March 19, 2020

Dear HCS Choir Members,

Monday night, the HCS Board of Directors held an emergency meeting to discuss recent developments regarding the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) and the necessary efforts to minimize its spread in our community. After considering the latest guidelines issued by the CDC and their impact on our rehearsal and performance schedule, the Board of Directors made the heartbreaking decision that we are unable to safely continue our 2019-2020 concert season.  As a result, our May 16 concert Happy Birthday, Beethoven! and the June 26 HCS Chamber Choir concert The Contemporaries have been cancelled. This decision was not made lightly; however, your health and the health of all of our loved ones are our highest priorities right now.

We are deeply saddened by this situation, and I know that we were all looking forward to an incredible spring concert. That said, Dr. Klotz is already working on plans for an even bigger and better Beethoven birthday celebration in the upcoming 2020-2021 Concert Season. I can assure you: Great things await!

We know you will have many questions, so here is what we do know right now.

We will notify you as soon as we have a plan in place, but please hold on to your music and keep it in a very safe place until you hear from us. (Maybe even send yourself an email with where you store it in case you think you might forget!)

For most members, we are asking that you allow us to keep the dues you have already paid for this year, as we will continue to have operating expenses that we must cover during this furlough. For those members who just joined HCS on Monday, March 9th, we will automatically move your payment as a credit toward the 2020-2021 Concert Season. Regardless of your member status, if you have concerns, we will do what we need to in order to make things right. Please contact Amy Ghanem at [email protected] to discuss your situation.

We had planned to replicate last year’s fundraising auction at the Beethoven concert this May. In light of the concert being canceled, we will move this effort to the Fall to open our 2020-2021 concert season on a very strong note. All donors to-date will be contacted to ask for their permission to hold on to their donations or extend the date available (if a timeline applied). If you have questions about this effort, please contact Lane Coco at [email protected].

It will be more important than ever before to have the entire membership come to our Annual Meeting. Because this health situation is still rapidly evolving and we do not know when it will end, we have not yet set a date for this event. We will keep you posted via the email you have on file as well as our Facebook Member Page. When this information comes out, we ask that you to make every effort to attend.

Although we’re not quite ready to give details yet, we are looking into hosting some virtual music to help us keep our spirits up during this social distancing time. If you’re not already subscribed to our Facebook Member page, please consider joining today. We will announce any upcoming virtual events using this platform. We also encourage you to share your musical thoughts anytime on this channel! It’s important that we stay connected, now more than ever.

In the next 1-2 days, we will be in the process of notifying everyone affected by this decision, including the performers for Beethoven concert, The Foundry Church, our Benefactors, Season Ticket Holders, and our general audience members, via email. We will also post appropriate information on our website and social media channels.

If you have questions that are not addressed above, please reach out to Amy Ghanem at [email protected] and we will do our best to get you an answer as soon as possible. We ask for your patience as we navigate these uncharted waters.

While these times may sometimes seem isolating or scary, we hope you know that you have a musical, caring support group in HCS. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any member of HCS leadership if we can be of assistance. We are an extended family with much love, joy, and encouragement to give and we look forward to coming together again as soon as it is safe to do so.

Best regards,

Chad

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