Liberty Oak Chorus Wins First Place in Albany
Our chorus had worked very hard gearing up for regional competition this year. Our director, Katie Blackwood, got sick 4 days before we were to appear on stage. She was in the hospital and wouldn’t be able to direct us in contest so we moved on to Plan B! Katie spoke to Marilyn Block who is one of our associate directors and it was decided that Marilyn would direct us at regional competition. We were all concerned for Katie, but Marilyn moved us along at rehearsal the Wednesday before competition and assured us that all was good! She kept reminding us that LOC was a “Well, oiled machine!”
We went on stage with Katie close to our hearts with a favorite color swatch of material. LOC was ready! We came off that stage feeling confident about our performance. The scores were finally announced and we earned a very respectable 663! After receiving our first place medals, Scott Brannon, Director of Harmony Celebration was waiting for us off stage to congratulate all of us. That’s when my eyes filled with tears. Here was our closest competitor wishing us well. He knew how much we were missing Katie so he made sure he was there to acknowledge our victory!
LOC wants to thank Marilyn Block for the awesome job she did for us, directing us in a contest with less than 4 days to get ready and for keeping us calm. A big thank you to our costume committee chairs (Lori Asch and Carlyn Barr) who drove to Marilyn’s house to adjust her costume on Thursday.
We would also like to thank all of the directors and members of all of Region 15’s choruses and quartets who approached us to find out if we needed anything or could they help in anyway. Everyone was sending good vibes to Katie.
Katie is home from the hospital recuperating and she attended our Installation dinner on Thursday, May 4th. I don’t know who was more excited? Katie to finally see all of us or the LOC family to view Katie in the flesh and know she was better! We have our annual show to get ready for on Oct.7th with special guests, “Gimme Four” who are current International qualifiers. We will be learning new music to sing with the Brothers in Harmony on their December 9th show.
LOC came home from Albany with our first place medals but more importantly…we came home feeling the love of the Greater NY/NJ Region 15. Thank you to the Regional Management Team for all you do and the fabulous Regional Convention Committee for another successful regional competition. You all make it look so easy!
Congratulations to our sisters in harmony in Sirens of Gotham who won First place small chorus and 5th place overall. Kudos to Harmony Celebration Chorus for Second Place overall and first place mid size chorus. I’m sure we will be in St. Louis together in 2018!
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
Liberty Oak Chorus- Region 15 Champions
Submitted by Dolly Power
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