{"id":12092,"date":"2019-09-06T17:15:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T17:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=12092"},"modified":"2019-09-06T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T17:15:11","slug":"anything-goes-for-caritas-chorale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/06\/anything-goes-for-caritas-chorale\/","title":{"rendered":"Anything Goes For Caritas Chorale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valley choir to hold fundraising event at the Limelight<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BY DANA DUGAN<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Among the scores of dedicated singers with Caritas Chorale, an open singing group based in the Wood River Valley, is Cherie Kessler, shown here in rehearsal. Photo credit: Caritas Chorale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some say singing is a form of therapy that bonds a group together and lifts spirits. In fact, scientific evidence has shown that singing influences many activities vital to our wellbeing. This is why singing groups, such as the Wood River Valley-based Caritas Chorale, have proven so popular.<\/p>\n

Founded locally in 1999, by Dick Brown, a Southern transplant to the Wood River Valley, Caritas Chorale will celebrate its 20th anniversary, Sunday, Sept. 8, with a Roaring \u201920s party at the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The event will include cocktails, hors d\u2019oeuvres and music from the 1920s in the lounge, with a sit-down dinner to follow in the lecture hall.<\/p>\n

The short concert will featured such tunes as \u201cSomeone to Watch Over Me,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Ragtime,\u201d \u201cBye, Bye Blackbird\u201d and \u201cAnything Goes,\u201d conducted by musical director R.L. Rowsey.<\/p>\n

The raffle will include a Sun Valley ski pass for the upcoming season, a weekend for six at a log home in Stanley, a guided fishing trip on the Salmon River, a fabric art wall hanging, a night\u2019s stay with breakfast for two at The Grove Hotel in Boise, and dinner for eight in your home, catered by Judith McQueen Entertaining. Raffle tickets will be sold at Atkinsons\u2019 Market in advance as well as that evening.<\/p>\n

When Brown arrived to be musical director at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, a package was put together to lure him here that also included being musical director at the Community School in Sun Valley. He\u2019d already formed a version of Caritas Chorale, known as the Choral Rendezvous, in Challis, and simply moved that organization to the Valley. It has grown in popularity and outreach over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

\"\"
R.L. Rowsey, the musical director of Caritas Chorale, said the fundraising event \u201cwill be a fun, good time.\u201d Photo credit: Dana DuGan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think he came out of the womb with a baton in his hand,\u201d Rowsey said, laughing. \u201cHe\u2019s a man with a deep passion for community music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Membership to Caritas Chorale is open to anybody in the community who wants to sing great choral music.\u00a0In fact, many members began with little musical experience but have developed musical skills through the Chorale.<\/p>\n

Rowsey joined just after moving to the Valley from Richmond, Va., in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was singing in the bass section, happy as a lark back there,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I started playing piano when Chip Mills or Jim Watkinson needed a sub, and then fill in as conductor for Dick. Then, when he left town to (sort of) retire in Montana, I took over. When your work is your passion, you never stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowsey could be talking about himself, as well as Brown. He is involved in numerous theatrical and musical concerns, including artistic director<\/em> of the Sun Valley Music Festival Music Institute, a founding member of Company of Fools, and the musical director at Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center. His performing days aren\u2019t over, either. He will appear as Tevya in St. Thomas Playhouse\u2019s production, which will open Sept. 19. His wife, Goldie, will be played by Cherie Kessler, a singer with Caritas Chorale.<\/p>\n

For the Roaring \u201920s party, there will be approximately 50 singers participating. The number of singers with Caritas varies from concert to concert, depending on the time of year, Rowsey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good number are retired, so their schedules are totally flexible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe try to structure things so that\u2019s it\u2019s a guilt-free organization. We really have two components that are important: rehearsals and concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rehearsals are to prepare, but just as \u201cimportantly, it\u2019s to get together and sing,\u201d Rowsey said.<\/p>\n

Then, there are three to four shows a year, mostly matinees.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe choirs should just take over the world,\u201d Rowsey said, laughing. \u201cIf a chord sounds wrong, we stop and fix it. I\u2019m fascinated by the possibility that we could just get along. I love to share music with others, but rehearsals are a great outing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caritas Chorale members also support and work on projects with singers at Wood River High School, who have also been invited to sing at concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the busiest small town in America,\u201d Rowsey said, with a twinkle in his eye. \u201cThis Roaring \u201920s party will be a fun, good time. As a fundraiser, it\u2019s one of the most eclectic because it\u2019s very diverse. And this is important because it represents a good portion of our operating budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

For reservations and information, contact Margie Gould at (208) 726-5811 or email\u00a0caritassunvalley@yahoo.com.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valley choir to hold fundraising event at the Limelight BY DANA DUGAN Some say singing is a form of therapy that bonds a group together and lifts spirits. In fact, scientific evidence has shown that singing influences many activities vital to our wellbeing. This is why singing groups, such as the Wood River Valley-based Caritas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,4,53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calendar-2","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-calendar-feature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}