Maricopa Chorus gains new leader for new season

Six years after founding Maricopa Chorus, John Janzen is passing the baton, so to speak, to a new artistic director.[quote_right]“Most of us had been singers in the past and were a little rusty but grateful and excited to have the opportunity to sing with a group again.” — Christine Fruchey[/quote_right]

“I moved to Ahwatukee three years ago,” Janzen said. “I’ve been looking for at least a year for how to transition Maricopa Chorus to other leadership… I’m still on the board. It’s officially still my choir.”

Janzen, a baritone with the Arizona Cantilena Chorale and possessor of a degree in choral conducting, is stepping aside for Don Raflik, who’s performed everything from punk rock to polka music. The move comes as the Chorus is preparing for the holidays and for the second part of ArtsFest Maricopa.

The community chorus was established in 2013 primarily to sing Christmas music, but then expanded its repertoire. “It was just natural that I would start a choir when I couldn’t find one here,” Janzen said. “I’ve been in choirs so long.”

Raflik, who directs three choirs for Our Lady of Grace Catholic parish, joined Maricopa Chorus last year. Now he will step to the front as the chorus plans its holiday gigs and prepares for February’s portion of ArtsFest Maricopa.

Before he discovered Maricopa Chorus, Raflik had been hoping to create an interfaith community choir to sing carols during the holidays.

“Then one year I’m looking through InMaricopa and I see this ad for the Maricopa Chorus to do caroling, and I said, ‘This is perfect for me,’” Raflik said.

He did not know Janzen, and he lost the ad. Nearly two years later, Raflik stopped in a Mesa music store for some sheet music. Chatting with one of the employees, he mentioned he lived in Maricopa. She told him her husband directed the Maricopa Chorus.

“I said, ‘Oh! Finally,” Raflik said. The providential encounter with Wendy Janzen helped everything fall into place.

Raflik and other members of the Our Lady of Grace choir caroled with the Chorus, and Raflik became a member last year.

The fact that Maricopa Chorus is not church-affiliated, he said, made it even more inviting.

“It’s not just churches,” Janzen said. “It’s been communitywide.”

The Chorus has performed for civic and other secular events along with Christmas shows. They have sung for Thanksgiving events, Shop with a Cop, Santa Claus and Merry Copa.

There are currently 15-16 active singers in the choir. Raflik would like to build that to 30, including more men. Janzen and Raflik acknowledged that is a difficult task. A couple years ago, Janzen was the only male singer in the choir.

Raflik said the same issue exists in the Our Lady of Grace choirs. He has gifted, degreed male singers in the congregation who are retired and would rather listen than sing.

Growing beyond holiday music, the Chorus had to create the mechanism to deal with logistics, performing insurance, paying for music and supplies and for material for their costumes. At Christmas, the singers don 1800s outfits created by Connie Scheidt, who was among the first singers to join the Chorus and is on the board.

Christine Fruchey was also an early member, answering an ad in the newspaper.

“Most of us had been singers in the past and were a little rusty but grateful and excited to have the opportunity to sing with a group again,” Fruchey said. “The experience of making music as a group is exhilarating, peaceful, fun and unforgettable. Although some of the members have changed, the venues are different, and we now meet only around the holiday season instead of year-round. Maricopa Chorus is still like a family to me.”

The transition of artistic directors is another change for the group.

“We still get to be together to share our love of choral music every year, and hope to continue the tradition in the future,” Fruchey said.

The Chorus has dues to help cover costs, but they invite contributions and want to build their base of sponsors. Raflik scouts for singers at karaoke, other choirs and schools. They have had singers as young as 13. “Ninety percent of the whole entire population of the world can sing,” he said. “Everybody thinks they’re in the 10 percent, but they’re really not. If you can sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ you can sing.”

Getting more men into the Chorus, Janzen said, “would allow the choir to do a better variety of music. Right now, we have to tailor everything to soprano, alto and baritone. It opens things up if you have four-part harmony. Sounds better, too.”

Christmas caroling is usually the easiest music they tackle. It is unison singing, and everyone at least knows the melody. Not every member is expected to be at every Christmas gig, and losing one voice in caroling doesn’t change the sound of the Chorus.

Other choral music and pop music they perform can be more demanding, like the program they are putting together for the February portion of ArtsFest Maricopa.

“That will be more tailored to someone who might know how to read music already and is more established,” Raflik said.

[email protected]
Facebook.com/MaricopaChorus
Don Raflik: 602-317-8278

About Don Raflik

Originally from Milwaukee, Don Raflik has been involved with the local Catholic choirs since he moved to Hidden Valley in 1996. That was when the congregation was still the St. Francis de Sales Mission.

At Our Lady of Grace, he leads the traditional choir, the seasonal choir and a choir for special occasions.

“I’ve been playing music ever since the sixth grade, mostly drums but I play piano, saxophone, guitar. I mostly played in bands, so I don’t have a degree.”

He left home at 18 to play in rock bands. Harley-Davidson sponsored one band around the country. His repertoire has included jazz, ska, reggae and Dixieland.

“I played every single week probably from my 17th birthday until I was 45, every week at least once,” he said. “When I was in Vegas, I played six nights a week for five years in a row.”

The Rafliks moved to Maricopa for the peacefulness. At the time the community had no traffic light and was mainly comprised of orange and pecan groves.

He and his wife Kari, an accompanist for choirs at church and Heritage Academy, have two sons. He has owned liquor stores, worked as an electrician and owned his own company in Maricopa. But his life has been about music.

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This story appears in the October issue of InMaricopa.