JASSYL/JASNA Summer Concert Review

Despite a complete lack of cooperation from the weather--temperature in the high 80s outside and not much less inside, plus humidity you could cut with a knife!--the Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies (JASSYL) and JASNA Syracuse presented a very successful summer entertainment on Sunday, August 7, at the First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles. In the photo of the packed Fellowship Hall below, your Regional Coordinator can just be discerned at the podium, vigorously wielding her fan with one hand and clutching her drastically heat-shortened welcoming speech in the other! (All photos are courtesy of JASSYL's Facebook site. Click on any photo to enlarge.)

The vocal program, as always, featured the Young Ladies in various combinations of ensemble and solo work. In the words of JASSYL Director Dr. Joanna Manring, "Everybody's a star, and nobody's a star." Your RC can only add that all nine Young Ladies of the summer session--the Misses Phoebe Glowacki, Julia Hearn, Christina Marshall, Maria McLean, Abbie McMahon, Imogen Olson, Ellie Meyer, Emily Short, and Maddie VanRiper--performed excellently. Below, the Misses McLean and McMahon prepare for their roles in "Mary's Dream."

And Miss VanRiper awaits her solo in "The Little Gipsey."

The four Young Gentlemen who joined the Young Ladies for the dancing--Lt. Kyle Cherchio of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Lts. Shawn Cherchio and Jonathan Marshall of the 95th Rifles, and Mr. Christopher Hartnett--may deserve special commendation for their manful perseverance in the heat in heavy wool dress coats. And, as at last December's Christmas concert, the dancing (under the direction of JASNA Syracuse Co-RC Miss Lisa Brown, assisted by Mr. Thomas Grande of the Country Dancers of Rochester) drew special huzzahs. Below, Lt. K. Cherchio and Miss Short reenact the roles of Lt. George Wickham and Miss Elizabeth Bennet most convincingly!

Finally, as always, the musicians (here, Ms. Katherine Klein on flute and Mrs. Caroline Manring Dean on violin, plus Ms. Anna Egert on piano) gave their all.

More photos are available on JASSYL's Facebook site, and still more will undoubtedly be posted there in the near future.