‘SURPRISE!!!’ FORTY-FIVE YEARS- A MILESTONE TO BE CELEBRATED

 

Forty – five years can be a long time or a short time, depending on what you are measuring.  A long time to spend writing a novel.  A relatively short time to live. So, the question is how do things last?  Sadly, not life…that’s not up to us, but there are other things like relationships.  For things to last it can’t be just that they are made well but more that they become a ‘home’ in our conscious lives.  Thanks to a very special person, the Esk Community Choir has weathered 45 years under the direction of its founder Alexis.  It’s a plethora of plaudits to this lady and her ability to inspire so many likeminded lovers of music, that this choir has thrived, become that ‘home’ which has kept members returning every week…nay, every year, despite many of life’s distractions. 

It has been a 45 year journey of stories, floods, fires, wonderful achievements, national recognition, magical experiences both locally, internationally, inter and intra state, and most of all, beautiful music, not forgetting 45 years of kind words and support from a community who constantly appreciates the joy of live musical performances. 

To celebrate Alexis’s 45 years of unparalleled contributions to her choir and her community was a no-brainer which is why a surprise party in her honour was activated and achieved at the Grand Hotel in Esk on 30^th September.  Keeping secrets can be both a delight and a burden so bouquets to husband Tony who kept the date clear of commitments, who was entrusted with the secret months ago and still managed to remember.  To Ruth Sk. for her brilliant organizational skills; to Marina, in a tribute to Alexis, for so eloquently echoing the 45 years of our choir; to Sue Cox for her beautiful table décor, and who may rest assured that there is always a remedy for removing spilled red wine from white table cloths; and to all the choir members both present and absent who contributed so generously in so many ways. 

The gifts presented to Alexis each have special significance.  The Velvet cake symbolizing happiness,success, and milestones.  The orchids, a reflection of Alexis’s gentle, kind, and refined nature. Created by Taryn Walker, a very talented fine artist from Toowoomba, the wall plaque is the embodiment of Alexis’s grace and talents… an artist who has respected music by giving it life.  The little black book, proposed by Ruth Sk. and put together with Joann’s creativity is the vault of precious thoughts and feelings, captured by Ruth from contributors to ensure these special memories of the Esk Community Choir  will last forever.

Though I borrow from my words in the 40^th Anniversary Book, for as long as time, they will ring true. For any choir 45 years is a birthday to be celebrated.  It is a monumental milestone for Alexis who has nurtured this choir and, despite many changes, continues to inspire and instil the original core values which have defined its successes.  It is the satisfaction of creating something very special through teamwork. Unlike Alexis, few of us have realized dreams which have and will continue to transform the lives of so many, forever striving for choral excellence.

By: Sue Walker

‘KYRIE CLASSIC’, A CELEBRATION OF 45 YEARS WITH THE ESK COMMUNITY CHOIR

 

Combined Choirs -  Under the masterful direction of Dr Shearer-Dirie

There is something about choral music, about singing, about being part of a choir that to each person will at times be challenging, is constantly consoling, entertaining and transportive. On a Sunday afternoon in March, around 160 of these obsessed human beings with that shared love of music ‘knocked the socks off’ concertgoers at the Somerset Civic Centre in a gala concert, ‘Kyrie Classic’, a celebration of the Esk Community Choir’s 45-year journey which has created a wonderful musical culture within the Somerset Region and way beyond.

It all began (this Esk choir, that is) in 1978 with the belief in a dream and the sweet sounds of optimism which resonated from a small group of six ladies who sang around Alexis FitzGerald’s piano.  Turn the page to 2023 and the six has become more than forty men and women, a passing parade of hundreds over the years, and on 26^th March, along with four other wonderful choirs who have shared the Esk Community Choir journey, it was an utterly inspirational concert, translating the joys of choral singing to the audience through narration, pictures, and glorious song.

A cracker of a blue-sky afternoon greeted concertgoers who began to fill the auditorium, swelled by the visiting choirs who had travelled from places as far away as Brisbane, Blackbutt, Toowoomba, and Laidley.  After a welcome to ‘Country’, choir members, and concertgoers and, following the recent challenges the last few years have brought to the performing arts, this collection of the sublime arrangements of ‘Kyrie Eleison’ classics by each of the choirs - translation: ‘Lord have mercy’ - could not have been more fitting for the occasion. 

Many past choir members were delighted to be present, to remember and to reunite with current members for this 45-year celebration.  One such person, Beverley Biggs, joined the choir as chorister in 1998 until her exceptional talents as pianist and moreover, as accompanist, became indispensable.  Personal circumstances meant her departure from choir but her love of singing, and this Choir has never waned.  Together with her husband Bob, they were thrilled to be audience to this celebratory concert performance.

From the Esk Choir Ensemble’s acapella opening of ‘Totus Tuus’, the Latin expression of ‘giving our all’, to the post interval altogether engaging performance by Dr. Debra Shearer-Dirie’s Brisbane Concert Choir and all the entertaining performances in between by the Esk Community Choir, Blackbutt Singers, Laidley’s ‘Something to Sing About’ and Toowoomba’s ‘Women in Harmony’, this was a day for celebrating the human voice, and the magic of the shared singing experience.   Under the masterful direction of Dr Shearer-Dirie, the finale of massed choral voices singing ‘Shall We Gather at the River’, a reflection of joy, sorrow, hopes and fears, struggles and dreams, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, was reflected in the sounds that permeated the auditorium and the power of choral music.  Thoughts of an early departure would have been futile as souls were set to tingle with an audience’s standing ovation.

Post-performance words of praise flowed as many concertgoers and choir members returned to the afternoon tea tables to be treated to a delightful tapestry of tasty treats and beverages as friends reunited and memories were recalled.

As it takes a village to rear a child, so too it is that events such as these do not happen without the support of many and it is to these that the Esk Community Choir wishes to extend their sincere gratitude.  To the Esk Bakery and IGA for their sensational sandwiches which sated so many of our singers and supporters on the day; to the ladies of the Somerset Civic Centre who are a constant source of cooperation along with the editors of the Somerset Newspaper for their unquestioned support of all things ‘choir’; to our hard working choir committee and the oft unrecognized choir volunteers who work tirelessly behind-the-scenes allowing for the successful running of these events; to Chayne Walsh, our amazing audio ace,  Councilor Sean Choat, our eloquent host with the most; to our own Brian Crichton to whom we are grateful for having viewed most of the performances from behind his camera; and to our beautiful fans and followers for whom this choir continues to exist.

However, greater love hath no man...nor woman… than that which Alexis FitzGerald OAM has for her choir that she has given 45 years of her life to the sharing of her gifts of music locally, nationally, and internationally and in doing so, has changed for the better the lives of so many.   Without her talent, her vision, her dreams, her example, and dedication, this event would not have been possible.

By: Sue Walker

Brisbane Concert Choir 

Blackbutt Singers 

Something to Sing About Choir

Women in Harmony 

Esk Community Choir 

Esk Community Choir Ensemble 

Front of House - Leah, Ruth and Jennifer

Eileen Munro - Viola

Judy Lawrence, Dawn Keid (Yarraman) & Peta-Jane Sydney (Kingaroy)

Elaine Coates and Di Chaplin

The Hug 

HAPPY 45TH ANNIVERSARY ESK COMMUNITY CHOIR!

 

Today is 6^th February 2023, forty-five years to the day when the foundation was laid for what was to become the Esk Community Choir.  Few would have imagined that when Alexis, and six ladies who gathered around a piano in Alexis’s lounge room to sing, they would be the spark to ignite the SATB choir now numbering well over forty: over the years, a passing parade of a multitude.  These are   people who have come with diverse backgrounds, myriad motives and interesting stories.  It is a choir which has ridden the tides of time, floods, and fires to become a team…each member, a small part of a large and wonderous symphony of voices with a reputation that has seen them much in demand both locally and internationally.   For its members, singing together has the power to evoke joy and sadness.  It is the pure expression of emotion and for many, the two hours a week at choir practice tumbles past agonizingly quickly, each longing to be back for the next.  Until one has been in a choir, its heart-warming hug is difficult to explain.

Which is why, 45 years on, this time on Alexis’s veranda, it was a gaggle of 40 or more chattering, laughing, reminiscing, members of the Esk Community Choir just shooting the breeze or taking their trips down memory lane, supping on scones and sandwiches, sipping on tea and coffee served from beautiful cups and saucers,  all gathered to celebrate this amazing milestone…not only for this anniversary, but also to celebrate the achievements of Alexis,  a shining soul, ridiculously talented with a perpetual smile and monumental energy who had a dream and for all of those 45 years has kept this choir together.

In a world of Facebook, Instagram, and all those other social media sources, being in this choir is an opportunity for real connection, for testing one’s limits, all else erased with a couple of hours of singing.  And when we get it right, there is a happiness that makes us want to stay there for as long as we can.   And we will.

By: Sue Walker

    

Enjoying the party

Alexis telling stories of days gone by 

Russell and Judith Zammit