By Sam Doughton, Managing Editor
From the yearly chorus concerts and Thanksgiving assemblies to the late evenings of A cappella rehearsal, Jude Ampolini spent countless hours in Reynolds Auditorium throughout his four years at Reynolds. But there is nothing quite like performing with professional musicians on such a grand stage.
When the curtain rises Saturday (Nov. 9) for the Winston-Salem Symphony’s “Plugged-in Pops Series” featuring the U.S. Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club, Ampolini — one of the 65 members of the Glee Club — will be performing with the symphony for a third time. The 2012 graduate had previously performed with Reynolds’ A cappella and the symphony twice, most recently in the concert “We Will Rock You! The Music of Queen.”
“In four years, I probably did more than a hundred things on that stage,” Ampolini said of his time at Reynolds. “(My friends and I) always talked about how privileged we were to get to do so many shows in such a beautiful building.”
The Winston-Salem Symphony performs several times a year in Reynolds Auditorium for its “Plugged-in” series. The Men’s Glee Club is the first of many guest acts — including the Winston-Salem State Burke Singers and Judy Collins — to perform with the symphony.
“(Performing with the Symphony) is a fantastic opportunity for any group,” Reynolds chorus director Terry Hicks said, “much less young people like the Glee Club.”
Added Ampolini: “Performing with the symphony before was eye-opening. I felt pretty cool being a teenager and performing with professional musicians. We worked really hard in A cappella and I felt that (our performance) was a testament to the effort we put in as a group.”
This concert is especially timely, with Veteran’s Day coming Monday. The concert will feature a repertoire of patriotic and naval songs for the occasion.
“This concert is a perfect way to honor our active military and veterans on the eve of Veterans Day,” symphony music director Robert Moody said in a press release about the event. “It is not only a pleasure to hear (the Glee Club) sing, but it is also an honor to listen to the astonishing talent of these young midshipmen. It is easy to forget that they are not professional musicians but are instead members of our armed forces preparing for active duty.”
Ampolini is a first-year midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and said he is enjoying life at a military academy. He wrote at length about his unique experiences in Annapolis, Md., in an email exchange with Pine Whispers.
“Being at a military academy is a lot of work, but it is definitely worth it,” Ampolini said. “You get up early in the morning and have mandatory events all day. In regular college, going to class was more or less optional. Here you get put in the conduct system if you show up late for class.
“There are a lot of cool opportunities to do during class,” he added. “In one class we go out and practice driving ships. Everything here is applied to becoming the best officer you can be, and everything you learn is tied into that in some way.”
Ampolini was a fixture in A cappella for his four years at Reynolds in the bass section. Hicks described Ampolini as being “always on” and having “a high positive energy” to go with his dedication to the group.
“If he was absent, he was sick,” Hicks said with a smile regarding Ampolini’s work ethic and dedication.
Ampolini attributed his choral success to starting at Reynolds.
“We moved so quickly at RJR that I learned to get pretty comfortable after only seeing the music for a short time,” Ampolini said. “We did so many performances (that) I got comfortable being on a stage really quickly. I really learned an appreciation for community service in (A cappella).
“A lot of what we did was for service organizations. Three days into my freshman year of high school, the first performance I did with the group was for Matt Gfeller’s funeral. That had a profound effect on how I viewed my time in A cappella for the rest of the four years. It was about service.”
That idea of service is what led Ampolini to the Navy.
“I think the enjoyment I had in serving others through A cappella translated into me wanting to continue to serve others, this time in a different way: by joining the Navy.”
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Limited tickets are still available online at the Winston-Salem Symphony’s website http://www.wssymphony.org