The Festival Chorus: It's a Musical Family Affair
THE FESTIVAL CHORUS: IT'S A MUSICAL FAMILY AFFAIR
When The Festival Chorus meets to rehearse on Monday nights at Harper College, they are not yet accompanied by the full professional orchestra that will appear with them at concert time. That job goes to Beverly Tipps, a one woman orchestra if ever there was one. With incredible musical talent and equal amounts of patience, she provides the initial guidance needed for singers to learn their parts in the early rehearsals and eventually supplies the piano accompaniment that stands in for that full orchestra at final rehearsals and additional non-orchestra performances. One such traditional event takes place at The Lutheran Home for the Aged, the Monday after each Sunday's Christmas and Spring concert.
Bev joined The Festival Chorus in 1978, following in the footsteps of her mother and dad, Betty and Herb Jarosch, who were original members of the chorus in 1965. Betty still sings with the group. Bev studied piano with Anthony Mostardo, the founder of the chorus. She also studied at Eastern Illinois University and earned a Bachelor in Music in Piano Performance. When an opening for chorus accompanist occurred in 1982, Bev stepped in. She has held the position ever since. In addition to the work with The Festival Chorus, Bev also plays for various high school choral programs, solo competitions and recitals and for the Congressional Church of Algonquin. She accompanies The Tenors 3 and other professional musicians as well.
Continuing the family tradition, Greg Tipps, Bev's husband, joined The Festival Chorus in 2010. Since that time he has sung with the group, served as assistant director and has just accepted the job of director. He is deeply involved in the world of music. In addition to choral director, he is the conductor of the Harper College Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds. Before retiring in 2011 he was band director for 35 years at Schaumburg High School. Greg arranges and composes music for a variety of groups and is a professional trumpet player in the Chicago area. He holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in Music Education from Northern Illinois University.
Sadly, Beverly Tipps had to have hand surgery several weeks ago and will not be able to accompany The Festival Chorus for final rehearsals and as part of the professional orchestra that appears with the chorus at its Spring Concert on May 7. She does plan to be ready to resume playing for the summer European concert tour of The Festival Chorus in July. But in the meantime she will be singing with her mother Betty in the soprano section. And very likely, her son Bryan and her brother-in-law Gary will be in the orchestra, as they were for the 2016 Festival Chorus Christmas concert, conducted by husband Greg Tipps. And don't be surprised if you hear a sweet child's voice singing somewhere in the audience. That would be her grandson Sebastian who daughter-in-law Mariann gave birth to just after the 2015 Christmas concert.
Sunday, May 7, The Harper Festival Chorus will present its Spring 2017 Concert at 3:00 pm in the Harper College Performing Arts Center. They will be performing several John Rutter pieces including Magnificat, All Things Bright and Beautiful, Look at the World and For the Beauty of the Earth. The program will also contain Flight of the Bumble Bee, arranged by Ward Swingle, Jump Down, Spin Around, arranged by Larry Nickel, and Shenandoah, arranged by James Erb. Rounding things out will be Joseph Martin's Come to the Music, Peter Wilhousky's Battle Hymn of the Republic and Greg Gilpin's Why We Sing. Here's hoping you and your family will attend and make this event A Musical Family Affair of your own.
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For additional concert information go to www.festivalchorus.org