Past Events & Photos

GUITAR CHAMBER CONCERT FEATURING SELECTED STUDENTS FROM MICHAEL MCCALLIE’S STUDIO ON FEBRUARY 11, 2024

These selected students from the Michael McCallie Studio in Chattanooga performed in a free concert sponsored by the Chattanooga Music Club at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The crowd was amazed at what wonderful guitarists these young people are. Students performing included Jude Rifai, Sid Cheemakoti, Stuart Brown, Colin Sanders and the McCallie Guitar Quintet. These young people are already gathering fame, based on an article from the Chattanoogan, dated October 27, 2022. Snippet from the article is below:

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Thursday, October 27, 2022

McCallie's Guitar Ensemble Performs At Guitar Festival; Stuart Brown Places 2nd In High School Division

Somewhat amazingly, Dr. Michael McCallie, the director of Guitar Programs at McCallie (School in Chattanooga), didn't graduate from the school, instead receiving his high school diploma from Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts before earning college degrees for guitar performance from both Stetson and Yale, then completing his Doctor of Music from the Florida State University College of Music.

But his students sure know how to make the entire McCallie family proud when they pick up their classical guitars.

Not only was McCallie's (the teacher's and the school's) entire Upper School Guitar Ensemble, all 32 of them, the only high school act asked to perform at the opening recital of the Florida Guitar Festival at Florida State's College of Music this past Friday night, but sophomore Stuart Brown came in second in the high school division of the international guitar competition.

"First competition Stuart's ever competed in, and he finishes in second place in the whole shebang," said Dr. McCallie, who's now in his fourth year running the program that Chip Evans started more than 20 years ago.

"I'm so proud of him, but I'm so proud of all of them. In the individual competition there were maybe 20 kids throughout the whole United States and we had four of them. And this is one of the most prestigious and highly competitive events of its kind."

Indeed, while Stuart may have been the only one of the McCallie foursome of junior Jude Rifai, sophomore Sid Cheemakoti, sophomore Colin Sanders and Brown to reach the four-person final round, all four turned in outstanding efforts.

"I was kind of surprised since it was my first competition," said Stuart, who also runs track, wants to be an engineer one day and counts Jason Vieaux as his favorite classical guitarist and John Mayer as his favorite rock guitarist. "I've been playing for nine years, six years on classical guitar. I thought we all played pretty well."

Dr. McCallie concurred, both on the ensemble as a whole and his individual performers, noting, "We got glowing reviews from the harshest critics."
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Click on the videos below the program to hear some of these performances from our concert.

CHATTANOOGA MUSIC CLUB/MACDOWELL MUSIC CLUB ANNUAL CONCERT
on January 21, 2024

During this traditional annual combined concert and get-together of the Chattanooga Music Club and The MacDowell Music Club, various members of both clubs displayed their impressive musical talents. The concert was held at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, and was attended by over 60 members of the public. Afterwards a reception was held for all attendees, featuring various foods brought by the Chattanooga Music Club and MacDowell Music Club members.

Click on the pictures below to see more detail and information.

HOLIDAY DINNER ON DECEMBER 9, 2023

So many of us had lots of Holiday obligations, including the musical variety, but it was so rewarding to take some relaxing time out to just sit back and eat and enjoy hearing some beautiful music, and let others do all the work for a change!

We thank the amazingly talented B# Trio for providing us an hour of beautiful classical and Christmas music, which included a Fantasia from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet, the Partita in B-flat by J.S. Bach, the Chinese Dance from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, and many other pieces. After this treat to our ears, our stomachs and taste buds were treated to Bruce Clark’s excellent catering expertise, as he whipped us up a marvelous dinner in the dining room at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

The B# Trio consists of:

• Ronda Benson Ford, flute

• Nicole Doran, bassoon

• Emma Anderson, piano

Videos and photos from the Holiday Dinner are posted below:

Holiday Festivity at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church November 19, 2023

As the Holiday season progressed, we were treated to the amazing talents of several Chattanooga musicians during our Holiday Festivity, which was free and open to the public (although donations were gladly accepted).

To start off, Bruce Clark, the organ master at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, wowed us with a riveting organ prelude on the Ruffatti pipe organ. This was followed by an introduction by the President of the Chattanooga Music Club, the charming Betty Anne Neal.

Our first group, the Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song (also called the Choral Society of Chattanooga), led by Michael Mitchell, amazed us with 3 uplifting spirituals sung in the classic African American style. The last was “Mary Had a Baby”, arranged by the Club’s Dr. Roland Carter. The second group featured outstanding young musicians from the Chattanooga Youth Symphony, led by Ismael Sandoval. A Violin Quartet and a Horn Trio each performed 2 classic pieces. The third group was Chorus Angelorum, led by Janelle Wagoner. This choir is formed from some of the area’s best amateur and professional vocal musicians who excel in acapella and highly harmonized vocal techniques. They sing classic hymns as well as more popular standbys in their distinctive style, along with new pieces such as one written by local Chattanooga composer Ethan McGrath (who is also a member of the Chorus Angelorum and the Chattanooga Music Club).

After the audience was completely pleased by these wonderful performances, they then had to perform as well, let by the club’s own song leader, Kelly Stultz. Our sing-a-long consisted of these traditional and popular tunes: “Jingle Bells”, “Rudolph theRed-Nosed Reindeer”, “White Christmas”, and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Everyone went home happy from the fun.

Below are some photos and samples of the performances:

ANNUAL PICNIC AT CHESTER FROST PARK SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

A delightful time was had by all, and the crisp weather of early Fall provided an inspiring backdrop. The music was provided by the Ralph Miller Jazz Trio, and noted Chattanooga musician Neshawn Calloway sung a fantasic rendition of George Gershwin’s classic tune “Summertime”.

Annual Banquet at the Walden Club May 16, 2023

The Banquet was an amazing success, with 84 attendees. Our top 2 Scholarship winners from this year, Ewan Manalo and Colette Smith, each performed 3 pieces for us. Ewan performed an Appalachian folk piece, a traditional Chinese piece and a Bach piece on the cello, and Colette sung “Climb Every Mountain” from The Sound of Music and a couple of charming solos from The Pirates of Penzance. Our dynamic emcee was Jimmy Cooley and our special speaker was none other than member Darrin Hassevoort, also Chorus Director of the Chattanooga Symphony Opera Chorus, Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Society and Director of Music and Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. Darrin inspired us greatly with what the gift of music has done for him and for so many of those around him, uniting us in spite of all of our differences. An especially touching note was when he described his recent experience with a local prison in helping the inmates to put on a musical with convincing props made by the inmates from paper products; these men were very touched by the overall experience.

As usual the company was enjoyable and the food was delicious. The skyline of Chattanooga was a scenic backdrop as always, and despite the advancing storm clouds we remained unfazed, helped in part by our wine and conviviality. Below are posted some pictures from the dinner (the pictures automatically advance, but can be advanced manually by clicking the arrows to the right or left).

The picture below shows the swearing in of the officers for the coming year 2023-2024. These are from left to right: Betty Anne Neal (President), Sara Snider Schone (First VP for Programs - incoming), Pamper Crangle (2nd VP for Communications/Publicity), Charlynne Fry (4th VP for Membership), Jamie Curtis (3rd VP for Yearbook), Vicky Leather (Recording Secretary), Lounelle Draper (Corresponding Secretary), Carol Day (Treasurer), Pam & Gary Helton (Historians)

In the videos below, top CMC Scholarship winner Ewan Manalo plays on the cello a traditional Chinese melody and a tune from Bach.

Scholarship Competition 2022-2023

These are some pictures of our very talented competitors for this year. Please click on the thumbnails to see a bigger picture. See the Scholarship page for the winners and their awards.

Scenic City Chorus concert February 2023

The Scenic City Chorus, the Chattanooga chapter of Sweet Adelines International, came to our usual venue at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church and sang several popular pieces for us in the historic Barbershop singing style. All of it was sung a capella, except for one piece accompanied with a single viola played by Chorus member Sue Manthey, and all parts were wonderfully harmonized. Two videos below portray the lovely sounds of the Chorus. In one of them, the Chorus sings the never-gets-old song immortalized by Elvis Presley, “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You”. The Chorus also gave the audience exercises in Barbershop singing, explaining the various parts and how they harmonize. Very lovely!

JOINT MEETING CHATTANOOGA MUSIC CLUB AND MACDOWELL MUSIC CLUB jANUARY 2023

This is an annual event, usually held in January, and the music is provided by members of the two clubs. It is always wonderful music, followed by a reception.

holiday program & luncheon 2022

This annual event featured the music of the Scenic City Bassoons, and provided Club members the opportunity to mingle with each other before the Holidays, and eat scrumptious catered food. It was combined with a meeting presided over by Club President Betty Anne Neal.

HOLIDAY FESTIVITY NOVEMBER 2022

The Holiday Festivity was an inspiring and well-attended event featuring the beautiful sounds of the Choral Arts Society and the Metropolitan Bells. The setting was the lovely sanctuary of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Below are some photos and videos. Click on the photos for a closer view and more detail. Click on the videos for some gorgeous sounds!

The Chattanooga Music Club - Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra
Monster Mash

The Monster Mash was an enjoyable collaborative mashup for the whole family, and was frighteningly fun. It was a Halloween show packed with surprises featuring music from John Williams (Star Wars, E.T., Jaws and Harry Potter), Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Modest Mussorgsky (Night on Bald Mountain, yikes!) and more. The Mash was held at the Memorial Auditorium and also offered seasonal activities and a costume contest. To top it off, the Chattanooga Music Club’s own Dr. Sarah Harr played the (restored by the CMC) mighty Austin organ!

Chattanooga Music Club and Opera Tennessee program October 2022

OperaTN and the Chattanooga Music Club put on a lovely program of opera favorites sung by many of the Club’s own opera singers. This event was free and open to the public, and was hosted at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga on October 15, 2022. The program is shown at the right.

Click on each picture below to get a close up, and mouse over to get more information.

SEPTEMBER 2022 GET ACQUAINTED PICNIC AT CHESTER FROST PARK

(Select a thumbnail to see the full picture; mouse over the bottom of each picture for more information)

MAY 2022 BANQUET AT THE WALDEN CLUB

(Select a thumbnail to see the full picture; mouse over the bottom of each picture for more information)

May 2021 Club banquet at the Walden Club

(Select a thumbnail to see the full picture; mouse over the bottom of each picture for more information)

January 2022 Joint CMC/MAcDowell Club MeetinG

October 2021 - The KingE’s Quire

March 2020 Scholarship Auditions

February 2020 Chattanooga Boys Choir & Society for Preservation of African/American Song