Cypress Lake Vocal Department: News

Here is the news that you have all been waiting for.  This year was particularly difficult to decide.  The hard part for me usually comes down to two girls for one spot.  This year, the decision was between 6 or 7 girls for a couple of spots.  Congratulations to you all for having such strong performances in your auditions this year.  We lost some very strong soloists to graduation, but after hearing the auditions this year, it looks like we are going to be just fine.

As I listen to auditions and put member after member on the "short list," I realized that I was in trouble.  In order to make the last few cuts, I had to really apply the focus of the group to the audition criteria.  This is a contemporary ensemble and I feel that I need to pick the voices that fit that style better.  I even decided to add an extra girl spot from the normal 6 sopranos and 6 altos to make my job a little easier.

For those of you who didn't make it, I am more than happy to discuss your audition with you.  I highly recommend that you all do this so you know what to focus on for future auditions.

Our first rehearsal will be tomorrow evening, August 31 from 6-8.  We have a gig Wednesday morning during 2nd Block.  I'm pretty sure that just returning members will perform at this performance.

And now, without further ado - Here is the 2010-2011 A Cappella Group

 

Sopranos

Megan Bowen (I)

Candice Bradshaw (II)

Peyton Davis (II)

Haley Huston (I)

Michaela Slamka (II)

Cassidy Tinkoff (I)

 

Altos

Justine Fitzgerald (I)

Diana Landa (I)

Martina Long (II)

Nyachumbanyathiira Muchai-Kinya

Eden Shelton (II)

Ashley Wallace (II)

Stephanie Weinberg (I)

 

Tenors

Tony Sansone

Quinton Thomas

 

Basses

Collin Davis

Neil Egan

Darrien McGinnis

Unfortunately I am not going to be able to announce the results this evening.  The technology part of Thursday's audition was a nightmare and as 4 people didn't get recorded because of microphone failure and 4 people didn't say their name on the recording they made.  If you auditioned on Thursday and you are a girl, I am probably going to need to hear you sing Breathe sometime Monday.  I am planning to do it when I have all of you for class.  Sorry for the delay. 

The sheet music and learning tracks for the TAG audition are now up.  Get Busy!!!

We are currently finalizing all of the events for the school year.  I will be updating and adding to the calendar section of the site during this week.  Please double check all events as the dates may change while we are finalizing the calendar.  It should be complete and up to date by Saturday.  Parents and students alike should check the calendar often to make sure you are aware of upcoming events and deadlines.

As the first day of school approaches, it is time to get ready for auditions for The A Cappella Group.  The auditions will be the first week of school and our first performance will be the second week of school.  In the near future (hopefully by this evening some time) the sheet music for the audition will be available in the DOCUMENTS section of the website.  There should also be learning tracks available in the MUSIC section.  There is a detailed description of what you need to do in the CALENDAR section under the TAG audition..  Please read them carefully and follow all of the advice.

I hope you all had a great summer and are looking forward to coming back to school!!  See you Monday!

We are please to announce that the fall musical will be Nine.  Nine is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit, music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. The story is based on Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical film 8 1/2. It focuses on film director Guido Contini, savoring his most recent (and greatest) success but dreading his imminent 40th birthday and a midlife crisis blocking his creative impulses and entangling him in a web of romantic difficulties in early-1960s Venice.  There was a film version released earlier this year, but it is not very faithful to the original musical.

The original Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1982 and the 2003 revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

Auditions for the musical will take place August 31 - September 3 from 2-4:30 each day.  Please check the calendar section for many more details about audition requirements.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!  As I am writing this, you all have four weeks left before we get back at it.  As these four weeks fly past, keep checking the site for information that you will need to be ready to go back to school.  Most of the calendar dates for next year are already on the site.  Music for the TAG audition will be up the week before school starts and there will be several articles aimed at new members to get you ready to join the vocal department.

Enjoy your time off and I look forward to seeing all of you soon!!

Tuesday, June 1 will be the final day to get your Vocal Department Banquet tickets.  We must give the caterer a number of attendees by Tuesday evening.  Please make sure you send in money with your student so that we can have everyone attend.  Tickets are free for graduating seniors and $10 for all others.

The A Cappella Group is preparing to record their third album in June.  It will be the first time the group has been recorded since 2007.  As you may remember, both TAG - We're It! and Long Overdue were both nominated for multiple Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs).  Each album also had a song selected to appear on the Best of High School A Cappella Compilation CD.  We are very excited to get back into the studio and record this year's group.  They have had a great year and are sounding amazing.

Unfortunately the studio that recorded our first two CDs is no longer able to help us.  However, this has opened up a new and exciting path.  We are going to be recorded by a studio that specializes in contemporary a cappella.  They will actually come down to the school and set up a mobile studio for an intensive three or four day session.  This studio has had tracks appear on multiple Best of College A Cappella and Best of High School A Cappella CDs.  We can't wait to hear the results!!

As is always the case, this project will cost a lot more than we currently have.  We are asking for sponsorships to make this project a reality.  Your kind donation will also include one of the first copies of our new CD.  We are asking for a minimum sponsorship of $25.00 in order to receive your free CD, but any amount is welcomed.

There are two ways to donate.  You can write a check payable to Cypress Lake High School.  You can send your check to the school at 6740 Panther Lane, Fort Myers, FL  33919.  Make sure you address the envelope to Gary Stroh.  You may also use the Paypal button below.  If you use Paypal, you will be sending money to Mr. Stroh's personal account.  Your money will then forwarded to Cypress Lake High School in the name of the sender.  Regardless of the method of payment, you will receive a thank you letter from Cypress Lake High School that can be used as your charitable donation receipt.

Thank you for helping and I'm sure that you will be impressed with our new CD soon.

 

Sponsor Options

Option 1 $25.00 Option 2 $50.00 Option 3 $75.00 Option 4 $100.00 Option 5 $200.00 Option 6 $500.00

The girls in Intermezzo are heading to the Florida Vocal Association State Music Performance Assessment.  After wowing the judges and audience at the district MPA, the girls will be taking their show on the road.  They are hoping to impress the state judges just as much.  For more details, check out the itinerary in the Documents section of this site.

Good Luck Intermezzo!!

Our production of Sweet Charity was a rousing success as it played to a Morsani Hall crowd of 2,600 enthusiastic conference attendees.  It was a magical evening for our students who wowed and amazed the crowd throughout the evening and was capped by a magical standing ovation that was nearly deafening.  We have been so fortunate to have played to 1,554 people at Barbara B. Mann Hall and then 2,600 people at Morsani Hall.  These two shows will be remembered by our students for the rest of their lives.

There are pictures of the Florida State Thespian Festival in the Tampa Tribune.  Scroll through the photos to see the Sweet Charity photos near the end.  http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2010/photo_galleries/thespian_2010/

It was a magical evening at the Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall as Cypress Lake Center for the Arts presented Sweet Charity.  A crowd of 1,554 people came out to see the one night only engagement.  The huge crowd seemed to love every minute of it and gave a rousing standing ovation at the end.  It has been a crazy month preparing for the show but every minute of the experience was worth all of the effort.  Thanks to all of you who came out to support us and enjoy a wonderful night of theatre.  Our next stop is now Morsani Hall on April 9th.

It was great to see so many prospective students at last night's Panther Showcase.  We hope that you are planning to join the Panther family.  Take a look around the site.  If you have any questions about the auditions or how the vocal department operates, just go to the contact info and Mr. Stroh a message.  If you would like to see a great display of talent in the Vocal Department, come to the Vocal Cabaret this Thursday evening.  Just mention that you are an 8th grade student planning to audition for the Vocal Department and you will be given a free ticket.  We hope to see your there.

The Vocal Department Cabaret is Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium.  Tickets are $5.00 and all vocal department members are required to be there.

 

Here are the acts that will be performing.  These are not in performance order.  All acts must provide an introduction on a note card.  Introduction should include brief information about the performers and something about the song.  It should be written neatly.

 

Ashlee Wallace - Stay (Sugarland)

Abe Cerra - King and Queen of Our Time

Alissa Roca & Marcello Marsalli - Stay Frederick Stay

Sarah McIntyre - Come Fly With Me

Candice Bradshaw - I'm Not Afraid

Diana Landa - Almost Lover

Cassidy Tinkoff - Stay (Lisa Loeb)

Danielle Huston - Stars and the Moon

Cassi Lee - The Sound of You and I

Emma Coleman -Who Will Save Your Soul

Justine Fitzgerald - Don't Cry Out Loud

Averie Bendana - Don't Know Why

Michaela Slamka - And So It Goes

Amanda Cotto with Max Hoffman - Realize

Brittany Newland - Get Here

Lauren Davis and Shadoe Valentin - The Prayer

Amanda, Haley, Justine & Marie - Party in the USA

Cassie, Brittani and Cassi - You Are My Sunshine

Eden Shelton - Feeling Good

Taylor Nave - Hallelujah

Quenton Thomas - So High

Our production of Sweet Charity has been selected to perform at the 2010 Florida State Thespian Conference.  The show will play in Morsani Hall at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 9th.  Morsani Hall is a 2,610 seat main hall at TBPAC and houses Broadway National Tours, Orchestra, Opera and Ballets.  This is an amazing opportunity for our students to be able to perform in one of the greatest halls in the South.

As a warm-up and fundraiser for this event, we have arranged to perform the show locally at Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall in late March.  Dates and ticket info will be posted as soon as it is finalized.

Congratulations to our cast, orchestra and crew for this outstanding achievement!!

New learning tracks for The A Cappella Group are now up in the music section.  Go all the way to the last page to find them.

We are holding a vocal dept. parent meeting on this Thursday, October 29th at 7 PM at the Reflection Lakes clubhouse.  This meeting is to get started on the Madrigal Dinner preparations.  We need a lot of help to make this annual event happen.  Please call Carole Davis at 872-7277 for directions and to RSVP.  We hope to see you there.

The Cypress Lake Center for the Arts Vocal Department is proud to welcome Young Voices from Egeln, Germany as guest artists for our Fall Choral Concert.  This 25 member choir consists of graduates and students of Egeln High School as a way of continuing to sing after high school.  The now 10 year old choir has won numerous awards throughout Germany and Europe and are very excited to be making their American debut.  They will be in Florida for 9 days and we are fortunate to be able to host them for one of their concerts.  The group will get a chance to meet and interact with our own vocal students during two school days, and then we will sing a combined number to end the concert.

Also featured on the concert will be our choirs from Cypress Lake Center for the Arts.  The Concert Choir, Intermezzo Women's Choir, Cypress Chorale and The A Cappella Group will all perform.  The concert is Thursday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the Cypress Lake High School Auditorium.

For more information on Young Voices, check out their website - http://www.youngvoices.de/index.html

Our new website, which is actually our old website, is now back up and running. It should be completely up to date by the end of his weekend. Thanks for your patience and we look forward to a much more functional website.

Thanks to the over 100 students that auditioned for the production this year.  It is always quite a daunting task to pare that number down.  If we were not able to cast you, I hope that you will consider still being a part of the show, by working on the technical side.

 

 

 

And now without further ado..........

 

 

 

Charity - Kacie Phillips

Helene - Allison Scott

Nickie - Natasha Poinciano

Carmen - Brittany Rincon

Rosie - Rachel Freeze

Suzanne - Ashley Forrester

Frenchy - Eden Shelton

Betsy - Brooke Cole

Elaine - Krissy Martin

Ursula - Katy Gibble

Oscar - Jeremy Miller

Vittorio - Mike Nance

Herman - Ian Castro

Daddy - Joey Whitesman

Asst #1 - Tony Sansone

Asst #2 - Lucas Nunn

 

Female Ensemble

Jordan Albright

Sloan Brettholtz

Amanda Cotto

Marissa Daher

Raven Day

Jessie Ditzel

Justine Fitzgerald

Quintaysia Goodley

Ali Hooks

Haley Huston

Hannah Luckow

Christine Magers

Sarah McIntyre

Rachel Moser

Taylor Nave

Brittani Newland

Lindsey Palmquist

Savannah Reid

Olivia Rodriguez

Michaela Slamka

Jayne Telusma

Stephanie Weinberg

Nicole Willis

 

Male Ensemble

Wil Harbison

Willie Filkowski

Dallas Stobb

Eli Baldwin

Eric Callari

Chris Cooper

Philip Gold

Matthew Hengel

Corey Robinson

Daniel Rye

The results are in.  After hours of listening to the same auditions over and over and trading names back and forth, I have finally settled on this year's TAG members.  As the upperclassmen know, this is the day of the year I dread the most.  I know how many of you are hoping and praying and it is so hard to cut it down to just a few members.  For all of you who auditioned, thank you and there were some great auditions this year.  I will be happy to provide feedback  on your strenths and weaknesses so you can improve.  I highly recommend that you do this.  I will also play you parts of your audition and go over some things with you.

 

The list is in alphabetical order.

 

Can I have a drum roll please.............

 

Sopranos

Candace Bradshaw

Haley Huston

Cassi Lee

Brittani Newland

Alissa Roca

Michaela Slamka

 

Altos

Alyssa Ambrose

Lauren Davis

Justine Fitzgerald

Taylor Nave

Eden Shelton

Stephanie Weinberg

 

Tenors

Ian Castro

Tony Sansone

Mike Nance

Wil Harbison

 

Basses

Lucas Nunn

Colin Davis

Neal Eagan

 

Percussion

Paul Gavin

Cypress Lake Center for the Arts very own The A Cappella Group has been recognized for their latest album Long Overdue.  Long Overdue has been nominated in three categories for the 2009 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards.  The awards, which are the a cappella world's version of the Grammys, honor outstanding albums in a variety of categories ranging from professional groups to high school groups.

 

The A Cappella Group's latest album has been nominated in the following categories:

*Best High School Album

*Best High School Song for "Karmastistion"

* Best High School Solo - Katie Campbell for "Hands"

 

The A Cappella Group has been nominated before.  In 2007, T.A.G. - We're It! was nominated for Best High School Album and "Bring Me To Life" was nominated for Best High School Song.  The winners will be announced on April 1, 2009, so we are hoping for more good news.  You can see the entire list of nominees at http://www.casa.org/node/1656"\o"Cara Nominations"

 

Congratulations to all of the members of The A Cappella Group for this outstanding achievement.

Attention Parents!!!

We are in desperate need of some more volunteers to make the Madrigal Dinner possible. We need volunteers to make the homemade gingerbread cakes and the mini cheesecake tarts. You will be given a recipe and the ingredients if you need them. Many parent typically donate the ingredients, but we can provide them if you can only volunteer to make the items.

We also need 3 to 4 more parents to work each night in the kitchen. The students do all of the work in the front of the house, but we need parents to help in the kitchen. Again, we have detailed instructions for all of the jobs, we just need some more volunteers to help work it.

We also are looking for food donations if you are able. Here is a list of the items we still need.

Soda (coke, diet coke, sprite)
unsweetened tea
sweetened tea
decaffeinated coffee (2 cans)
water
cherry tomatoes
half and half
cheese chunk for cubing(swiss, cheddar, colby jack, pepper jack)(7 lbs
each)
Grapes (green & red) (24lbs each)
butter pats

We hope you can do your part to help make our holiday tradition a reality.

Cypress Lake Center for the Arts has been selected as the host for the 2009 International Championship of High School A Cappella South Semi-Final. The event on March 14th, will feature the finest high school a cappella groups in the South competing for a spot in the National Finals at Lincoln Center. There will also be a special guest college group that will be announced soon. Mark your calendars to see this great event as our very own T.A.G. tries to regain their 2007 South title and earn another trip to New York City.

The $65.00 deposit and the trip registration forms for the Colorado trip are due Wednesday, October 8. Please make sure you get these in to reserve your spot. The deposit is refundable up until December 1, 2008. If you have lost your trip packet, the entire packet is on the website in the document section. Each person going on the trip needs a completed trip registration form.

Dont' miss this important deadline - Get yours in today!!!!