GraceNotes

The GraceNotes, Riderwood’s women’s chorus, meets Tuesdays from 2:00-3:30 pm in the Chapel.  We perform two seasonal concerts a year in the Riderwood Chapel, one during the December holiday season and one in the spring.  The 2025 Winter concerts will be on December 18 at 7:30 PM and on December 20 at 3:00 PM.

Women interested in joining GraceNotes should email gracenotes@riderwoodlife.com.

Our concerts:

• The GraceNotes Winter 2024 concert
• The GraceNotes Spring 2024 Concert
• The GraceNotes Winter 2023 Concert
• The GraceNotes 2023 Spring Concert
• The GraceNotes 2022 Holiday Concert
• The GraceNotes Winter 2019 Concert
• The GraceNotes Spring 2019 Concert
• The GraceNotes Winter 2018 Concert
• The GraceNotes Spring 2018 Concert

GraceNotes Director

The Riderwood GraceNotes director is Craig L. Sparks. Since 2003, Craig has directed the Bowie Senior Chorale and won, among other awards, the Governor’s Award for Leadership in Aging. He also currently serves as Director of Music for Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church, a diverse congregation where he pursues his love of classical, gospel, and various other choral music from around the world. A native of Bowie, Maryland, Craig holds a Bachelor of Music from Towson University, summa cum laude, and a Master of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh with a certificate in Ethnomusicology. He has written and arranged numerous choral pieces over the years, and also leads a jazz band, The Craig Sparks Swingtet. At present, he also teaches piano, voice, and theory/composition in his private studio.

Singers

Soprano 1

• Stephanie Cheek, Karen Foust, Colleen Hope, Betty Jeffries, Mary Kudlik, Joyce McLemore, Marilyn Parr, Joyce Wineland

Soprano 2

• Judith Buckner, Ann Cosello, Alice Drew, Kate Finan, Thelma Gerken, Cappy Harmon, Paula Himowitz, Maggie Kayser, Diane Matuszak, Lois Ann Myers, Linda Rawlings, Jessie Roderick, Kathy Simonse, Danna Sonnenberg, Bettie Young

Alto 1

• Pat Conyers, Barb Coons, Hank Dahlstrom, Vera Deven, Mary Longwell, Leilani McConnell, Betty Miller, Dorothea Neiman, Linda Pelletier, Karen Pysher, Belinda Watkins, Marion Whiting

Alto 2

• Barbara Adams, Sharon Braveman, Harriet Breslow, Carey Creed, Gail Jaffrey, Betty Nordan, Anne Starbird, Claudia Tornblom, Andrea Twomey, Beneva Weintraub, Louanne Wheeler, Mina Wuchenich

GraceNotes Practice Tracks – Winter 2025

History of the GraceNotes

After Riderwood opened in 2000, resident Mary Ahmadi led a mixed chorus (men & women) for several years. When it collapsed in 2007, some of the women from that chorus approached resident Frank Erk about leading a women’s chorus. Frank named the group the Grace Notes and led it, along with his wife Ruth as accompanist, until 2015, when he retired. Resident Myra Tate became director in the fall of 2015 and reconfigured the group’s name as GraceNotes. Resident Elizabeth White served as accompanist. Myra led the GraceNotes until her health failed after the winter 2016 concert. Resident Ray Roth agreed to serve as interim director for the spring season 2017. In May 2017, Ray agreed to stay on as director on a season-by-season basis. He retired at the end of the spring concert in May 2018. The Executive Committee conducted a search and, not finding a Riderwood resident who could lead the group, hired William Wisnom as director beginning in September 2018. He served until January 2022. In the spring of 2022, Craig Sparks succeeded him and serves as current GraceNotes director.

If you have questions about the GraceNotes, please send email to  gracenotes@riderwoodlife.com