We had one of our summer “rehearsals” at the Biergarten in Olbrich Park on Thursday June 13th. We usually “rehearse” at the Essen Haus during the summer, but we do visit other places as well. We were very lucky with the weather on Thursday and had a great time at Olbrich Park.
Team Maennerchor participated once again in the 5 K race at the Middleton Good Neighbor Festival on Saturday August 26. Thankfully it was cool but it was quite humid. There were not quite as many participants as there were in the days before Covid, but there was a good turnout of both runners and walkers. After the race, of course we adjourned to the beer tent to replenish fluids.
Here are some photos of the post-race festivities. As always, click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.
The UW Athletic Department invited us to sing the national anthem at the volleyball match against Penn State on Saturday October 23rd. We were happy to accept and about fifteen of us were able to be at the UW Field House for the event. We had a sound check around 4:15 and then we just hung out until we we sang at 6:00. Everything went pretty well, and most of us stayed for at least part of the match, which Wisconsin won in 5 sets – it was a close one!
There are a few photos below; as always click on the thumbnail to see a larger image. Thanks again to Ryan and all the folks at UW for inviting us and making us feel welcome – we had a great time!
Replenishing fluids after running the Middleton GNF 5 K, August 28, 2021
It’s been quite a while since we last sang at the Middleton Good Neighbor Festival, but pretty much every year a few of us take part in the Middleton GNF 5 K race. As always, we’re just a second tenor away from having a quartet, but somehow it always turns out ok.
It was a hot and humid morning this year, but we did the best we could, and then of course had to replenish fluids after the race!
On Thursdays June 3rd we had one of our biweekly parking lot meetings at Turner Hall. We had about ten members in attendance, and after replenishing fluids on such a warm day, we warmed up and sang a few songs. After a Bierpause, we saw a few more songs. It was good to sing together again!
Click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.
Our own Paul Wertsch was the subject of an article in the UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health quarterly magazine. Oddly enough, the article is not about prescribing brandy for choir members.
If you haven’t seen it yet, click here to see the online version of the article.
Before we halted our rehearsals in March 2020 due to the pandemic, we did have a photo session for a choir portrait. This would have appeared in the program book for our Spring 2020 Concert, but of course that was canceled too. Here is the photo:
Group photo of the 2020 Madison Maennerchor
We had a short meeting after our rehearsal on March 12th to discuss future rehearsals in light of the current public health emergency. Given the continuing spread of the coronavirus and the demographics of the choir, we decided to suspend rehearsals until April 9th.
Our Spring Concert is still scheduled for May 31st at Madison’s Turner Hall, but we will re-evaluate this in April.
This fall, Wisconsin Public Television re-ran a segment on the Madison Männerchor on Wisconsin Life that originally aired in May 2018. The video is 5 or 6 minutes long. To see the story on the Wisconsin Life website (the article includes the video that aired as well as some bonus footage) please click here!
Isthmus, Madison’s weekly newspaper, has a great article on choir in their Music section this week. The article includes a photo of the choir singing a the Essen Haus Oktoberfest this fall. To read the article, please click here!