ABOUT US
We are a mixed chorus comprised of local and regional amateur singers from the area who love good music and enjoy sharing it with audiences.
WE LOVE TO SING
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WE LOVE TO SING •
Our Mission
The St. Augustine Community Chorus strives to provide an opportunity for singers, from youth to adult, to experience the joy of singing while empowering them with education, enrichment, and inspiration to perform choral music at the highest artistic level.
Our goal is to build a musical community one voice at a time, sharing the joy and power of choral music with new and existing audiences and singers.
SACC is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. The revenue which enables us to perform comes from ticket sales, dues, donations, and advertising.
The HISTORY of SACC
In 1948, the late William Dixon formed the St. Augustine Choral Society, under the sponsorship of the St. Cecilia Society. As its director from 1948 through 1951, he conducted the chorus in its initial performance of Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Episcopal Church, a tradition which continues to the present. After an absence of almost 20 years, Mr. Dixon returned to St. Augustine and again led the Choral Society from 1970 to 1978.
“The St. Augustine Choral Society scored a new triumph with its presentation of Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn, in Trinity Episcopal Church on Tuesday, March the twenty-ninth (1949).” Quote from a local paper.
In 1978, Wayne Joranlien conducted Messiah in the Lightner Museum. Sister Patricia Consier,O.P., music director at the Cathedral, became conductor of the St. Augustine Community Chorus, as it was now known, in 1980, and annual performances of Messiah at the Cathedral continued under her leadership until 1990.
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In 1990, Dr. Janet Graham, minister of music and organist at Memorial Presbyterian Church, assumed the role of conductor of the Chorus, and continued its tradition of presenting an annual Christmas Concert featuring Messiah. Dr. Carl Peters II, minister of music at Ancient City Baptist Church, joined her as co-conductor in the mid-1990s, and introduced the Pops and Masterworks Concerts to the Chorus’ annual concert series. Dr. Peters left St. Augustine in 2003 to accept a position in California.
In April 2006, Dr. Graham passed away after a long illness. For so many years the “heart and soul” of the St. Augustine Community Chorus, she is missed by chorus members and the entire community.
The Chorus selected two new conductors, Ms. Kathleen Vande Berg and Dr. Theodore K. Mathews, in 2004. Ms. Vande Berg, with a background in choral conducting in New York and Atlanta, conducted the Chorus’ spring Pops Concert at the St. Augustine High School Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. Dr. Mathews, formerly professor of music and glee club conductor at Agnes Scott College, directed the Chorus’ Masterworks Concert in May at Ancient City Baptist Church. Dr. Mathews and Ms. Vande Berg also shared conducting duties for the traditional Christmas Concert in December at the Cathedral Basilica in downtown St. Augustine. Dr. Mathews retired in 2014 and moved to California. Ms. Vande Berg retired from the Chorus in 2015, but continues to serve as Director of the St. Augustine Chamber Singers.
The St. Augustine Chamber Singers was founded in 2001 under the leadership of Dr. Carl Peters, drawing its numbers from the roster of the Community Chorus. The group has continued since then with Kathleen Vande Berg as the conductor. Membership in the group is limited to no more than 35 singers who present one concert per year. Rehearsals begin in June for the concert which is usually presented at the Cathedral Basilica in early October. The repertoire of the prestigious Chamber Singers includes major works as well as madrigals and more modern pieces.
After a national search, the Chorus welcomed Michael Sanflippo as the new director of St. Augustine Community Chorus in March 2015. Mike recently settled in Palm Coast, after more than two decades living and working in the Northern New Jersey area. There he directed several choruses including the Apprentice Chorus of the Newark Boys Chorus School, the training chorus for the celebrated Newark Boys Chorus. Additionally in Newark, Mike developed a challenging and thriving music theory and ear-training program that he taught to all the boys in the school. He directed two community choruses, Concord Singers (Summit, NJ, a women’s chorus) and Harmony Singers (Wayne, NJ, a mixed ensemble) as well as a music program at Community United Methodist Church in Roselle Park. Mike holds degrees from Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and Teachers College of Columbia University, and spent a year at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemet, Hungary. In addition to his work with SACC, Mike is Director of Music at Grace United Methodist Church here in town.
Our People
Michael Sanflippo
CONCERT DIRECTOR
Michael Sanflippo began his tenure as the new director of St. Augustine Community Chorus in March 2015. Mike recently settled in Palm Coast, after more than two decades living and working in the Northern New Jersey area.
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There he directed several choruses including the Apprentice Chorus of the Newark Boys Chorus School, the training chorus for the celebrated Newark Boys Chorus. Additionally in Newark, Mike developed a challenging and thriving music theory and ear-training program that he taught to all the boys in the school. He directed two community choruses, Concord Singers (Summit, NJ, a women’s chorus) and Harmony Singers (Wayne, NJ, a mixed ensemble) as well as a music program at Community United Methodist Church in Roselle Park. Mike holds degrees from Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and Teachers College of Columbia University, and spent a year the Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Kecskemet, Hungary. In addition to his work with SACC, Mike is Director of Music at Grace United Methodist Church here in town.
Shannon McKay
ACCOMPANIST
Shannon McKay, who moved to St. Augustine in 1983, has been accompanying the Community Chorus since December 1984. A musician since the age of eight, Shannon began her studies at Peabody Conservatory Prep School in Baltimore.
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She then went on to study privately in Atlanta; to win a piano scholarship to Stephens College; and to finish her formal music studies at Georgia State University, from which she graduated cum laude with a degree in French! She then endured a tedious detour through a series of graphic arts jobs, including an 11- year stint in the Composing Room at the St. Augustine Record. At length, tempted by the many opportunities to practice her musical art in St. Augustine, she threw caution to the winds and embarked upon her present course as a full-time professional musician, a decision which she has never regretted (and should have made much sooner).
Shannon is principal organist at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine, where she delights in playing the 56-rank Casavant pipe organ installed in the Cathedral in February 2003.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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President: Monica Hager
Vice President/President-Elect: Connie Maltby
Treasurer: Bonnie Goldsmith
Secretary: Christina Mason
Immediate Past President: Lynn Abjornson
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Internal Communications: Tom Rooney
External Communications & Community Relations: Peter Gugisberg
Publicity/Advertising: Dawn Carole McGee
Stage Management: Christy Skettini
House Management: Adrien Larue
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Librarian: Vera Gallagher
Ticket Management: Larry Hickernell
Concert Program Coordinator: Tom Rooney
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Music Director - St. Augustine Community Chorus
Michael Sanflippo
Music Director - St. Augustine Youth Choir
Barbara Mattingly
Kathleen Vande Berg
Ted Matthews
STATEMENT of VALUES
Excellence
SACC will continue to culturally enrich the singers, as well as the community at-large through the presentation of high-quality musical performances;
SACC celebrates the music of composers from decades or centuries past in addition to works of composers of our time;
SACC aspires to uphold our community’s musical legacy by encouraging participation of individuals of varying musical abilities and nurturing their development.
Respect
We esteem our fellow musicians as valued artists in the musical community;
We appreciate and acknowledge audience members and financial supporters as important participants in choral art, for without them, we would not exist as a choral entity;
We demonstrate responsiveness to our Directors and genuinely respect their decades of experience in the performing arts arena.