Meeting |
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Report |
Meeting |
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Report |
March 27, 2001 |
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President Don opened the meeting by introducing George
Robinette, who introduced our visiting Rotarians and guests. Our furthest visiting
Rotarian came from the United Kingdom. Bill Belk reminded us of the Rotarian International Golf Tournament that is coming to Charlotte, it will be a grand event and he requests that golfers sign up. Fred Lowrance reported on Health and Happiness. Fred and his wife have just returned from a trip to Antarctica where they learned of an incredible lesson on leadership. He related the story of Ernest Shackelton, who gathered a 27-member team in 1914 to cross Antarctica in a grueling, death-defying journey. Miraculously all 27 members returned home, and when asked as to how they survived, they had two words, "the Boss." Ernest Shackelton had three principles he led by: 1) Have meaningful work for each person. 2) Have a good relationship with the crew. 3) Optimism. He led and did not "drive." That is true leadership. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation by Tony Zeiss, Don Haack was very proud to announce that eight Rotarians have become new Paul Harris recipients. They are Hugh Cathey (his second), Julius Melton who honored his wife Ann with his second, Dr. George Page and his wife Sarah, Tom Robertson who honored his son Mark with his second, Mark Leggett, John Johnson (his fourth), and Larry Sagehorn. Congratulations to all. Leigh Derby introduced new member Mark Arizmendi, Kip Kiser introduced Chuck Lew, and Dale LeCount introduced Ron Vinson. Bill Loftin, Jr., Richard Early, Tony Zeiss, Mary-Stuart Brooks, and Duke Ison graced our head table today along with Rusty Brink who introduced our speaker, James Meena, who is the director of Opera Carolina since December 1999. Jim comes to Charlotte from Toledo, Ohio, where he served as general director and principal conductor of the Toledo Opera for fourteen seasons while also serving as resident conductor of the Toledo Symphony and associate conductor of the Cleveland Ballet. Maestro Meena has led opera performances for the Pittsburgh Opera, Portland Opera, Sarasota Opera, Piedmont Opera Theatre, Opera Pacific in Orange County, California, and the Utah Opera as well as concert appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra R.O.C., the KBS Symphony in Seoul, South Korea, Egypt's Cairo Philharmonic, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana in Florence, Italy, and the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Sicily. We are truly blessed that Jim and his wife, Mary Turk-Meena, an attorney with Deloitte & Touche, have made their home in south Charlotte along with their two daughters, Elyse and Alexandra. Opera Carolina began in 1948 with a handful of community volunteers who believed that a professional opera company would enhance the educational, entertainment and economic resources of our community. Today Opera Carolina is one of this community's finest cultural resources that reaches more than 50,000 people each year. Their mission is to bring opera to everyone and to provide performance opportunities to gifted singers, musicians, craftsmen and technicians who live in our area. The Opera is funded by a mixture of earned income (through the sale of tickets to performances, fees for education and community programs, earnings on our invested capital, and rental income from property) and support which comes from various sources, including individuals, corporations, foundations, the Arts and Science Council and the state government through the North Carolina Arts Council. Opera Carolina earns more than 65% of its total annual income, and recently closed their sixth consecutive fiscal year with a surplus. The first opera was written in 1597 as a celebration for the fall Carnival season in Florence, Italy, under the patronage of the ruling Medici family. In ensuing centuries, patrons like Emperor Joseph II of Austria provided the financial resources to create the majority of the masterpieces we recognize and love today. Today it is the citizens who recognize the value of classical music and opera to a community and who make their activity as artists possible. In a little less than a month, Carlisle Floyd's American opera "Susannah" will be performed at the Belk Theater. Carlisle is not only alive and vigorously writing operas in a uniquely American style, but he is a native of Latta, South Carolina. "Susannah" and his newest opera, "Cold Sassy Tree," which Opera Carolina will perform in two years, are brilliant works of American theater set to exquisitely melodic, traditional music. We were very fortunate to have two excellent artists to perform for us. Both live in our community and have found new outlets for their artistic expression through their association with Opera Carolina. John Fortson, bass, started our musical program with an aria from the opera "MacBeth" by Verdi. The weird sisters have foretold that MacBeth will be king of Scotland and Banquo will be the father of kings. To prevent the witches' prediction, MacBeth sends his henchmen to kill Banquo and his son. In the aria, Banquo tells his son of his foreboding of a dark future. Dawn Anthony, who is a member of the CPCC music and opera department, followed with an aria from "La Boheme." It is a woman, dying of tuberculosis, telling her lover that they will meet again. Then Dawn performed the piece "Show Me" from "My Fair Lady." To close our musical program John delighted us with "If I Were a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof." * * * |
New Member
2001 Social Service Agency, YMCA YMCA of Greater Charlotte Charlotte was one of the last places that Andy Calhoun wanted to spend his first years after graduating from college, but he figured that he'd be working with kids and teens, and the YMCA here did have a pretty good reputation. Shortly after arriving, he came to conclude what he now knows so very well after 28 years — this is a wonderful city. The spirit and leadership found in this community is unparalleled across the country. Andy now serves as president and CEO over the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. Leading to this post, he served early in his career as assistant youth director at the Dowd YMCA and Simmons YMCA and subsequently youth director at Dowd. In 1980, Andy opened the Harris YMCA as its first director and later served as a district vice president, assisting in the start-up of the Siskey YMCA. In 1994, Harry Brace, former Rotarian and highly respected CEO of the Charlotte YMCA, asked Andy to be his chief operating officer. After the loss of Harry in 1999, Andy served as interim executive until he was named president in March 2000. Charlotte YMCA has grown to be tenth largest in North America, serving over 119,000 members last year, one in seven in our service area. The Y is led by over 400 policy-making board members in 14 branches with 2500 full- and part-time staff. Andy completed his undergraduate degree in history at Wake Forest and his MBA at Queens College. He and his wife JoAnn have two children, A.J. (8) and Katey (6). His Indian Guide name is "Bald Eagle," and he says the key descriptive word is "bald." Welcome to Charlotte Rotary, Andy. * * * |
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