A note from our President, Summer 2026
A note from the President, Summer 2026
Before I begin I’d like to, once more, acknowledge the passing of 2 long serving ROCA musicians, violinist Angus Yuen who left us in March and, most recently, bass singer Brian Dobbin. We offer our shared condolences to their families and close friends. We will miss them both. In honour of our 2 friends, ROCA has made donations to the BC Cancer Society and to the ALS Society.
My apologies for this being so long after our final concert. I started writing in June and then the World Cup began, grandkids came to visit and before I knew it the summer was half over.
Well done! Season 40 is in the books and congratulations to all of us. It’s been said many times before and bears repeating, that ROCA is a great musical treasure primarily due to two individuals. Thanks to our Artistic Directors, Brigid and James, every one of the concerts got rave reviews from our audiences. I find it difficult to pick a favourite this time (they were all brilliant imho) but if I had to choose I think I’d go with Handel (call me a traditionalist).
We were also joined this season by tremendous Community Partners. It was great to partner with Ivan Franko Society and Urban Bounty. Our Christmas concert raised almost $3000 for the Food Bank. Richmond Sings added $1118 to the local Community Meals programs. And what a brilliant idea it was to combine our 40th anniversary with that of the “Man in Motion World Tour” and have the Rick Hansen Foundation as our final partner of the season.
Financially we did pretty well. With better than forecast ticket sales, some very generous sponsors and grants (thanks especially to Bernie Z for his networking expertise), a very successful Pub Night, a strong market resulting in large payout from the Neville Wrigley endowment, and generous donations from ROCA members and audience members.
As is often said, many hands make light work and so I want to thank all our Board members, who have all been great to work with. With Jordan, our new Treasurer, we continue to be in good financial hands. Bernie Z, our wise and learned VP, has continued to apply his great schmoozing talents in finding sponsorships on top of his great efforts on grant writing. Graeme put in a lot of extra hours into updating our governance documents as well as taking exemplary minutes at all our meetings. Sally and Lea, thank you for all your work this season with fundraising, front of house, the ideas and wisdom you’ve brought to the Board and more, and also to Teek who has brought great energy, enthusiasm and (can I say?) a youthful perspective. This past season we managed to get business done with a fair bit of emailing and on average, a meeting every other month on Zoom, most of which, we kept under 90 minutes. If you would be interested in joining the Board, please let me know.
Thanks also to all of you (and you are many) who have reached out with ideas (keep em coming) and helped with specific tasks on concert days and beyond. And, of course, thanks to Rachel who is both the engine and driver of ROCA operations and who continues to make my President’s job so much easier.
And now, season 41 is just over a month away so, welcome back! Mark your calendars and give those Rack Cards out. (If you’d like some before we reconvene in Sept, drop Rachel an email and she can put some in the ROCA mailbox for you to pick up.)
First rehearsals are scheduled for Tuesday, September 8. The planning committee spent many hours discussing our various options especially for Christmas and the Finale. We did consider doing a Tuesday Choral Christmas concert again and also ending the season a week earlier (both ideas we'll explore again for 27/28). In the end, factors such as venue availability and suitability, timing of holidays and so on, we settled on these dates:
(Newly confirmed!) Sat, Oct 3 (Chorus) Concert at Cultural Centre
Oct 25 (Orchestra) Sunday afternoon at Fraserview
Dec 8 (Orchestra) Tuesday evening Food Bank concert at South Arm
Dec 12/13 (Chorus) Saturday evening at Our Saviour Lutheran
Sunday afternoon at All Saints Ladner
Feb 21 (Orchestra) Sunday afternoon at Fraserview
March 2 (Chorus) Tues evening Richmond Sings at Fraserview
Apr 11 (Combined) Sunday afternoon at Fraserview
Jun 6 (Combined) Sunday afternoon at Fraserview
As usual, I've probably forgotten to mention something important. Be sure to check roca.ca for updates. I’ll be away after the first rehearsal for 6 weeks, back in time for the AGM and Christmas activities. Wishing everyone a happy and safe last few weeks of summer.
See you, briefly, in September,
Bernie B
PS: Return-it Express. This program continues to quietly tick along. In the past year ROCA received just over $600. I suspect we could do even better. It's an easy process. Just put your empty beverage containers (bottles, cans, tetras, cartons) in a clear (or clear blue) plastic bag, make sure they're empty & clean, leave screw caps on (no corks), go to a Return-it Express location (there are at least 5 in Richmond and more elsewhere), enter the ROCA ph # 604-276-2747, print the label and drop in the bin. Thank you to you members regularly pass their empties off to ROCA's credit.