Highlands Current Audio Stories

Barbershop quartet to perform at St. Mary's

On Feb. 15, the acapella quartet Heartfelt, consisting of members of the Westchester Harmony chorus, will perform at St. Mary's Church in Cold Spring. Beacon resident Scott Kruse is substituting to sing baritone, which insiders call the "junk notes" because they sound almost unmusical when performed solo.

The tones are "integral to the overall chord, but hearing them alone is rough sledding," says Bill Kruse, Heartfelt's lead singer and Scott's father.

Traditional barbershop repertoire consists of popular songs from more than a century ago, like "Sweet Adeline," "Hello! Ma Baby" and "By the Light of the Silvery Moon." Heartfelt will deliver some comedy, lead sing-a-longs and perform numbers appropriate for Valentine's Day.

The spelling of "Ma Baby" hints at the genre's roots in minstrelsy, where white performers corked up their faces and caricatured Black people, a portrayal perpetuated by Hollywood through the 1950s. Early barbershoppers appropriated the style from Black singers who secularized four-part gospel harmony.

Louis Armstrong sang in a New Orleans quartet and ragtime composer Scott Joplin's 1910 opera Treemonisha includes a barbershop number, "We Will Rest a While."

The groups that recorded in the late 1890s and early 1900s, like the Edison and the Haydn quartets, "got to do so because they were white," says Brian Lynch of the Nashville-based Barbershop Harmony Society. "The Black groups couldn't get that kind of exposure."

Then came the porkpie hats, red vests, maybe a mustache and always the cornpone humor. The style is characterized by a tenor pitched above the melody (or lead). The bass nails down the low end and the baritone fills in the mid-range notes. Chords are held for emphasis, notes are bent, repeated and inverted to create sounds that can be stirring.

In 1938, toward the end of the Great Depression, a group of singers in Tulsa formed the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, known by the awkward acronym SPEBSQUA, which lampooned federal New Deal agencies. After a stint in Wisconsin, the organization moved to Nashville in 2007 and became the Barbershop Harmony Society a year later.

"There's a lot of experimentation going on" in the genre, says Lynch, but at competitions, the society enforces rules regarding the number of seventh notes that must be sung. Known as the "blue note," the seventh emphasizes a half-step drop of pitch from the keynote and is the genre's signature sound.

The Westchester group dates to 1953. Like many other ensembles, it has performed concerts dedicated to the Beatles, Broadway, the music of the 1960s and composers associated with the Great American Songbook.

For a traditional style of music, things are in flux. Known as the Westchester Chordsmen for many years, Westchester Harmony rebranded last year and began accepting women as members following the Barbershop Harmony Society's lead in 2018, Lynch says. Today about 20 percent of the 650 choruses in North America include women (along with seven of Westchester Harmony's 55 singers).

Beyond tight harmonies and corny humor, barbershop choruses are known for constant and consistent recruiting. "We're always looking for voices," says Bill Kruse. "The beauty of being among a lot of singers is that you can easily blend in, but if you're in a quartet and someone hits a wrong bass note, it's easy to identify the culprit. The beauty of the larger group is that anyone can sing this style of music, and it's fun."

St. Mary's Church is located at 1 Chestnut St. in Cold Spring. The free concert, which is part of the ongoing Music at St. Mary's series, begins at 2 p.m.

Beacon concert will celebrate Broadway

In a rarity for classical music ensembles, the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra will feature a saxophone soloist for its program of Broadway arrangements at Beacon High School on Feb. 22.

The orchestra recruited Jerry Vivino, a member for 25 years of the house bands for Conan O'Brien's late-night shows, to sit in, although the headliner will be Hugh Panaro, who played the lead in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway more than 2,000 times.

Panaro will indeed sing "Music of the Night," along with songs from Chess, Jersey Boys, Les Misérables and The Wizard of Oz. In addition, the orchestra will perform instrumental arrangements of selections from Evita, Wicked, Chicago, 42nd Street, On the Town and The Music Man.

This is the Poughkeepsie-based ensemble's second recent concert in Beacon. It performed Messiah in December and returns in May to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French composer Maurice Ravel with a program of his Ma Mere l'Oye Suite (Mother Goose), Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107, John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Elgar's Enigma Variations.

Founded in 1932, the orchestra began as an independent entity but partnered with the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie in 1999 after tough times. Over the years, its programming dropped from 12 concerts and 130 school visits annually to three concerts, says Executive Director Rachel Crozier. Last year, it became a nonprofit and is again operating independently.

The Pete and Toshi Seeger Theater at Beacon High School is one of the few venues in the Hudson Valley that can accommodate a full symphony orchestra, says Crozier, who plays second violin. In addition to the guest soloist and saxophonist, about 60 musicians will fill the stage, including two substitutes who live in Beacon, Eva Gerard (viola) and Adrienne Harmon (violin).

Crozier praises the auditorium's acoustics: "The sound is warm, and it carries throughout the hall," she says.

André Raphel, who last year became the symphony's principal conductor and artistic advisor, assembled the program. Raphel, who previously worked with the New York Philharmonic and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia, seeks to recreate the versatile sound heard on original cast albums from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

"Hearing Broadway material performed by an orchestra is going to be sonically superior to attending the show itself because, no matter how good the pit musicians are, you're getting a lush performance with so many more instruments," he says.

One challenge for the future of classical music is its aging audience. "The way we talk about it needs to shift," says Crozier. "Classical is for everyone, and we want people to be comfortable."

Mixing things up, like offering a holiday choral work, providing accompaniment for a silent film and rolling out a pops or Broadway program, help orchestras engage with larger audiences, says Raphel.

"Movies would be much less engaging or emotional without the background music, which is usually recorded by a full orchestra," says Crozier. "Just as music makes movies better, people can enhance their days by making classical music part of the soundtrack to their lives."

Beacon High School is located at 101 Matteawan Road. Tickets are $55 ($68 reserved seating, $38 seniors, $15 students, children ages 5 and younger free) at hudsonvalleysymphony.org.

Officials at the Haldane, Garrison and Beacon school districts, like many across the country, are vowing to protect undocumented immigrant students from President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations.

Concern about raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at schools arose after the Trump administration on Jan. 21 reversed a policy enacted more than a decade ago barring raids in "sensitive locations," such as schools and churches.

Allan Wernick, a Cold Spring resident who is an attorney and founder of Citizenship Now! at The City University of New York, said he believes ICE raids on workplaces are more likely than those on schools. "I wouldn't be too concerned that they're going to come to some [local] school" to detain students, he said. "It's not a very good use of resources."

Superintendents at the three local districts said this week that federal agents would not be permitted on school grounds without a court order. "Law enforcement agencies can't just come in and request to see a student, talk to a student, interrogate a student or detain a student," said Gregory Stowell, superintendent of the Garrison district.

Stowell said the district would consult its attorney before proceeding if ICE agents show up with a court order or warrant. Haldane Superintendent Carl Albano and Beacon Superintendent Matt Landahl each said the same. The superintendents emphasized that state and federal laws do not require districts to record the immigration status of students.

During a Beacon school board meeting on Monday (Jan. 27), a retired schoolteacher, Vicki Fox, urged district officials to hold "know your rights" workshops and to encourage immigrant families to create preparedness plans. Parents should also understand the difference between a search warrant signed by a judge and "something just signed by an ICE official, which does not go along with the Fourth Amendment for searches," Fox said.

Landahl said Beacon administrators planned to meet soon with the district's attorneys and that bilingual staff members have been helping immigrant families prepare. "We're working as an administrative group to make sure we're as well-informed as possible," he said. "I think that's the only thing we can do right now."

Guidelines issued earlier this month by New York State reinforce that all children ages 5 to 21 who have not received a high school diploma are entitled to a free public education. Districts may not refuse enrollment based on national origin, immigration status, race or language proficiency, among other grounds. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that students may not be denied a free public education based on their immigration status or that of their parents or guardians.

The state guidelines also instruct schools not to release students' personal information, including immigration status, citizenship or national origin.

Landahl said in an email to community members on Jan. 22 that the Beacon district's code of conduct limits law enforcement access to students during the school day. "I should also note that we have a very collaborative relationship with local law enforcement, and they are in our buildings frequently for drills, school walkthroughs and athletic and other events, and we welcome that," he wrote.

When U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Neftali Caal-Chocoj in October 2023, the agency complained that Putnam County had released the undocumented Guatemalan because of "local laws," rather than allow ICE officers to take custody at the county jail.

In fact, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office notifies ICE when detainees sought by the agency are scheduled for release but will not hold them longer unless a federal judge signs a warrant, said Capt. Michael Grossi, speaking for the sheriff. He said that had been county policy for at least 10 years, and under two previous sheriffs.

The county practice largely tracks with guidance issued Jan. 22 by the state Attorney General's Office in response to President Donald Trump's vow to arrest and deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Attorney General Letitia James released her guidance a day after Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general in Washington, D.C., asserted in a memo to Justice Department staff that federal law prohibits state and local governments "from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands."

Bove warned that the Justice Department would investigate "incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution, including for obstructing federal functions," and "identify state and local laws, policies, and activities that are inconsistent" with Trump's immigration initiatives and "take legal action" against those laws.

According to James, county jails are not legally obligated to notify ICE that a prisoner will be released from custody or to honor its requests, known as "detainers," to hold inmates for 48 hours beyond their scheduled release. Detainer requests are often accompanied by an administrative warrant issued by immigration authorities to arrest an undocumented immigrant for deportation, but James recommended that local officers only honor detainers when authorities have a warrant signed by a federal judge.

"We have laws that protect immigrants and limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts," she wrote in her guidance. "Those laws should continue to be followed by all New York law enforcement and officials."

How Many Undocumented?

An estimated 850,000 undocumented immigrants - meaning they do not have work permits or green cards - live in New York state, mostly in New York City, according to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. How many live in the Highlands is not known, but if immigration court data is indicative, the numbers have risen dramatically over the past 20 years. As of August, there were nearly 400 new immigration cases involving Putnam County residents, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University (TRAC). In 2004, there were 34 cases filed during the entire year.

The numbers for Dutchess are similar. As of August, there were 779 immigration cases. In 2004, there were 33. About 75 percent of those cases involve immigrants from Central and South America, according to TRAC.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, which describes itself as a "pro-immigrant, low-immigration" think tank, Dutchess is among the New York counties that do not notify ICE before a detainee's release or allow "adequate hold time" for ICE to arrest someone.

The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office did not respond to an email asking to clarify its position on detainer requests, but Capt. John Watterson, a representative, said on Jan. 7 that "immigration laws fall under the jurisdiction of federal authorities, and at this time we are not aware of any plans to have the Sheriff's Office become involved in their enforcement."

New York law also bars local and state law enforcement from detaining people for civil immigration violations, according to the Attorney General's Office. People can only be arrested for violating civil immigration laws when police "have probable cause to believe that an individual has committed a ...

Opposes trail structures in the Hudson River

At a Jan. 14 public hearing on the state environmental review of the proposed Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, the environmental group Riverkeeper shared concerns over the plans and suggested alternatives.

Mike Dulong, the watchdog's legal program director, said the organization is concerned that the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) dismisses the impact of construction and shading that the trail could create and asked HHFT to avoid placing structures in or over the water.

The remote hearing, which drew 258 people over two sessions, was hosted by the state parks department, the lead agency for the environmental review.

Dulong said Riverkeeper, as a member of the HHFT Steering Committee, supported the Fjord Trail and its goals to increase public safety along Route 9D while providing opportunities for outdoor recreation, nature appreciation and education. He said many of the potential environmental impacts Riverkeeper identified could be avoided depending on the chosen route.

As proposed, the 7.5-mile Fjord Trail would link Cold Spring, Breakneck Ridge and Beacon. HHFT's preferred southern route would include two half-mile sections over the river, one running south from Breakneck and the other from Dockside Park in Cold Spring to Little Stony Point. According to the plans, the construction would include 149 piles and 1,920 cubic yards of fill, which Riverkeeper fears will endanger shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon.

Read Riverkeeper's Full Statement

Dulong said HHFT's assertion that the shoreline in those sections is not within the sturgeon's preferred habitat is incorrect. He said the DGEIS correctly states that the area from Denning's Point in Beacon to Little Stony Point is designated as a "significant coastal fish and wildlife habitat" for sturgeon, adding that the state Department of Environmental Conservation describes it as "critical habitat for most estuarine-dependent fisheries originating from the Hudson River" because it "contributes directly to the production of in-river and ocean populations of food, game and forage fish species."

The two in-river trail sections would require about 18 months to construct, according to HHFT. The shading, hydrological impacts on the shoreline and impacts on the ecosystem would also indirectly impact sturgeon, Dulong said.

In its comments, Riverkeeper also called for making wetland protection a priority in the northern section, where HHFT is considering two routes. It advocated avoiding a route that would include a boardwalk over a freshwater wetland south of Fishkill Creek that provides habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the eastern box turtle, spotted turtle, eastern hognose snake and pied-billed grebe.

Dulong said the possible presence of the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, which he said the DEC may add to its list of endangered species, should be considered. The group prefers the other proposed route, which it said could leave freshwater wetlands largely intact, although it requires further study.

Riverkeeper also objected to plans to add 22 acres of impervious or semipervious areas along the trail route, arguing that stormwater runoff from surfaces such as parking lots could increase contaminants entering the river and wetlands. Riverkeeper said it wants to see "minimal or no new impervious surfaces."

The group also spoke against expanding the Washburn parking lot opposite Little Stony Point, which it said is a potential habitat for the eastern fence lizard.

Dulong said Riverkeeper's comments at the public hearing were abridged, and its review of the DGEIS will continue.

HHFT Steering Committee

Project Lead

Scenic Hudson

State Agencies

Environmental Conservation

Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Transportation

Metro Area Agencies

Metro-North Railroad

NYC Environmental Protection

Nonprofits

Hudson Highlands Land Trust

Lenape Center

Open Space Institute

Riverkeeper

New York-New Jersey Trail Confe...