What do Durango, New York City and Croatia have in common?
If you answered Linda Mack Berven, music director of the Durango Choral Society, you win the (Big) Apple.
Mack Berven, professor emerita of music from Fort Lewis College, has been building quite a career as a choral conductor, including appearances at Carnegie Hall (the “city that never sleeps” connection). One conducting gig at the hall included Mozart’s Requiem, and concert organizers in Austria invited her to bring members of the DCS to sing the piece.
Mack Berven’s mother was of Croatian heritage – her parents immigrated to the United States from what was then Yugoslavia. Croatian was spoken in her home when she was growing up. But that’s only part of the Croatian-Durango-New York City equation.
Mack Berven’s name came up on the radar of a concert organizer in Zagreb after that Carnegie Hall performance, and the lure of a Croat-American female conductor was too much to resist. When he heard the Durango director was bringing a group to Austria, he suggested she tack on a few days to conduct in Croatia while across the Pond. Before she knew it, a Hungarian chorus had been thrown in the mix as well, so it became quite the international experience.
About 30 members of the Durango Choral Society joined her and her husband, Wynn, along with a few friends and spouses, on the adventure. By the end of three weeks, they had performed in five concerts, all but one directed (or dirigentin) by Mack Berven, in Zagreb, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Linz, Austria. They also visited Munich and had an all round good time.
Their largest performance venue was the cathedral in Salzburg that seats 10,000 – although Mack Berven was quick to say they didn’t fill all the seats – that had a 12-second reverb, or echo, after they finished singing. They also got to sing in the church where the wedding scene in “Sound of Music” was filmed and of course, no performance tour would be complete in Salzburg without a concert in the Mozarteum.
That was summer, but now that the fall has come, the full Durango Choral Society is hard at work. The first concert, which is always great fun and great music, features the Durango Women’s Choir and the FLC Men’s Choir in He & She at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave.
On Nov. 23, the DCS will perform Handel’s “Messiah” with the San Juan Symphony in a performance fit for a king. It’s much more intricate than the singalong “Messiah” many are accustomed to, Mack Berven said.
As always when I write about the Durango Choral Society, I must disclose that once upon a time more than a decade ago, I served on its board.
It seems most people don’t understand how the DCS works. First of all, admission is by audition, so you have to have a decent voice and sing on key to become a member. (That pretty much shoots down my shot at glory.)
Not only do they rehearse for two and a half hours every week, Mack Berven sends them home with “homework” every week, so if you see someone singing with gusto in the car (or shower), they may actually be preparing to take the stage.
I’m often astonished by how many people haven’t ever attended one of their concerts. If you’re not a classical music fan, He & She includes everything from the men singing Billy Joel to folk songs, or what Mack Berven calls “opera to lipstick-on-your-collar music.” The Christmas concert Dec. 8 is a wonderful family outing, and new this year is a Valentine’s Day event called “Wine, Women and Song.”
To see videos of Durango Choral Society members singing in Europe (and here at home), visit the society’s Facebook page. And to purchase tickets to their concerts, visit www.durangochoralsociety.org.
HHH
If you’re waking up to this beautiful day feeling grateful for being healthy and strong, take that energy out to the 19th annual Journey of Hope, a walk or run 5K. Its goal is to raise money for women who are uninsured or underinsured to get mammograms. That’s one of the most critical steps in detecting breast cancer early, thus saving lives.
New this year is a 10K run, called Colors for Cancer, which is raising money to help fund equipment for the Mercy Oncology Center as well as the Cancer Center Library.
Started by Joanne Spina and her late husband, Rob Freeman, after Spina’s mother died of the disease, the event has provided about $102,000 worth of mammograms to more than 400 women who couldn’t otherwise have afforded them in the last 12 years. That’s how long the Mercy Health Foundation has been coordinating the dispersal of funds for Journey of Hope.
I love to put a face on the women the funds have helped, but these days, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has pretty much stopped health care providers in their tracks from sharing any information, even if they don’t reveal the patient’s name. But take my word for it, lives have been saved because of Journey of Hope’s insistence that all women have access to mammograms.
This item was originally intended for Wednesday, but space limitations got in the way. Please don’t let the late notice stop you and your family from going out to participate in the Journey of Hope this morning.
Registration starts at 7:30 a.m., at the entrance to the Mercy Medical Office Building. At 8:30 a.m., the 10K run takes off, at 9 a.m., it’s the 5K walkers and the last crew, the 5K runners, head out at 9:15 a.m.
There are always special touches to celebrate the many breast cancer survivors and the inroads made in treating the disease. The Journey of Hope also celebrates what happens when we come together as a community to solve a problem.
HHH
Folks who have wondered if the recession is truly ending need only look at last weekend’s Parade of Homes to see the resurgence in the building industry.
There were more homes (20) than in any recent year, and they ran the gamut from brand new luxurious to smaller, easy maintenance new homes and remodeling updates of older homes, including Shanna and Brian Zink’s beautiful remodel of her father’s old home in historic downtown Durango. And they also ranged from modern to French provincial to traditional, so there was a lot of delighted discovery going on.
More than 850 people took advantage of the opportunity to see the latest in architecture and interior design, with many snapping photos with cellphones or taking old-fashioned notes for future reference.
Throw in the gorgeous fall weather, which was appreciated even more after the harsh weather of the previous week, and it was a great way to spend the weekend, while running into old friends.
HHH
The current generations of a family with deep roots in the area came together for a family reunion this summer. The week’s worth of activities included some of the standard local attractions as well as some that applied specifically to their family.
The patriarch of the family, Temple Cornelius, did a lot of prospecting and sheepherding in the San Juan Mountains, so outdoor excursions were a must. (He and Olive Frazier Cornelius also recounted some stories about the Frazier side of the family for Pioneers of the San Juan Country, the Sarah Platt Decker Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s collection of oral histories collected in the 1930s.)
Locals attending the reunion were Durangoans Barbara Cornelius, Florence Kroutik, Raymond Rhodes, Charlie DiFerdinando and Janell Stephenson. Coming down from Denver were Ryan, Annie, Ella, Olivia and Miles Cornelius.
The Portland, Ore., contingent included Ross, JoAnn and Emily Cornelius, while the Seattle-based part of the clan included Scott and Lindsay Cornelius along with Ryan Campbell. The biggest cohort traveled from Auburn, Wash., including Kay and Roger Campbell, and Shane, Maggie, Nora and Drew Campbell.
(Just don’t ask me to draw the family tree.)
HHH
Looking back on another year of love and laughter are Gordon and Wanda Greve, David Ottman and Jen Schoedler, Frank and Karen Anesi, Mary and John Shafer, John and Etoile Hening, Miles and Holly Newby, Art and Katie Cahill, Chris and Lynda Berger, Greg and Shirley Drover and Dave and Marty Schank.
HHH
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