PAST PERFORMANCES
INSET: PHOTO BY DAVID HUGHES.
CHORAL ARTS ENSEMBLE
Choral Arts Ensemble,
Portland’5 Stairwell, 1991.
“This photo was taken before I was
in the picture,” admits soprano Jenny
Stadler, who’s been singing with Choral
Arts Ensemble for just fi ve of the group’s
amazing 46 seasons. However, in the
spirit of choral collaboration, she asked
her fellow singers Rosemary Mitchell,
Susan Wladaver-Morgan and Cheryl
Bristah to chime in and share these
memories with Artslandia:
AT A GLANCE
We helped sew those two-piece dresses ...
they were actually very scratchy! There are
lots of familiar faces (and tops of heads).
90s HIGHLIGHTS
We had two concerts in the 90s that really
stand out: one with the Maranatha Church
with the late Janice Scroggins on the
piano, and one with the late Moses Hogan,
a collector and arranger of spirituals. Our
musical selections still run the gamut, from
42
Medieval and Renaissance pieces up to
works composed this year. The challenge
of mastering that variety is precisely what
attracts many of us.
UPDATES
Carol Rossio (front, third from left) discovered that she wanted to sing jazz when
she moved to France to study art in the
mid-90s. She started singing in clubs and
loved it! Since moving back, she’s put out
at least two CDs and become well-known
as a French jazz chanteuse who sometimes
performs at Bastille Day and Blues Fest.
Soprano Judith Sagun (front, second from
left) married Choral Arts Ensemble bass
Kerry Montgomery at least 10 — maybe 20
— years ago, but they’d known each other
since they were students at the University
of Portland. Since Kris Van Auken (front,
right) left in 2000, we’ve had two more
accompanists: Julia Hwakyu Lee, who now
teaches piano at Portland State, and currently Jennifer Creek Hughes, who has her
ARTSLANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE JANUARY | FEBRUARY
degree in accompanying and plays almost
as though she can read our minds!
IN LOVING MEMORY
In 2010, our 35-year conductor Roger O.
Doyle (front, lower right) gave us devastating news: he’d been diagnosed with
A.L.S. (or “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”). He’d
conduct us for another year, but we knew
we needed a transition plan. We ended
up hiring Dr. David DeLyser, an assistant
professor at University of Portland who’d
sung with the choir for a season several
years before. Roger O. Doyle passed away
on April 30, 2012, the night of our annual
end-of-season dinner party. We toasted
him as we think he would have wanted —
together, with lots of wine, food, conversation and community. This kind of shock
can break an organization, but it can also
make it grow stronger. .
For more information on the CHORAL ARTS
ENSEMBLE visit www.caeportland.com.