CLAUDIA'S COMMENTS
Dear Mu Phis,
We managed to get through our crazy cold spell and it feels like spring is coming soon! I’m sure you all have been busy teaching, rehearsing and performing. In spite of everything that’s going on politically, we are fortunate to have our music that keeps us going.
Itzhak Perlman said that one should practice slowly and purposefully. He really stressed the word “slowly”, and said to work through a piece measure by measure. I find myself always rushing through music and everything else in my life. Maybe that’s why I sometimes feel stressed. I’m determined to follow his advice which could be of help to you as well! Think on it.
I’d like to give a shout out to Mary Williams and Andrew Anderson for faithfully attending our Library Concert Series. Some of you sing in church choir, or play the organ, or just have plans at home on Sundays and find it difficult to get back in the car and drive downtown. I encourage you though, to make time to attend one of our Library concerts as those performers are top notch, and I always leave in a much better frame of mind after having heard beautiful music. Also, parking below in the garage off Wood St. is convenient, safe and free which makes it easy.
As an elementary school teacher, I couldn’t wait for spring break and May was just around the corner. Hang in there, you’re almost through the school year! I look forward to seeing you at Katy Freiberger’s.
In Friendship, Music and Harmony,
Claudia Jameson, President
LAST MEETING
This year’s meetings are: Better than Ever!
January: Early Music Fun
Our January meeting on January 13th featured a program of early music:
Susan Poelchau gave a demonstration of the “Landini cadence,” (heard in Mariam Matrem but not Ecco la Primavera !).
The early music group of Claudia Jameson, soprano; Harald Poelchau, bass recorder; and Susan Poelchau, tenor recorder and piano played:
Mariam Matrem, from the Libre Vermell
(early 15th century Spain)
Ecco la Primavera, by Francesco
Landini (14th century Italy)
Next, Claudia Jameson sang “River,” the poem written by Beth Williams Aaron (daughter of Mary Williams) set to beautiful music by our talented MPE composer Julie Schmitt, with Susan Poelchau at the piano.
After the business meeting closed, members were treated to more of Beth Williams’ beautiful and inspiring poetry, read by Mary, before adjourning for refreshments.
February: Connecting with SAIs
The February meeting was set by SAI for Feb. 24, 7 pm at Presbyterian Village North auditorium.
Performing were Mu Phis and SAIs in this program:
Amy Canchola, soprano; Haley Moore, treble viol, Marilyn Browne and Susan Poelchau, tenor viols, Allen Garvin, bass viol
Songs and Dances by William Byrd
(1540-1623):
O Lord how vain are all our frail delight
Gailliard in A
Though Amaryllis dance in green
Lindsay Gillis, piano
American Symphony, from Mr. Holland's
Opus, by Michael Kamen
(1948-2003)
Promenade in October, by Lindsay Gillis
(b. 1983)
Vicky Suarez and Jackie Akin, flutes
Sonata No 1 in A minor, by Jean
Baptisite Loeillet (1688-1720
Adagio
Allegro
Noe Garcia Jacinto, guitar|
Rojo y Negro, by Maximo Diego Pujol
(b. 1957)
Amy Canchola, soprano
and Noe Garcia, guitar
Besame Mucho, by Consuelo Velásquez
(1916-2005)
Jane Samford and Brent Samford, violin; Jane Aten, viola; and Sara Howell, cello
The Ash Grove, Welsh Folk Song trans.
by Metcalf
La Rejouissance (from Music for the Royal
Fireworks), by George Frederic Handel
(1686-1759)
The concert was followed by an elaborate Valentine-themed spread of goodies provided by our SAI hosts.
NEXT MEETINGS
March: We Love Pianos
Tuesday, March 11, 7 pm
(second Tuesday)
CHANGE OF DATE
Location: Home of Katy Freiberger
Host: Katy Freiberger
Co-host: Pat Suitt
Program:
Susan Poelchau, piano
Robert Schumann from Forest Scenes
Rachmaninoff Moment Musical Opus 16 #5
Tena Hehn and Nancy Laine, piano duets by Katy Freiberger:
The Rickety Rocking Horse
Teasing Game
The Train to Topolobampo
The Wallaby Waltz
With our March meeting scheduled for the week following the late-in-the-month SAI meeting, we moved the date of our March MPE meeting back a week to Tuesday, March 11, to include those who cannot attend on Mondays. Katy Freiberger will host, with help from Pat Suitt; an additional volunteer would be welcome.
Claudia cautions: Dear Mu Phi alums, It would be best if you can carpool since parking is difficult to find near Katy’s townhouse. I hope to see you there!
April: Our Collegiates Rock
Saturday, April 12, 11 am
Location: Home of Nancy Laine
Host: Nancy Laine
Co-hosts: All members - Pot luck luncheon: Please bring enough food for guests. RSVP what you are bringing to Nancy - [email protected], replying to all.
Program: Collegiate recital and awarding our chapter’s $500 Scholarship to a SS2 collegiate member.
Optional Theater trip: to see Hadestown at 2 pm, Church Street Auditorium, 306 N. Church St., McKinney TX
Hadestown is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It follows two intertwining love stories—that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone—as it invites audiences on an epic journey to the underworld and back. Produced in 2006, it has been performed widely, just finishing a run in Dallas.
Tony Awards: Won 8 awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Direction.
Grammy Awards: Received a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
Olivier Awards: Nominated for and won multiple awards, including Best New Musical.
Acclaim & Tours: Continues to run on Broadway and has launched successful national and international tours, bringing the tale of love and loss to audiences worldwide.
More information on tickets will be forth-coming later from Ashley Bouras who will send members a link. Tickets are $12 each. People can purchase their own, so there is no need to purchase all at once.
May: Breaking Bread Together
Monday, May 12, 7 pm
Location: Home of Mary Williams
Host: Mary Williams
Co-hosts: Potluck dinner - bring a dish
Program: Cherie Bell, soprano
CHAPTER NEWS
Dallas Scholarship
Scholarship forms and information are on our website. ALL applications and materials must arrive to Claudia Jameson by April 1, 2025. The finalists and winner will be REQUIRED to attend our April meeting (Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 11am in Fairview), and give a performance to receive their award. Collegiate members of South Central 2 are invited to join us for lunch, and/or give a performance as well. Exact address will be given to those attending and RSVPing to Claudia. Mary Williams has reminded District Director David Jimenez to set this in motion with SS2 chapters to have applications submitted by April 1.
Aman performance at TCU
Mary Alice Rich updated us on the upcoming performance of her children’s opera Anam and thanked again the Dallas Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon for the Helen Haupt grant which made it possible to perform it in three public elementary schools; the International Mu Phi Epsilon for funding a performance at their convention in 2023; and Pro Musica for sponsoring a performance at a church.
She says: “I'm deeply grateful to David Mejía Jr. (pictured here) and the TCU Opera headed by Dr. Corey Trahan for believing in this little opera for children. It was a joy to work with multitalented librettist Claudia Jameson and insightful pianist Susan Poelchau in the early stages of development. Much thanks to our beautiful singers David Mejía, Roberto J. Reyna, Samuel PJ López, our Beatrice Jazmin Luevano, and our misunderstood "witch" Claudia Navarro Jameson. I thank each of them with all my heart for their contributions in bringing this piece to life. Bravi🎶”
David Mejía issued this invitation for a full production of the opera at TCU:
“I wanted to extend an invitation to DFW Opera folks, as well as educators in the area for The TCU Opera debut of a brand-new children’s opera! “Anam the Witch and Beatriz the Beautiful,” which is a bilingual opera (English/Spanish) for children based on a Mexican folk tale that resembles that of “Hansel & Gretel.” Costumes, characters, set and plot are focused on bringing Latin culture to the forefront of music education with an opera written by a living female composer, Mary Alice Rich with libretto by Claudia Jameson. I took this project on as an Artist Diploma student intent on introducing something new to the “outreach opera” genre that promotes DEI. Huge thanks and support from the TCU School of Music. 🎶”
Day Performances March 28, 2025 will be taking place 9AM & 10AM for elementary school field trips, room still available for more students!
Weekend Performances Saturday April at 5 & 7PM, Sunday April 6 at 2 & 4PM - open to the public will take place at:
Secrest-Wible Building at TCU, 3015 Merida Ave, Fort Worth
$10 general admission, Free for children and current TCU students
Ticket link: https://calendar.tcu.edu/event/ensemble-concert-series-tcu-opera-presents-anam-the-witch-and-beatriz-the-beautiful
Next Newsletter
Send your news to Mary Williams – [email protected] by June 1 for next newsletter. No newsletter in summer.
Member News
Gretchen Nichols passed away on January 9th of cancer. She was dear friends with Pat Suitt, Claudia Jameson, Mary Alice Rich and Susan Poelchau; Pat has known her since the 7th grade. Gretchen was a fine cellist who played with many chamber groups and was a fine friend.
Tena Hehn is recovering from a fall.
Sylvia Taylor is OK but has a Monday night conflict.
Pat Hill also had a fall in her apartment at CC Young and spent a week in the hospital. She now has a hospice helper with her daily routine. Mary Williams went visiting and they looked at some photos from Mary's trip last year to Sarasota.
Claudia Jameson's 10-year old grand niece, Josie Mariola, performed in the role of Margaret with a community theatre production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Amy Canchola presented a program: Mexicana Hermosa: Songs of Mexican Female Composers online Saturday on Feb 22 for National Teachers of Singing (NATS).
Amy announced that she is Looking forward to the #musicbywomenfestival at @muwedu. She will be on a panel discussing women in leadership, presenting a lecture recital on music by Mexican women, and performing the Clara Schumann Sechs Lieder! Friday, March 7, 2025. With her recent completion of the Lamar University Vocology Certification, she is inspired to make her next move be to prepare for the PAVA-RV distinction. This honor was made even more memorable and significant because her friend, mentor, and the @pava_vocology president, @drameliarb was her study buddy and co-recipient of the PAVA-RV.
Mary Ann Taylor in her role with the Interfaith Council, meets with Naom Meirov for a Middle East event at Thanksgiivng Square.
If you are interested you can attend the World Day of Prayer:
The 2025 National Day of Prayer Luncheon, hosted by The Thanks-Giving Foundation, will begin at noon on May 1, 2025, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Registration is open. Please register at the link below. We look forward to seeing you there!
https://thanksgiving.org/index/ndop/
Concert Series
The Library concert season resumed February 16th, beginning with a well-attended concert by Fort Worth Symphony violinist Ivo Iverson and pianist Leslie Spotz. Their selections of Beethoven and Debussy sonatas plus Stravinsky's Suite Italienne were a delight to experience.
Yongseok Kwon, talented graduate student at UNT, did not perform on February 23 due to no heat in the auditorium (it was still cold). He has been rescheduled for April 27th.
The Uchiro Trio of flute, oboe and clarinet on March 2 was also jinxed with the oboist getting COVID the day before their concert. Since the program had trios, duets with various combination and solos, Julee Kim Walker and Bobby Lipinski rearranged the program to include more flute and clarinet solos and it turned out to be a very nice program. Sorry to miss the trios though. Maybe next time. We had a moderate crowd.
On Sunday, March 9, harpist Adam Phan who has won all kinds of awards, will play. He will be presented by the Dallas Harp Society.
Most of the spring programs have been added to our website and amended - but we still have little access to them as they are not being published. Try several browsers or your phone. Facebook is more up to date.
Concerts are at 2 pm at the downtown Library and are FREE. Parking in the garage under the Library is also free – enter from Wood St, behind the Library. Please support these talented musicians who are volunteering their time and talent to help us achieve our goal of bringing music to Dallas, especially under-served populations.
Andrew Anderson has been able to introduce the programs so far and Mary Williams has been at the lobby desk; we may still need volunteers to take care of the table and introduce the performers in future. We have had moderate audiences for each of our concerts so far, but could have many more people. Please spread the word and come, bringing friends.
Rest of Spring Schedule 2025
Mar 9 Dallas Harp Society: Adam Phan
Mar 16 Seonghun Oh, flute and Daeun Han, piano
Mar 23 Fenia Chang, piano and Motoi Takeda, violin
Mar 30 Carelle Flores, soprano and Astrid Morales, piano – postponed till fall 2025
Apr 6 Seonghun Jeong, piano
Apr 13 Catalin Dima, piano
Apr 27 Yongseok Kwon, piano
INTERNATIONAL
Kurt-Alexander Zeller’s memories of Wynona Lipsett
Mary Williams had an interesting email conversation with Kurt-Alexander and some of you who remember Wynona, or remember that he was a student of Barbara Hill Moore might enjoy it:
K: Thanks for the newsletter, Mary--lots of wonderful things going on in Dallas! I actually was at Barbara Hill Moore's celebration myself (I was NOT her oldest student, either ever or present at the event, but I was far back enough that I was photographed in the "Generation 1" picture!) and wished I that I could have had time to connect with the Dallas Alumni while I was in town, but it really was a whirlwind fly in/fly out trip, as I had to be back in Atlanta to do the narration for Copland's Lincoln Portrait with the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra the next afternoon. At least I got to visit for a few minutes with Mary Alice Rich at the reception.
Our Citation of Merit winner John Holiday was a great MC for the concert, and I was tickled that he himself sang a piece from 110 in the Shade, by Harvey Schmidt, who had preceded him as our Citation of Merit honoree by exactly 20 years. I had fun telling him that; he hadn't known it.
Happy New Year to all the Dallas Alumni!
Kurt-Alexander Zeller
M: Did you know that Harvey Schmidt was a cousin to our famous Dallas member Wynona Lipsett (past Intl President among other offices)? Their photo is attached.
K: Thanks for the photo, Mary. I did know that, but I'm delighted to have the photo, too! Wynona asked me to sing on the concert featuring Harvey at the 2003 Convention, and having the opportunity to get to know and work with Harvey Schmidt was one of the many truly wonderful things that Mu Phi Epsilon has provided me in the course of my musical career. He was a fascinating and delightful coach, accompanist, and raconteur! For years afterward, he sent me absolutely beautiful hand-drawn cards that were evidence of his first career as a graphic designer.
M: I didn't know all that. Yes, these connections through music are life-enhancing.
K: Oh, yes--Harvey designed the posters and publicity designs for The Fantasticks and Celebration himself--probably the only time in Broadway history that the composer also did the graphic design, I'll bet. His own handwriting was just like what you see in the original Fantasticks posters--very unusual!
I hope that we all will escape the worst of the weather being predicted for this "polar vortex"--best wishes to all of you in DFW!
Kurt-Alexander Zeller
International President
