2014 President's Message

President’s Message

Warm winter greetings to all! The holiday season is upon us once again!  It's a good thing all our major chapter events are finished for this calendar year, since we'll all soon be swept up in the swirl of holiday concerts, rehearsals, performances, parties, family get-togethers, and other festivities.  We'll be ending this year of 2013 with several more successful workshops and fundraisers under our collective belt, and a healthy bank account ready and able to fund next year's upcoming chapter events!

 We all deserve to bask in the glow of the recent and wonderful "Libiamo! A Toast to Song!"  Our profit margin this year was one of our highest, and we'll be more than pleased to spread it around to our talented student singer-winners this coming February at the 
scholarship auditions.

The board is hoping to have an excellent turnout for the general meeting scheduled for Sunday afternoon, January 12th.   Please reserve that afternoon in your appointment calendar!  We have much to plan and discuss, including details relating to the scholarship auditions and the spring workshop.

 I hope you've been able to easily go online at www.nats.org to renew your national and chapter dues for the new year.  We very much want all our previous members to continue with us, and we look forward to welcoming some new faces as well!  Now enjoy reading the rest of the newsletter, and please let us know your fresh ideas and feedback for our chapter's continued growth!

 Wishing you a lovely holiday season,

" " Vaida Falconbridge

" " chapter president

                                                                      General News

 Libiamo a Big Success!

Libiamo, our Scholarship Auditions fundraiser, was a big success, bringing in $1605 to support the scholarships. It was held at the Fountaingrove Golf and Athletic Club once again, and though ticket sales were unfortunately down a bit, we had a fabulous auction, 
organized by Sandy Riccardi, that netted $936! Many of us participated in one way or another: singing, organizing, donating to the auction, donating a ticket, donating wine. It’s so important that everyone help so that our scholarship auditions are well funded! And those of us who were there had a very fun time building camaraderie through song!

Calendar

 

 Sunday Jan. 12: General Meeting 2:30-4 p.m. (Board meets at 1) at home of Mary Beard. Please come!
Saturday Feb. 8: Scholarship Audi tions, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Ives Hall, SSU
Sunday Feb. 23: Winners’ Recital 5:30 p.m., Ives Hall, SSU
Spring Workshop TBA

                                                                                  Wesley Balk Workshop

In September, chapter member Bonnie Brooks gave a well-attended workshop on vocal expression, using Wesley Balk’s methods. For this workshop, she worked mostly with gesture and had the entire group up singing in a wondrous cacophony while we 
gestured according to her directions, using different body and hand motions. After a short intermission, 6 students 
each sang a song. They then re-sang their song while mirroring the arbitrarymotions of one of the other singers. All of the singers found it silly at times yet profound and very freeing. Theyall took a risk and it made a marked change in their voices and expression.
They felt the gestures were someone else’s -- they just mirrored them -- and so if they were silly “it wasn't their fault.” Several said they couldn’t concentrate on “technique” or doing it “right” which made them feel free and fully able to enjoy singing their song.

 Scholarship Auditions

The Scholarship Auditions for 2014 will be on Saturday February 8 in Ives Hall at Sonoma State University. 
Application forms are enclosed with 

the newsletter or on this website under events. Please note deadlines! College students who won’t be back 
until late January may want to fill them out before they leave for Winter Break. 
Please note that, due to schedulingdifficulties at SSU, the Winners’ Recital is on a Sunday, Feb. 23, at our 
usual time of 5:30 p.m.

 NATS December Newsletter Page 2 December 2013

 Member News

 From the Studios

Napa. On Sat., Feb. 15th, she will 

perform a Valentine’s Show with 

GingerJazz, which includes John 

Simon on Piano and Cliff Hugo on 

bass, at the Redwood Cafe in Cotati 

from 7:30-9:30; cost $10.  And on 

Sat., May 3rd, she will perform with 

GingerJazz at the Sebastopol Center 

For The Arts from 7:30-9:30; cost $20.

 Bonnie will give her Wesley Balk 

Methods Class at her home studio on 

Sat. Jan. 11th from 1-4, cost $35. It is 

open to any and all students.

 Mary Beard’s student, Chris 

Hohmann, is performing the role of 

Jean Valjean in the current production 

of Les Miserables at the Santa Rosa 

Junior College. Three years ago he 

was the 1st place winner in the high 

school division of our chapter’s 

Scholarship Auditions. 

 Susan Witt-Butler recently returned 

from performing in Perugia, Italy with 

the tour group Castles and Concerts,

 Her student Sadie Sontagg, in 

addition to her performances with 

Vespertine Orchestra,  performed as 

part of the solo quartet in Mozart 

"Requiem" at Weill Hall, GMC. She 

also performed, as a previous winner, 

an original song in our fundraiser 

Libiamo.

 Simone Lyne Comtois’ previous 

student Brittany Law, 1st prize winner 

of her category in last February's 

Scholarship Auditions of the Redwood 

Empire Chapter, is performing the role 

of Eponine in the November/

December production of Les 

Miserables with the Santa Rosa Junior 

College. 

 Bonnie Brooks will perform with 

John Simon (piano) on Friday, Dec. 

27th at The French Garden Restaurant 

in Sebastopol in the Bistro from 7-10, 

free. Friday, Jan. 3rd, she will sing in 

“It’s a Grand Night for Singing” at 8 

p.m. at the Jarvis Conservatory in