

EASTERN SHORE CHORAL SOCIETY

 Submitted by Linda Long                            Baldwin Register - September, 2009

The ESCS would like to welcome these new voices to our group. They are a wonderful edition to our choir. If you would like to join us, we rehearse on Monday nights at First Baptist Church located at 300 North Section Street, Fairhope. Rehearsals start at 7:00 pm and go until 9:00 pm. We would love to see you!

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EASTERN SHORE CHORAL SOCIETY

 

Submitted by Stephanie Crowe                      Baldwin Register - January 29, 2009

The Eastern Shore Choral Society announced its sixth annual Edna Traccarella Voice Scholarship competition for high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are residents of Baldwin County. 

The competition will be held March 28 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairhope.  Awards to be given include first place, $500; second place, $400; and third place, $300.  The application deadline is March 7. 

Nicole Corley, left, 2008 scholarship winner, is congratulated by Stephanie Crowe, President of the Eastern Shore Choral Society.  For more information, call Dr. Jane Blaum at 251-232-1098 or visit www.escs.org.

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                                             Baldwin Register   -   FRIDAY, January 9, 2009
Submitted by Stephanie Crowe

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

The repertoire for the spring is John Rutter's "Requiem" as well as secular selections such as "Hoagy Carmichael, A Choral Portrait." 

Singers who would like to join the society are invited to attend the rehearsal.  Membership  dues are $45 per season. 

Members of Eastern Shore Choral Society, as well as other coastal singers, will perform the "Requiem" at Carnegie Hall in March under the direction of Terry Maddox, director of the society. 

The Eastern Shore Choral Society is a volunteer group made up of singers who love to sing choral music and want to contribute to music appreciation in Baldwin County.  For more information, go to www.escs.org.

                                 Holiday Happenings

_                                             Baldwin Register   -   December 23, 2008

The Eastern Shore Choral Society performs during Fairhope's annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday in downtown Fairhope.

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SOCIETY TO PERFORM CHRISTMAS CONCERT

The Eastern Shore Choral Society
will present its 17^th annual
Christmas concert at 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 2 and Dec. 4 at St. Francis
Traditional Episcopal Church at
17280 Scenic 98, Point Clear.

The concert will feature Antonio
Vivaldi's "Magnificat" and other
Christmas favorites. 

~

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.

 

~ 

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 .

~

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."

 

~

 

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. 
                 ~

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.
               ~

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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