AGM Reports 2022

Greetings ROCA Members,

The AGM Reports for 2022 are now complete and may be viewed via the link below.

AGM 2022 Reports

AGM 2021 Minutes

A quick reminder for later this evening:

7pm - Orchestra rehearsal at South Arm - church sanctuary

7pm - Chorus rehearsal at South Arm - church hall

7:45pm - AGM in person at South Arm United Church sanctuary (choir joins in the pews)

8:15pm-ish - rehearsal continuous for chorus and orchestra members doing the Faure Requiem.

October 3, 2022

ROCA Notice of AGM 2022

Dear ROCA Members,

Please mark your calendars- this is the formal notice for our Richmond Orchestra & Chorus Association AGM 2022!

When: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 7:45pm

Where: South Arm United Church

The plan: 7pm rehearsals for both groups separately at SAU (chorus in the lounge hall; orchestra in the main sanctuary); 7:45pm AGM together, break; 8:30pm rehearsal for Faure together

Are you considering becoming a ROCA Board member, or are you nominating someone to become a Board member? Please talk to a member of the executive. We are recruiting for a vice president and at least two members at large. You can read more about the ROCA board on our website, here.

All reports will be uploaded to the members' section of the website the week before our AGM. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Laura

Message from Brigid (correction)

Monday 5 September 2022

Dear Singers

I’m really looking forward to being back working with you again. We will welcome Jeon Mok as our new accompanist.

Reminder: I know there are folks with away-time planned. PLEASE EMAIL ME to confirm absence dates. Depending on how the rehearsal schedule works out, it may impact on participation in the any concert, and I may ask you to reaudition on that repertoire.

I know you’ve had a wonderful welcome-back letter from Laura, with all the membership info you need. Here’s the music stuff!

CONCERT DATES/TIMES

November 5 concert – In Memory – originally planned for Fraserview, but because of a conflict, we’ve had to move it to South Arm United. That means that we couldn’t do a full joint concert, but we can do the Fauré Requiem, which needs a smaller ensemble – so the Orchestra will do the first half, and the Requiem will be the second half.

Afternoon rehearsal – 3:30-5pm (then reset stage for Orchestra rehearsal). Those who come a distance should bring concert dress and something to eat; we have the Heritage Room booked. Concert call 7pm for 7:30pm

An optional extra – I have scheduled the Fauré at St Mary’s Kerrisdale for the afternoon of Sunday 6 November for an All Souls service where we remember those gone in the past year. This would be a 2pm rehearsal call for a 4pm service. Let me know if you don’t want to be part of it. I may invite singers from St Mary’s choir to join us for the Saturday concert.

December 10 concert – Magnificat – originally planned as a joint concert, but we’re now making it Chorus only, and I am returning to a program we did 11 years ago – all Mary-music, to include (but not limited to)

· Britten – Hymn to the Virgin

· Biebl – Ave Maria

· Lowry/Green – Mary, did you know

· Vivaldi – Magnificat

· Ray – Gospel Magnificat

lots of solo and ensemble possibilities – and not so much Christmas fluff!

April 18 concert – The Music’s Always There – will be on a Tuesday evening by request of our concert partners, the choir from Steveston-London Secondary School, under the direction of Michael Mikulin. They have been part of Richmond Sings in previous years.

The program will comprise music composed or arranged by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott – some with them, some with us, and some with both choirs together.

We will certainly be offering Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass but the music will include folk and pop arrangements by both composers.

June 3 concert – When We Were Young – was originally scheduled for the following week, but another Fraserview conflict has bumped us back. I’m still working on this program - looking for the songs that were classics for us as we grew up (though pop songs don’t always transfer well to a choral arrangement!)

REHEARSAL PRACTICALITIES

It doesn’t need to be said, but if you feel at all unwell, please stay home and test! A Zoomed rehearsal is not at all the same as an in-person one for you and for the rest of your section, but it’s better than nothing at all. Zoom code will be the same:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/95350781933?pwd=Y1NSQld3QTVROCtVUUdZMzZONnVIQT09

Meeting ID: 953 5078 1933 Passcode: SATB

However, I would prefer not to be Zooming unless it’s necessary, so this is BY REQUEST, please.

I need to hear from you by 6pm if a) you’re not going to be at rehearsal in person, and b) if you want to join us by Zoom. A rehearsal attended on Zoom will be credited to you (as long as you attend all of it!) when I’m deciding who is able to take part in a concert.

You can contact me – 604-790-2367, voice or text, or brigidatROCA@gmail.com at any time. I will check messages before I leave – but I will not be doing so once I’m headed out for rehearsal; any last-minute calls to your section-leaders, please.

THE DREADED COVID STUFF...

I have every sympathy with those who are experiencing mask fatigue, but for the time being at least, I need to you be prepared to mask for the 2-hours-minus of ROCA rehearsal – even if you don’t wear a mask at all the rest of the week. This thing has not gone away, though those of us who have done our vaccinations and have still had “the bug” have found that we’ve mostly dealt better with it than we had feared. We have every hope that the new anti-Omicron vaccinations will improve the odds.

That being said, I think there are very few of us who don’t know someone who’s been sick with it. And for those who are fit and healthy it may not be more than a week or two of discomfort. But for the older ones among us, or those who are immune-compromised, or fearful, it’s still a concern. And the science hasn’t changed – the act of singing pushes out more aerosols than simply talking.

So I am backing up what the Safety Committee have said – for the immediate future, we mask for rehearsals. We may, with RAT tests, have the possibility of making future concerts mask-optional. But I want to hold with our self-naming as a COMMUNITY Chorus and care for each other with the decision to put a mask on for two hours.

I would also ask you to be careful about what sort of mask you wear for singing. The ideal one is a well-fitting (no gaps at the edges) three-layer mask with at least one layer of non-woven polypropylene. Because everyone’s face is different, you may do better with a flat mask, or a home-made singers mask (with more depth) or a commercial mask, even an N95 – I won’t tell you what pattern to wear. But 3-layer with NWPP, please.

And I need to remind you that I am putting my health in your hands – you have requested that I NOT mask so that you can see and hear me clearly; with 50 singers pushing out aerosols in my direction, I appreciate knowing that I am as safe as you can make me.

For the other COVID mitigations

· there will be sanitizer available – please use!

· We are blessed to be in Fraserview, with good space. However, they don’t have up-to-date air-exchange systems, so we will continue to distance as practical. Please take responsibility for having doors open.
I will probably not do the seating labels this year, and trust you to leave space between you and the folks around you.

· We will take a decent break, and people are encouraged to go outside and unmask as needed.

I’m excited about this season’s program – some things we’ve done before and loved, some new things – and I really hope we can get a full season of singing this time, with no COVID shut-downs, and share our music again with each other and the Richmond community.

Registrations are coming in – please make sure you are registered.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Brigid

September 2022

Welcome to 2022-2023 with ROCA!

Hello, ROCA Musicians!

Happy Summer and Welcome to the 2022-2023 Richmond Orchestra & Chorus season! It's time again to think about our usual Sept - June schedule and all that brings. For those who have been fortunate enough to have summer holidays, we hope you have made great memories! The sunshine and long days have been beautiful-- we hope you've had a restful, healthy and fun summer.

A few of us returned to singing last night by participating in a 'soundscape' rehearsal project sponsored by BCCF-- it was an exciting way to remind myself that fall is coming and our Richmond Culture Days events will be here before we know it! On Sept. 24, some chorus members will participate in this nature scape event at Brunswick Point, and on Sept. 25, some orchestra members will have the opportunity to play in ensemble with Bruno, for a Culture Days performance at the RCC (Minoru). If you are interested in either of these events, please email Laura for details! What a great way to kick off the season.

ABOUT US:

Your Board continues to plan for and support ROCA as an organization. We are making arrangements for our AGM - please save the date: Tuesday, Oct. 18. (time and location TBA, likely to include an online option). We would love to recruit new board members and new folks ready to help with committees as things come up. Thanks to Rachel Eaton for stepping forward to help with posters and recruitment. Watch your email for a new pdf to circulate, very soon!

Thank you to Wilson Ng, who has been a community board member for several years working in volunteer coordination. Wilson is stepping down at this time and we thank him so much for all his service to ROCA!

Current team:

Laura Rhead- president

Bernie Barrett- interim vice president

Alison Cole- secretary

Victor Schmid- treasurer

Anatoly Brusylovskiy- director

Susan Stolberg- director

Graham Hope- director

You can reach the board members at:

lrhead.roca@gmail.com

roca@roca.ca

HEALTH AND SAFETY:

We are sensitive to the fact that Covid-19 has changed the way we think about safety at rehearsal and in gatherings. Although we may feel fatigue with the protocols, etc. we still need to be aware and our health and safety team has made some decisions for our fall term.

Please note the attached 2 documents. These documents are for all our membership concerning the Covid 19 amended protocols for our 2022/2023 season. Note that masks are still required at this time, for all indoor ROCA events.

PLEASE REVIEW THESE DOCUMENTS BEFORE THE FIRST REHEARSALS where the membership will then be required to sign the Self Screening Declaration which will cover them for the complete season.

Thank you to Jen, Doris, Shannon, Brigid and Bernie who continue to work on this committee and support all of us.

DATES TO NOTE:

The year ahead is going to be full of music making! We are updating our season rack card to reflect a couple of changes but we have attached it anyway here for a general overview. The Nov. 5 concert will be just orchestra in the first half and the Faure Requiem in the second half- so many folks are looking forward to this work!

Christmas is changing a little... instead of 'ROCA Christmas with the Family' together, we will do separate shows with Chorus working on the MAGNIFICAT theme and Orchestra likely with the annual Food Bank fundraiser concert.

LOTS more info to come. The main thing for now, is to note the dates and complete your registration form online: https://forms.gle/1g6PErDPNKXAJqvC9

Important Dates:

Tuesdays at 7:30pm, starting Sept. 13th for rehearsals

4pm Sept. 24 in Ladner for choral event with BCCF

2pm Sept. 25 at Richmond Cultural Centre for Culture Days performance (orch); 10am-4pm for our ROCA booth

Oct. 18 (time and location TBA) for our ROCA AGM meeting

Nov. 5 orchestra and chorus Faure concert at South Arm

Nov. 6 *possible repeat of Faure concert at St. Mary's Kerrisdale

Dec. 10 chorus concert at Fraserview

Dec. orchestra concert TBA date at South Arm

Feb 25 orchestra concert

chorus April 18 (Tues) at FV with highschool choir

May 6 orchestra concert

*date will change- possibly June 3 or June 17 TBA

*rack card attached will have changes made and new cards printed this month*

COMMUNICATION:

We plan to create a section on the website that will have ALL concert info, updates, events, etc. Watch for emails from Vincent and Laura that will share important communication and news about this site update, in September. You will find the members section on our website by scrolling to the very bottom of the page, where it says 'Members Only'. Use the password rocaisgr8 to access general info posted for everyone. More will be added as the month goes on...

Our Artistic Directors will continue to communicate with us via email as well. Please take time to read these emails before Tuesday rehearsals. Do you use social media? Follow us @rocamusicians on Instagram or at Richmond Orchestra & Chorus on Facebook. Your likes, follows, stories and posts with tags help promote us! Let's get creative.

Please let us know what you need-- we are here to support this organization and receive your ideas and feedback. Please contact Laura with your thoughts, or if you'd like to help out in some way. This season, we will be discussing more about where we are at as an organization and where we would like to set new goals. Our June 2022 session with Camyar Chaichian gave us an indication of where we could reflect and set new areas of focus. Where are we at in the lifecycle of a non-profit organization? What do we love and what do we want more of? Do we want to do more recordings? Do we want a youth component to our organization? Look forward to more about this in the coming months, but please do reach out to Laura or any Board member with your ideas. Even if you don't have new ideas but just want to take greater part- please share your interests. You'll see a place for this on our registration form.

For anyone interested, I've included my president's report from June 2022 in the attachments here, and on a personal note, I want to thank the chorus members who rehearsed and performed at my wedding ceremony in July! ROCA does weddings! It was a fabulous performance that made the day so very special. Mike and I were so grateful to Brigid and everyone involved in our summer 'gig'!

Please read the attachments, complete your reg form online, pay your fees, and come to rehearsal for 7pm on Tuesday, Sept. 13th- chorus at FV and orchestra at SAU. It's going to be a great season ahead! Here's to #36 for ROCA!

See you soon.

Warmly,

Laura Rhead

ROCA President

lrhead.roca@gmail.com

6048185538