To celebrate the Allegheny Chorale’s 20th season, The Daily Herald will run an ongoing series to highlight longtime members.
The members highlighted in this article include Anna Myers and Rose Castagnola.
Anna Myers, a sixth grade teacher at the Tyrone Middle School, has been a member of the Allegheny Chorale for over 18 years.
During that time, she has been an accompanist. She also was accompanist for “Encore.”
Anna says being involved with the Allegheny Chorale has been “one of the most enjoyable and beneficial experiences of my life.
“I actually started as the accompanist for ‘Encore’ after receiving a phone call from Georgia Roberts. I reluctantly agreed, but had several ‘panic attacks’ before the first show. Through the years, the experience helped boost my confidence level, but I still feel the adrenaline rise before each performance.”
Anna credits the people involved with the Chorale as the reason she keeps coming back.
“The people have been wonderful to me,” she said, “I’ve enjoyed working under such talented people as Joe Figg, Joan Smith, Georgia Roberts and Laura Harris, just to name a few.”
When asked about her fondest memory, Anna said it meant a lot to her when her children performed with her, Darin on percussion and Alison on piano and keyboards.
Although her favorite composer frequently changes, she does enjoy Gabriel Faure and Charles Saint-Saens.
Recalling funny moments as part of the Chorale, Anna said, “Encore always provided a lot of laughs, I’ll never forget our fist show which was at the American Legion. We were all so nervous we almost had to drag each other onto the stage.”
Anna explains how music affected her life, “Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Many members of my family were accomplished musicians. My father, Elmer Johnson on trumpet, my mother, Emogene, a beautiful soprano, may aunt Bertie Summers on piano and my Uncle Gib and grandfather, Charles Kerlin, both playing the trombone.
“When I was four-years-old, Harry Lykens decided it was time for me to take piano lessons. For the next 14 years, he showed an extraordinary amount of patience with me as I didn’t care to practice.
“When I was 16, Harry asked me to help him with teaching piano at the Music Box. I ended up giving piano, flute, organ, clarinet and even trumpet lessons for several years.
“I credit Harry for my love of the piano and of classical composers. He was very influential in my life and I truly miss him.
“In addition to Chorale, I am church organist and choir director for Christ United Methodist Church. Music has been a real blessing in my life and I would like to thank members of Allegheny Chorale for the opportunity to serve them.”
Also a longtime member of the Allegheny Chorale, Rose Castagnola has performed with the group for 15 years.
She feels being involved with the Chorale has been beneficial because it taught her a lot about singing.
“I learned a lot about singing soft and loud and a lot about different notes and marks in your music. I do not read music so this is all beneficial to me,” she said.
What keeps her coming back every year? Rose explained that she loves to sing and loves Laura Harris as their director.
“When she took over as director, that is when I joined,” Rose explained.
When asked what her favorite song is, Rose said she loves any Christmas song.
Rose recalled one funny moment from her days with the Chorale, “We were at the Presbyterian Church during intermission, sitting in the front room and they forgot to call us to go back out for the second half. We made our own ‘grand entrance’ and the audience all clapped for us.”
Rose also remembers, before Chorale, she sang in the St. Matthew’s School choir under the direction of Sister Antonio who always made them sing in Latin.
