On a High Note

The Irondequoit Chorale ‘family’ is 75 voices strong and marking its 32nd year

By Linda Quinlan

 

Last year, the Irondequoit Chorale did a concert of music from Las Vegas shows and surprised audiences by showing up in attire with a lot of sparkle and bling. There was even an Elvis impersonator.

“It was almost more fun, looking at what everyone was wearing, than singing,” said Heide Jorgensen, the chorale’s founder and president.

By way of explanation, she added that the chorale members usually dress in a uniform manner for its three concerts a year.

One of the attractions of the chorale is that the group does a variety of music, said Diane Nichols. She joined the group in 2017.

The chorale, started in 1994 by Jorgensen, currently has 75 members ranging in age from their 30s to 96. Membership has held fairly steady for most of the group’s more than 30 years.

“We’ve been fortunate,” Jorgensen said. “We lost some to COVID-19 and some have aged out or passed,” but then others have “discovered” the group and joined.

Eric Trumpowsky, of Greece, has been the chorale’s music director for 24 years. He holds auditions for the chorale at least once a year.

“Thankfully, the auditions aren’t too rigorous, or I wouldn’t be here,” Nichols said with a laugh.

Seriously, Trumpowsky said, the emphasis is on whether the auditioner can read music. Singers may choose what part they want to sing.

“We’ll adjust,” Trumpowsky said.

“We’ve tried to make the chorale social … a warm and friendly place,” Jorgensen added.

The chorale currently operates through the community education program of the West Irondequoit School District and meets weekly, September through June, for rehearsals, at its Dake Junior High School. Concerts are most often at Irondequoit High School.

The chorale performs three main concerts, in December, March and June, annually and regularly draws an audience of between 200 and 300.

After each rehearsal, Trumpowsky sends out notes via email and lets members know what they will be singing the next week. They prepare 12 to 14 pieces for each concert.

Trumpowsky has recently retired after 35 years of teaching choral music at almost every level in the East Irondequoit School District. He makes the music selections for each concert. He then presents them to Jorgensen and the chorale’s eight-member board, which can make suggestions. Trumpowsky also attends the monthly board meetings but is a nonvoting member.

One of Jorgensen’s favorite concerts was one Trumpowsky called “Founder’s Favorites,” where she was able to pick all of the pieces the
group sang.

For the chorale’s programming, “the door’s wide open to try anything,” Trumpowsky said, explaining that they do sing a variety, from Broadway to Mozart to 1950s “sock hop”-style music.

They even once sang a number in Yiddish for a concert focused on Jewish music, Jorgensen said.

Next up is a concert of sacred music, specifically spirituals, that’s set for 4 p.m. Sunday, March 15 at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 3003 Dewey Ave., Greece. They will be singing with the sanctuary, cantor and children’s choirs from the church.

Trumpowsky has also been director of the sanctuary choir at the church for four years. He credited the late Ralph Zecchino, who was director of music for the Greece Choral Society and at St. Charles Borromeo Church, for starting the annual concert of sacred music. The Irondequoit Chorale was first invited to be part of those concerts in 2013.

The chorale has also been invited to perform with the U.S. Marines’ International Tattoo at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena in 2001, 2004 and 2006, and at other special events in Rochester and beyond.

They’ve belonged to the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium for more than 20 years.

Per capita, the greater Rochester area has some of the most community choral groups in the country, Trumpowsky said. He estimated that there are nearly three dozen in the area.

The Irondequoit Chorale has also taken its show on the road, so to speak, and will be traveling again in early June.

About 45 members of the chorale will be traveling to Philadelphia June 4 to 7 and performing twice at the historic Christ Church there. The group has previously traveled to Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, and to Washington, D.C.

The chorale will follow the June trip with a concert, America 250, of patriotic music at 3 p.m. June 14 at Irondequoit High School.

Jorgensen has been singing since the tender age of 7 but also loves plants and container gardening. She stores the chorale’s music library and other records in 18 four-drawer file cabinets in her Irondequoit home. She previously sang with the Genesee Valley Chorus in Perinton for 17 years.

The chorale has an annual budget for music, which can be quite expensive, Trumpowsky explained. The group maintains an online catalog of music it has.

The chorale raises money for its expenses through a $45 charge to members at the beginning of each season, donations, ticket sales, ads in its concert programs, and an annual pie sale fundraiser.

Nichols is now also the chorale’s treasurer. She resides in Irondequoit and had not sung in a chorus since high school. It was after her retirement from Strong Hospital after 30 years, the last 18 as the senior health project coordinator for the bone marrow transplant program, that she started looking for a musical outlet.

“I knew that in order to retire, I had to plan stuff to do, so I decided on going to the gym more and singing in a group,” Nichols said.

Trumpowsky doesn’t sing with the chorale so he can hear the singers. He plays the piano, “but I wouldn’t play for anyone over age 12,” he joked.

Marcia Sheremeta has been the chorale’s piano accompanist for four years. She follows longtime accompanist Richard Volpe, who used to play solos as part of the chorale’s concerts, Jorgensen said.

Trumpowsky is skilled at playing the guitar and has his own collection. He plays acoustic shows, often at the Rochester Yacht Club.

Jorgensen, Trumpowsky and Nichols all share wonderful memories from their years with the chorale.

Jorgensen still is especially fond of that Founder’s Favorites program.

Nichols loved a Celtic music program the chorale did last year because she had never sung that kind of music before.

Trumpowsky said a half-hour a capella program the chorale sang at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. was special. “The group maybe never sounded better,” he recalled.

Then there was the Cinemagic concert, when they did an hour-long medley of 60 movie themes while clips from those movies appeared on screens.

“I had to keep the music coordinated with the screen … I’ve never been so exhausted,” Trumpowsky said with a laugh.

Chorale members are allowed to hold folders for music during concerts, “but last year I did ask them to memorize one piece … there was a lot of trauma around that. People were terrified,” Trumpowsky said.

It’s all part of being in the chorale “family,” Jorgensen said. “There’s a lot of closeness and caring among the group.”

 

Don’t Miss

The Irondequoit Chorale will hold a concert of sacred music, specifically spirituals, that’s set for 4 p.m. Sunday, March 15 at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 3003 Dewey Ave., Greece. They will be singing with the sanctuary, cantor and children’s choirs from the church.

The chorale will also hold a concert, America 250, of patriotic music, at 3 p.m., June 14 at Irondequoit High School.