Volume10, Issue2

Doing What we Can

Although we were thousands of miles removed, geographically, from the tragic events of September 11, the Guild Chorus felt the effects of the earth- and mind- shattering experience. As musicians, we turned to our art form for comfort and support. In remembrance of the victims of September 11, members of the Guild Chorus joined nine other major South Bay community choirs on November 4 for a performance of the Faurş Reauiem to benefit for the Liberty Disaster Relief Fund of the American Red Cross. The event was organized by Schola Cantorum and sponsored by Stanford Memorial Church.

While the nation honors its firefighters and rescue workers, we would like to recognize some members of our chorus who had to suspend their musical participation because they were involved in recovery efforts.

A New Yorker most of her life, soprano Simona Nass visited New York as soon as she could. (Her family was fortunate, but so many weren’t.) Simona wanted to help, even if it was for a short visit so she worked as a volunteer, matching donations of equipment and labor for business recovery.

Soprano Heather Davison and alto Lynn Huidekoper had to drop out of the chorus this quarter because another organizations had greater need of their time and expertise. Heather is a board member of Western States Legal Foundation, a group grounded in nonviolence and international law. She has been working with Western States in organizing coalition building community meetings in the East Bay.

Lynn serves as Chair of Disaster Health Services for the Palo Alto Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. When staff was sent to New York and Washington DC, Lynn “held down the fort” at home—processing records of hundreds of new volunteers, doing orientation and placing all of them in volunteer disaster training classes.

When Baroque Choral Guild’s current season was drafted last year, director Sanford Dole programmed William Matthias’s “Ceremony After a Fire Raid” for the June 2002 performances because it was a stunning anchor for a concert that featured percussion accompaniment. Based on the text of a Dylan Thomas poem, Ceremony describes the despair from the grisly aftermath of the WWII London bombings and moves to a glorious flowering of reconstruction and rebirth. Now, given the ongoing events in the world, this piece becomes even more meaningful. While we prepare the Advent and Christmas music for our December concerts, we are also looking forward to a springtime of ceremony after fire raids.

Volume 10, Issue 2

Baroque Choral Guild, 953 Industrial Ave. Ste 118, Palo Alto CA 94303, 650.424.1410