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TAKING IT ON THE ROAD: Is Your Chorus Ready To Tour?
The Voice of Chorus America, Fall 2006

Conyers' Monastery Welcomes DeKalb Choral Guild
Rockdale Citizen, 13 November 2004

Lexus Leader of the Arts - Director Bryan Black selected for May 2003
inside PBA, May 2003

Cantata expresses pain of Holocaust
Creative Loafing, 18 April 2001

'Holocaust Cantata' premiere to honor, remember 6 million Jews
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 14 April 2001

Choral Guild's Worthy of Note
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5 December 1996

Radio Broadcasts

"Atlanta Music Scene" -- WABE 90.1 FM, 6 September 2004, 10 PM
Hugo Distler and Maurice Duruflé are the stars of this radio broadcast of our "All Saints and All Souls" concert, recorded Sunday, November 9, 2003, at First Presbyterian Church.  Accompanying the Guild was guest organist Trey Clegg. 

"Atlanta Music Scene" -- WABE 90.1 FM, 3 March 2003
The Guild's Spivey Hall debut was the feature of this edition of Atlanta Music Scene.  The was concert given at the annual convention of the Georgia Chapter of the American Choral Director's Association.  In addition to the Guild, the concerts featured the honor choruses of West Georgia State University and the choir from Whites Bluff United Methodist Church in Augusta.  Find out more about the program by reviewing the notes page from the concert.

"Tapestry" -- WABE 90.1 FM, 29 April 2001
The evening's program featured a recording of the Guild's 19 April 2001 concert, "We Remember Them."

In Remembrance of Kristallnact -- WABE 90.1 FM, 8 November 2001
In a special remembrance on the anniversary of this pogrom against Jews in the Third Reich, WABE presented the DeKalb Choral Guild’s performance of "We Remember Them", a Holocaust Cantata. The program was recorded at The Temple in Atlanta on April 19, Yom Hashoah, the day of Holocaust remembrance.  Bryan Black conducted the DeKalb Choral Guild with Cantor Deborah Benardot, and WABE’s Pat Matthews narrated.

TAKING IT ON THE ROAD: Is Your Chorus Ready To Tour?
Choruses and tour companies share their wisdom about touring
by Kelsey Menehan

During the high summer season just past, countless American choruses were on the road, offering up their musical gifts in venues across the globe.

Western Europe, with its rich classical music tradition, was a prime destination, of course, but choral groups also traveled to countries off the well-beaten path -- Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South Africa, to name a few.

In addition to the obvious joys of traveling, touring confers many benefits for a chorus, including the chance to bond as a group, to stretch musically, and to create new enthusiasm and commitment. But make no mistake, touring also is a huge investment of time and money -- for both the individual singers and for the choral organization.

"There's real sticker shock for people traveling these days," says Dennis Hunt of Concept Tours in New York. "Tours to Europe that went for $2,700 a few years ago are nowhere in that ball park now."

In light of the costs, choruses are taking a harder look at touring. They are asking, is touring an inevitable rite of passage, that pivotal event that confirms your maturity as an organization? Is there a right time in the life cycle of a chorus to consider touring? How can you tell if you're at that point? And if you decide to tour, how can you put together the right package for your group?

To answer these questions, the Voice asked the staff of a number of companies that manage artistic tours and several adult choruses that have toured recently to share their experiences and offer their own "words to the wise."

Is It Time To Tour?

Choruses of all sizes, budgets, and levels of musical prowess can and do travel, with rewarding results, tour operators affirm. "Touring is not just for the greatest choirs with the biggest budgets," agrees Bryan Black, music director of DeKalb Choral Guild of Atlanta. "When your choir is doing well, producing good music, and there's a good balance in the sections, there comes a time when you think, 'Let's go.'"

That time came for the Choral Guild in 2005 -- seven years into Black's tenure. Black's interest in German language and culture certainly influenced the choice of Germany and the Czech Republic as destinations, but he warns against pushing ahead with a tour based on the music director's tastes and enthusiasm alone.

To gauge the singers' interest in touring, the Choral Guild sent a simple survey with open-ended questions asking where they preferred to travel, times of year they could travel, and how much they would be willing to spend. The enthusiastic response signaled that there was pent-up demand and that the time was ripe.

"But I wouldn't suggest planning a tour in your first year as music director," Black concedes. Groups experiencing a transition in leadership or any kind of internal strife may not be tour-ready. Waiting a year or two might produce an environment much more conducive for touring.

Is Touring A Priority?

A chorus also needs to figure out how touring fits into its overall goals and priorities. The board of Cantate Chamber Singers in Maryland began researching tour possibilities in 2004, but at a planning meeting in 2006 decided to defer tour plans and instead focus on recording a CD.

Cantate's music director Gisele Becker says the decision made good strategic sense. "If a choice has to be made between touring and recording, I think recording gives you a bigger bang for your buck," says Becker. "Many more folks will hear you on a CD than on a tour."

Lend Me A Tenor

It may seem obvious, but if you want to tour you need to have enough singers to put together a viable chorus. "Remember, not everyone in your chorus can go on tour," says Black. "The choir you see on rehearsal night may not be the one you put on the plane." Polling the chorus may reveal gaping holes in sections. This may put the kibosh on tour plans -- or it could be the thing that energizes a chorus to beef up its sections.

Black warns against padding your touring group with too many extra singers, however. "You don't want to be unrecognizable as your chorus," he says. "That's not good for morale."

The Cost Factor In order to tour, choruses and their singers must take a deep breath and embrace the finances. "You have to be able to say, 'We are ready to commit to a certain dollar amount and to commit to fundraising or whatever it takes to get there,'" says Frank Davis of World Cultural Tours.

Choruses have devised various strategies for helping singers defray the costs of a tour. A full year-and-a-half before a planned tour, the Choral Guild's board treasurer put together various installment payment plans so singers could begin socking away money for the tour. Singers from the Seattle Men's Chorus raise funds for their tours through rummage sales, which are advertised prominently in its production company's quarterly Flying House Magazine, and through hot dog sales at baseball games. Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, lets nonprofit groups man concession stands, with a portion of the proceeds going toward their causes.

We Want To Tour -- Now What?

Once a group has decided to tour, one of the first questions is, should we hire a tour company or can we make arrangements ourselves? Certainly, some choruses produce their own tours, and with great success. An energetic team of volunteers put together three European tours for the Chorus of Westerly in Rhode Island, a mammoth undertaking considering the group's large entourage -- some 140 adults and children singers plus another 150 or so of orchestra members, family, and friends.

Self-producing the tour allowed for certain personal touches, including a mass picnic under the great beech at Tewkesbury Abbey, Exmoor in Great Britain. The group even published a book in 1996 about touring overseas with the tagline, "If we can do it, so can you."

But for its next tour, executive director Emma Palzere-Rae has decided to turn the reins over to a company that specializes in chorus tours. "People's lives are different now," she says. "There's not as much energy to volunteer, and international travel is much more complicated."

Chorus tour companies claim that choruses save money -- or at least break even -- by outsourcing to a music tour specialist. Says Neeta Helms of Classical Movements, Inc., "I know we save choruses money, because we have relationships with so many airlines and hotels, etc. And there's also the time factor. It takes lots of time to organize a tour."

There's also the touchy question of liability. "If you have sunk $20,000 into airfares," says Frank Davis of World Cultural Tours, "and another $40,000 into hotels, restaurants, and bus companies, and there's another disaster like 9-11, it's hard to get your money back.

"That actually happened with many of our groups after 9-11," says Davis, "and because of our ongoing relationships we were able to get their money back."

Music tour companies have an advantage over companies booking regular vacation tours because of their knowledge of all the logistical details unique to concert productions. "Music tours have 10 times the details of a regular vacation tour," says Don Harper of Arts Bureau for the Continents. Not only are you moving people and luggage, you're also checking out concert venues, hiring orchestras, booking rehearsal space, and more.

For this reason, many chorus tour companies like to hire musicians or former music educators as staff. "I'd much rather teach a musician about travel than a travel agent about music," says Hugh Davies of ACFEA Tour Consultants.

"None of our tours are typical vacation packages," says David Rasmussen of Tour Resource Consultants, which bills itself as "musicians serving musicians."

"We look for unique venues for our groups," he explains. "For a chamber group, for example, you need an intimate setting with immediate visual contact between the singers and the audience. If you take a group to a venue, you need to know that it will be supportive of the group."

Fitting the Tour To Your Chorus

Groups interested in touring often select a committee made up of singers, staff, and perhaps board members to investigate tour possibilities. To help zero in, it's important to ask: "Why are we touring? What is our goal?"

Goals for a tour may be as simple as "We want to bond as a group," or "We want to improve musically," or "We want to sing for a broader audience," or "We want reviews in an out-of-town newspaper." Or they can be as far-reaching as "We want to make a difference in the world." Your primary goal will help you fashion the trip appropriately.

Touring as A Bonding Experience

The chamber chorus Voices XXI planned its first tour to France in 2003 to "build cohesion between new members and those who already knew each other," according to music director Jesse Parker. Most of its singers had come from the University of Maryland Chorus, a symphonic chorus that had toured regularly.

"Our choristers had been to Europe before, so we weren't looking for six countries in five days," says Parker. "We wanted to move around as little as possible, so we had more time together."

The group stayed in Paris and sang only three concerts, performing works of Claudin de Sermisy and Jean Berger that they had already perfected for their spring concert. They didn't need to rehearse every day, which left plenty of time for day trips and sightseeing…and bonding.

Stretching Musically

Practically every touring chorus will say that singing in new venues expands their singers' horizons and sharpens them musically. But for some choruses this is the primary goal of a tour, and they tend to perform more concerts than on a typical tour.

During both its 2001 and 2004 tours of Europe, the Sonoran Desert Chorale of Mesa, Arizona gave some six major performances over 12 days, with "drive-by" sings in several other locales. "A drive-by means we would get off the bus at a church and ask the monsignor for permission to sing," says music director Jeff Harris. "We do have days off, but we love to sing. That's why we go."

To make such an energetic tour manageable, the Chorale limits hotel changes to four, with run-outs to other locations. "And we limit the total number of singers and friends and family so that we'll fit on one bus," says Harris. "It makes the logistics so much easier."

Making A Statement

The Seattle Men's Chorus has as part of its mission to use "the power of words and music to recognize the value of gay and straight people and their relationships . " So its singers go on tour with at least an implicit goal of promoting human rights as well having a good time and entertaining audiences. For this reason, the group's 1998 European tour was timed to coincide with Amsterdam's Gay Games -- a sports competition and cultural festival celebrating gay and lesbian athletes and artists -- where the group performed at the closing ceremony.

Last year, the Men's Chorus and the newly formed Women's Chorus decided that the times called for a tour of the Northern Rockies rather than an overseas tour. "After the election, there was this dichotomy about red states and blue states," says Tom Luhnow, executive director. "So we said, why not go into these so-called red states -- Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah -- and say 'no, these are everybody states,' and spread the message of diversity."

From a tour organizing perspective, having a social justice agenda means you allow time for it and you go to places where your message will have an impact. Two of the six concerts on the Rockies tour were benefits for local lesbian and gay organizations.

Selecting the Repertoire

The music you present in a tour venue is crucial, according to choruses and tour operators. Many choruses travel with significantly fewer singers than perform during their regular season and must adapt the repertoire to fit -- no Beethoven's Ninth for a chorus of 60, for example. And it goes without saying that you must have a good balance on each part to pull off almost any repertoire.

Audiences in most tour destinations have an appreciation for Western classical music and they want to hear North American styles, such as spirituals and folk music. "But it's important to know the region where you are traveling and to sing music from that area," says Harris. In South Africa, you might explore call-and-response a cappella; in Mexico, the music of the Baroque artists Manuel de Zumaya and Ignacio de Jerusalem .

On its 2004 tour, the Sonoran Desert Chorale performed in a 1,000-year-old church in a tiny town in the Czech Republic. "The audience was attentive, but kind of stoic," Harris recalls. "But when we started singing Dvorak's Song to the Moon, there was this immediate sigh of recognition that was palpable. This was their music, their land."

Some choruses let the repertoire guide them to their travel destination. Voices 21's spring 2003 concert of music by Claudin de Sermisy paved the way for its summer tour of France. "To sing music we've already perfected in Sainte Chapelle, where Sermisy was once a priest and court musician, was amazing," says Parker. "It's wonderful to experience how the music relates to the space and culture for which it was written."

Choosing A Tour Company

Once you know why you want to tour, where, and with what repertoire, you'll be in a better position to talk to tour companies. Tour operators are happy to guide you as you think through your tour, but before you sign a contract, consider these steps suggested by touring choruses and tour companies.

• Be prepared before you ask tour companies to give a proposal. "A chorus tour committee may come to us with 10 different ideas," says Hugh Davies of ACFEA. "Or a music director of an adult choir says he wants a two-week tour with 10 concerts and you know that he has not talked to his singers." In particular, make sure the music director is in the decisionmaking loop.
• Get bids from various companies, but don't automatically go with the lowest bid. You need to stay within range of what choristers can afford, of course, but you don't want to cut corners.
• Ask if a tour company has experience in the region to which you plan to travel or with the venues you hope to perform in . For example, Arts Bureau for the Continents and Concept Tours both produce their own choral festivals in which traveling choruses can apply to perform.
• Talk to other choruses that have traveled with the touring companies you are considering. Most companies will be glad to give you references. Ask the references questions like, "How was your overall experience?" "Were there hidden costs?" "Did the company let you down in any way?"
• Be clear about how the tour will be promoted . Many tour companies do the marketing, but choruses must play their part. "If you want to perform in one of the great cathedrals in Europe," says Davies, "don't send a copy of last year's brochure and think that will be enough for publicity."
• Get to know the tour company you want to work with. Proposals may look very similar on paper, but you'll be working with the company you choose for a year or more and paying them a great deal of money. "If a company does what you want and answers your questions, rather than coming back with a pre-packaged deal," says Parker, "that's a company that is listening to you and that you can work with."

 Managing Expectations

Many adult singers are seasoned travelers, and they may have fond memories of that five-star hotel in Vienna or restaurant in Paris. But a performance tour and a vacation tour are two different animals.

"As a choir, you may be staying at a hotel outside the city to save costs," says Hunt of Concept Tours. "And people may be very disappointed with that. You have to be upfront with your group so that nobody is left in the dark about what to expect."

In order to communicate clearly, many traveling choruses start a full two years early planning the tour and putting the word out. "That's why a three-year interval of touring is good for us," says Harris of Sonoran Desert Chorale. "We go on tour, then for the next year we revel in the idea that we went. Then people start asking about the next tour. We give people notice to start saving their money. Then about a year before, we get specific with our plans."

 Managing expectations is key, according to Neeta Helms of Classical Movements. "You need to find that person in your chorus who can communicate well with the singers and music director," she says, "and who can make decisions and not vacillate too much."

If an extended overseas tour is not part of your chorus's immediate future plans, there may be other ways to "step out." Helms reminds choruses not to forget North America as a destination. Wonderful venues await singers, from the Grand Teton Festival in the Northwest to Ravinia outside Chicago to concert halls in affordable cities such Quebec.

Touring can be a mindset more than a destination. No matter how far from home you roam, the spirit of touring is something to which every chorus can aspire. "Touring is that thing that takes you beyond the four walls of your rehearsal room and the four concerts of your regular season," says Black of the Dekalb Choral Guild. "Touring could be in your own state, or even venturing across town to sing at a homeless shelter.

"Touring is about capturing people's imagination and opening them to new possibilities. And it's worth every drop of energy you put into it."

Author Credit:

This article is reprinted from the The Voice of Chorus America, Fall 2006. Past issues of the Voice can be ordered from Chorus America by going to the Publications page of our website: http://www.chorusamerica.org/publications.cfm

Conyers Monastery Welcomes DeKalb Choral Guild
Rockdale Citizen, 13 November 2004
By Chris J. Starrs

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit continues its concert series commemorating its 60th anniversary in Conyers with a return engagement by the DeKalb Choral Guild, which will honor the monks in residence with a program that features choral arrangements of Gregorian chants, Shaker music from the monks’ Kentucky roots and African-American spirituals and shapenote songs. The choir will sing at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 21.

The 50-voice choir, which was founded 27 years ago in DeKalb County, will perform both a cappella songs and tunes accompanied by a piano and the monastery’s new organ. This will be the second consecutive year the choir, under the direction of Bryan Black, has appeared at the monastery.

"It's a dream venue," said Black, who has served as musical director and conductor of the DeKalb Choral Guild for five years. "I've had a good number of friends at the monastery over the years, and I approached them about hosting the choir. We sang on All Saints Sunday, and it was a dream come true to be able to make such beautiful music in that church. There’s nothing like performing there — and to be able to come back is a real honor."

A native of Birmingham, Ala., Black said the choir — which serves as artists-in-residence at Oglethorpe University — is made up of members ranging in age from 20 to nearly 80, with a variety of day jobs.

"The one thing we all share is a deep love of choral music," he said. "We come from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life. That's one of the things I really like about this choir — its diversity."

The choir's program is entitled "Cantus Firmus," which means "a sure foundation." Black said the program's title is fitting as it reflects the heritage of the monastery's residents and "the songs that have helped sustain them over the years."

"I'm surprised and pleased with that," said Father Methodius Telnack of the choir's program plans. "They're awfully good. Their last program here was really nice."

The first portion of the concert will feature plainsong, or Gregorian chants, which have been termed the foundation of Western music and connect the Cistercian monks to their original monastery in Kentucky, Our Lady of Gethsemani. Featured selections in this part of the recital will include "Ave Maria" and "Cantus in harmonia" ("Hymn to St. Cecilia").

The second part of the performance will concern itself with music of the Shakers, a community not far from the monks' original Kentucky home. Black said the Shaker songs, which include "Jesus Christ, The Apple Tree" and "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child," are a reflection of the monks' sojourn from Kentucky to Conyers.

"Like the Trappists, there is a similar regard for work, prayer, industry and simplicity in life that is easily heard in their music," Black wrote.

The final third of the show will showcase music the monks no doubt heard when they arrived in Georgia, featuring the rhythms of African-American spirituals and the variety of shapenote singing, which became popular in the South in the 1800s.

"'Cantus firmus' is a play on words, but it does acknowledge the history the monks brought with them to Conyers — the chants, the Shaker songs and the spirituals," Black said. "And for our final two pieces, we’ll perform an African piece from Kenya, which is significant because several of the monks have served in Africa, and we’ll close with an Estonian folk song, 'We Shall Walk In The Valley Of Peace.' They fit together beautifully and quite by accident."

The DeKalb Choral Guild’s concert will be the final performance of the monastery's concert series. There is no admission charge for the concert, and more information can be obtained by calling 770-483-8705, ext. 414. The monastery is located at 2625 Ga. 212.

When asked if he felt the monastery’s concert series had been a successful one, Father Methodius said several concerts weren’t well attended, but he felt that was because of event conflicts in the community. "We'll have to be more careful in the future when we schedule events so that they don't conflict with other things going on in the community," said Father Methodius, who added the monks will continue its concert series in 2005 and plan to host a St. Patrick's Day-themed recital featuring Thomas O’Donnell, a violinist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Coming up on the monastery calender will be the annual Christmas concert by the Atlanta Boy Choir, sponsored by the Conyers/Rockdale Choral Guild. The concert is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, and more details will be announced soon.

©2001-2004 RealNet CMP L.L.C. All rights reserved – Paul O. Martin – Web Producer 770.831.6795

Lexus Leader of the Arts
inside PBA, May 2003

Bryan Black is the Director of Music and Conductor of the DeKalb Choral Guild.  He is an accomplished vocalist who has contributed his talent to the Atlanta music community by conducting, performing, and teaching and offered his support for the arts by working with a variety of organizations and events.

In addition to his work with the Guild, Black serves as director of a comprehensive music program at Embry Hills United Methodist Church, where he conducts several choirs and ensembles that have toured abroad, most recently in Norway in 1999.  He taught on the Georgia State University faculty for three years and recently conducted the Chapel Choir as a visiting professor at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Black sang with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus under the late Robert Shaw, including his final performance of Bach's B Minor Mass at Carnegie Hall.  He is active as an adjudicator and arts advocate and serves as vice-president of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra's board of directors.

Now in his third season with the DeKalb Choral Guild, Black is leading the group in the celebration of its 25th anniversary "Silver Season," which opened with an invitational appearance at Spivey Hall for the American Choral Director's Association state convention.  It concludes with a premiere of a commissioned work by composer and conductor Donald McCullough, 'If Music Be The Food of Love," which will be performed May 17, 2003, at Oglethorpe University where the Guild is in residence.

Public Broadcasting Atlanta and your Atlanta area Lexus dealers join in honoring Bryan Black as our Lexus Leader of the Arts.

Cantata expresses pain of Holocaust
Creative Loafing, 18 April 2001
by Keely Brown

Director Bryan Black was looking through choral works last summer for something to include in the DeKalb Choral Guild's upcoming 2001 season when he found a score with an imprint of barbed wire on the cover. He discovered The Holocaust Cantata: Songs From the Camps, a work comprised of essay, music and lyrics written by prisoners in Nazi concentration camps and compiled by the American composer Donald McCollough.

Hearing of Black's discovery, Atlanta's oldest Jewish congregation, the Temple in Midtown Atlanta invited the choral guild to premiere the cantata April 19, on Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The event also marks the synagogue premiere of the work, which first was performed at Washington's Kennedy Center in 1998.

"Almost 56 years after the end of the Holocaust, this cantata, performed by an essentially non-Jewish choir, will give voice to those who perished at the hands of the Nazi regime," says Temple Rabbi Alvin M. Sugarman. The Temple premiere will include cantor Deborah Benardot as a soloist and narration by WABE radio personality Lois Reitzes.

To members of the DeKalb Choral Guild, the rehearsal process has been emotionally draining. "Rehearsing the cantata, we've come to feel that it's not just another musical score to be performed, but truly an act of remembering," says Black. "For us as performers, these voices are very much alive."

'Holocaust Cantata' premiere to honor, remember 6 million Jews
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 14 April 2001
By Derrick Henry

The local premiere of Donald McCullough's "Holocaust Cantata" will be held at The Temple Thursday [19 April 2001] in honor and in memory of the 6 million Jewish men, women and children killed by the Nazis during World War II.

The cantata, drawn from songs written by concentration camp prisoners, will be the featured work of the Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) concert, a collaborative effort of the DeKalb Choral Guild and The Temple in Midtown.

"These songs were not intended for the amusement of the captors," says DeKalb Choral Guild music director Bryan Black.  "They functioned much like spirituals did for African-American slaves . . . they were a way of keeping hope alive."

The songs, which McCullough has harmonized, alternate with equally powerful spoken readings of personal reflections about life in the camps.  With titles like "There's No Life Like Life at Auschwitz" and "Letter to Mom", these recollections are by turn satiric, poignant and terrifying.

In the first reading, "Singing Saved My Life," the author "comes to the realization that if he didn't do something to keep his spirits up, his despair would lead to a walking death," says Black.

WABE-FM (90.1) program director Lois Reitzes will be the reader.  Jim Bell of Peachtree Christian Church and Deborah Bernadot of The Temple will sing the vocal solos.

Rounding out the Guild's selections are McCullough's setting of an anonymous poem, "We Remember Them," two Hebrew prayers and an anthem by Swedish composer Eskil Hemberg that juxtaposes an old Swedish chorale with former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold's poetic musings about world peace.

Choral Guild's Worthy of Note
County-based group draws singers from all of metro area
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5 December 1996
By H.M. Cauley

Its roots and name may be in DeKalb County, but the DeKalb Choral Guild has tentacles all over Atlanta.

The singing society got its start in the late 1970s in the Emory area, and although it continues to rehearse and perform in that locale, its membership list stretches over most of the metro area.

Its Performance schedule has taken the singers to various locations around the Southeast, and three years ago they went to Europe. This weekend, the Guild, will showcase its talents at the First Christian Church in Tucker.

Joel Hansel, president of the Guild's Board, said the 40-member group is not at all hampered by geographic boundaries.

"I live in Decatur, but we have members from as far away as Lilburn. Our director may come the farthest. She lives in Cherokee County. Basically we take anybody."

Well anyone who can sight read music, has good pitch and will devote several hours a week learning and rehearsing pieces that run the gamut from classical to contemporary. This year's ensemble is one of the Guild's largest and represents some of the finest singing talent.

"They sing a prepared solo, sight-sing, take a written exam and are interviewed as we try to make sure we're the kind of group they're interested in," said music director and conductor Mary Evelyn Root.

Root, who lives in Woodstock and works part time with the music program at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Marietta, said most of the group's members want to be part of a more serious choral group than most community music groups.

"They're willing to travel, and they're expected to have notes and rhythms learned before they come in for our two-hour rehearsal each week," she said. "Depending on their level of musicianship, it could require several hours a week of preparation outside of rehearsal."

Bob Anderson, of Virginia-Highland sings bass and says members are raring to go when they get to rehearsals.

"When Mary gives the downbeat you go," said Anderson, who at "73 going on 40", is one of the group's senior singers. "We sing just about everything, from Stephen Foster to Puccini, and there's so much of it to do, you have to do your homework, have to know your notes, have pretty good pitch and a true voice." The youngest member is a high school senior, and more than half the performers are women.

Almost all have some singing experience with other choral groups. Anderson sang with a group at Emory; Hansel, the Guild Board president is a tenor who sang at his church before joining the group; and Morningside's Cliff Norris sang with the Georgia Tech Chorale, which is more than double the size of the Guild.

"A smaller group forces you to develop on your own," said Norris. "And the Guild concentrates on more classical chorale works that are challenging and really interesting, from Gregorian chant to Samuel Barber."

Norris is also a member of the Guild's Chamber Singers, a select 16-voice ensemble that also acts as the nonprofit group's fund-raising arm.

During fall and winter, the singers perform in Renaissance garb or formal attire at corporate parties, tree-lightings and other functions. In the spring, they host the Guild's fund-raising dinner and silent auction.

"During the holiday season, I hire them out wherever I can," said Root.

The Guild is also supported by the Georgia Council for the Arts and the DeKalb Council for the Arts. In addition the performers are willing to pay about $80 a year in membership dues.

"But we have a great time," said Anderson. "We have Mary, a terrific musician, very educated and dedicated, and she's a lot of fun, too. It's a great group of people."