When your choir director retires, a typical scenario might be – what do we do now?
Do you know anyone who might help in a search, or, who might be a candidate for a replacement? You had a unique and special relationship with your recent director, how do you find someone else who is equally desirable?
In Sun City’s Prairie Singers choir, however, none of the above was necessary. Last spring, Linda Weiss, a veteran alto section leader in the chorus, said she knew someone who might be a good fit for the Singers and might be available. She volunteered to approach him and find out.
Enter David Barth into the life of the Singers. Linda and David knew each other for 20 years in the Spirit of Life Chorus until he retired from that group in 2009. Linda also has been with the Singers for several years.
David Barth reviewing sheet music.. (Photo by Tony Pratt/Sun Day)
To make this story very short, Linda told David about the Singers, David talked with the board, and everything clicked. He will direct the Singers’ 19th Christmas concert at Huntley High School on December 15. The chorus begins once-a-week rehearsals next Tuesday, Sept. 11, in Fountain View Center in Prairie Lodge. There’s an added bonus: David’s wife, Lucia, is also joining the Singers this fall.
The choral group is nearly 19 years old and is the oldest of Sun City’s three performing arts groups. The other two are the Concert Band and the Theatre Company.
Barth 74, a native of Chicago, and a resident of Elgin, is a modern-day renaissance man. He loves a lot of variety, and he has a ton of fun while he’s at it. Energy and enthusiasm dominate his resume. He started out as a high school social studies teacher, went on to direct education and research activities for food retailers, later marketed propane products for a manufacturer. Simultaneously through all this, he founded and/or directed choirs in five churches, sang in his high school alumni association singing group, and founded and developed a multi-church concert choir in the Chicago area.
“When I was in fifth grade, on a Saturday shopping trip, I received a record album of a chorus,” he said. “I took it home and played it, imagining that I was directing an orchestra. Somehow, that is how I started on the road to being a musical director. At Taft High School, I auditioned for a mixed chorus of 25 members and was accepted. The director of that choir was the greatest influence on my life. He helped me to decide I wanted to be a choral director.”
Barth is best known for his creation and direction of the Spirit of Life Chorus in the Chicago suburban area from 1989 to 2009. The chorus is an ecumenical Christian group of volunteer singers from many churches throughout the suburban area. Its makeup and singing style are very similar to those of the Prairie Singers. There is one significant difference, however, which he said appeals to him. The Singers do two concerts a year, at Christmas and in the spring. The Spirit of Life performs 16 concerts per year, plus almost double the number of rehearsals.
“If I wanted to do 16 concerts a year, I never would have retired from that group,” he said. “Obviously, I wanted to continue directing after taking a break. Linda Weiss contacted me about coming to Sun City. Right away, it was very enticing. The more she talked about the chorus, the more I thought, I’d like to do this.”
“Weekly rehearsals are a good way to learn the music, you’re working on it frequently enough, and you’re not forgetting the music each time. When I attended a rehearsal before last spring’s Singers concert, I liked the selection of songs, the music committee seems to be doing a good job with that. I also discovered there’s some very good voices there, I liked the total ensemble sound that was created.”
Barth sent the Prairie Singers members an email shortly after he was appointed. In it, he described himself. “Whenever an organization changes leadership, there probably will be those who might be a little skeptical. To those I say, just give me a rehearsal or two and I really do think you’re going to find your new director fun to sing with.”
Over the years, Barth has directed choirs at the Dundee United Methodist Church, at a mission church in Palatine, the Dundee United Methodist Church, St. Paul Evangelical Church in Bloomingdale, and Trinity Lutheran Church, an area a capella group, and is the founder and director of the Taft High School Alumni Mixed Chorus in Chicago, his high school alma mater.
“In each and every instance, having fun was on top of the list of how we operated,” he said.
Barth brings extensive choral background as a director to the Prairie Singers. The group’s founding director, Peter Davis, conducted the group’s first concert in December, 2000. Davis has gone on to help create and lead the Sun City Theatre Company to a high level of musical popularity. From 2001-13, Gary Hillquist, a retired band director in the Mundelein Schools, directed the Singers during a period when it grew to more than 110 members. Nancy Cross, director of choral music education and musicals at Huntley High School, stepped in and led the group for the next three years, and Bill Leggee, a retired public school choral teacher and director, led the chorus from 2015 to 1018. Leggee was also a bass singer and soloist in the Singers for many years.
Like many charter clubs in Sun City, the Singers membership has dropped to about 60-65 in recent years. The chorus is mounting a special campaign this fall to recruit new members, especially men. While they rehearse this fall, the Singers will hold “open rehearsals on September 11, 18, and 25 for prospective new members and ask current members to invite friends.
“We want to have fun while making beautiful music,” says an early announcement in the Lifestyles Magazine. Even if you have not sung in years or have just sung in the shower, now is the time to bring your enthusiasm and love of singing to the Prairie Singers.”
Lots of things are new this fall at the Prairie Singers.
