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Marin Men’s Chorus History
At a wedding reception in Tiburon in 1980, a discussion took place about "why not get a group of guys together once in a while to sing college songs, and the like." John Doherty, Joe Bacheller, Ray Jasek and Tom Behrens were attending. Former Tiburon mayor Al Kuhn and his wife, Joy, hosted the wedding for one of their children. The idea caught on, and an evening was picked to meet at Del Mar School. A few phone calls were made, and a piano was available in the music room. In February 1981 the first meeting of what became the Tiburon Men's Chorus was held in the music room at Del Mar School. A gaggle of more than 20 voices showed up. Professor Hy Krongard, who had been teaching vocal music and music appreciation for years at College of Marin and at Del Mar School and was a respected member of the musical community, became the first conductor. Behrens figured the way for the men to solidify into a cohesive group was to feed 'em all Bloody Marys on a Sunday morning. Diane Smith from the Ark (Tiburon newspaper) was called to record the event for posterity. Weekly rehearsals of two hours commenced. People began to hear of the song group from Tiburon while wives of members were pleased to have an evening to themselves. The first accompanist was Hy Krongard who doubled as director and accompanist in those early days. The first concert was held at the Nazareth House Residence in San Rafael in the summer of '81. More rehearsals and the group was on its way. In 1996 with the passing of founder/director Hy Krongard, then accompanist Dottie Nordstrand asked Don Miller who was a singer/conductor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon to conduct a memorial concert for Hy. He agreed to do so for that event. A number of old members showed up and the memorial was truly memorable. As it was October of 1996, and the chorus was heading into the Christmas season, Don Miller was asked by Ham Kirchmaier and Bill Gwatkin to conduct the chorus for the upcoming Holiday season. He agreed to do it until Christmas if the rehearsal night could be changed from Wednesday to Tuesday evening. That was done and so a new chorus/conductor relationship was established. Don Miller led the chorus from 1996 through the 2009-2010 season ending with the traditional spring concert. |
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