Recent news articles and press releases about Encore. All copyrighted material is reproduced here with permission.

Encore Women's Vocal Ensemble Performs to Benefit Tualatin School House Pantry

Tigard, OR -- April 18 2006 -- The Encore Women's Vocal Ensemble will perform its Spring concert, "A Musical Montage: From Mozart to the Beatles" on Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 7:00 pm. The performance will take place at the Tualatin United Methodist Church, 20200 SW Martinazzi Avenue. Admission is free. A donation of $5.00 and one can of food is suggested, with proceeds to benefit the Tualatin School House Pantry.

Encore is a women's vocal ensemble dedicated to bringing joy and harmony to the community through a wide variety of distinctive choral music. Located in Tigard, Oregon, the 16-member group performs throughout the greater Portland metropolitan area under the direction of Melinda Beyers.

Right note for director, singers
The Oregonian, reproduced with permission
October 25, 2001
Written by Janet Goetze

TIGARD -- One evening during a rehearsal of the vocal ensemble Encore, director Melinda Beyers advised the singers to lie on the floor.

They had been tense, drawing only shallow breaths. Lying down relaxed them and improved their breathing, she explained later.

To sing, you have to breathe well, said Beyers, 48, the new director of the 8-year-old Encore, whose 16 members rehearse weekly for large concerts in winter and spring plus performances for retirement communities throughout the year.

Getting more clean air into the lungs improves the voice and the singer, said Beyers, who teaches voice in her Gladstone studio, sings with the Voce Bella ensemble, and directs music and Christian education at Willamette United Methodist Church in West Linn.

Encore rehearses Tuesdays She rehearses Tuesday nights at Tigard United Methodist Church with Encore, with members from all over the metropolitan area. One member drives up from Donald, in Marion County.

Singing is a complex activity with physical and emotional connections, said Beyers. Those links were evident on Sept. 11, a regular rehearsal night despite the horrific events of the day.

"I know, personally, I was in a fog," she said. She wondered whether she could concentrate on the music and direct the ensemble.

As the group members began to vocalize, gently singing vowel sounds up and down the scales to warm up, she began to feel a change.

"I finally came back into myself again," Beyers said as the exercises pushed carbon dioxide out of her lungs and permitted more oxygen to enter. When the women's voices blended, and the sound filled the church sanctuary, she also felt the healing quality of the music.

In addition to directing adults, Beyers has taught elementary school and worked with children's choirs since returning to Oregon in 1985 with her family, after many years as a military wife, living in Southern states and Okinawa. She had grown up in The Dalles, where her parents still live. She is now divorced, and her two sons, 20 and 23, live independently.

After opening her studio in Gladstone, she began a singing group for children that has become affiliated with Link-Up, the programs offered to home-schooled children in the Oregon City district.

"It's a real joy working with kids," Beyers said. "Kids bring no inhibitions, almost. They don't tell you, 'Gee, I don't think I can do this.' "

Adults need encouraging Adults often need encouragement and assurance that they can take on new musical challenges, she said.

"Sometimes it's harder for adults to take a risk," Beyers said.

However, she finds that members of singing groups support one another in positive, creative ways as all members work to polish a program.

"It's one of the few places where, as individuals, we are working for the good of all," she said.

Community choirs such as Encore may include a few singers with professional training, but most members are music lovers with varied backgrounds, Beyers said.

"Everybody needs to be involved in some sort of creative activity," she said. The Greek philosophers underscored the value of creative activities in "civilizing" children, she said.

"Our best qualities as human beings are encouraged and nurtured through the arts," she said. "Therein lies the value to the community: We provide a place for our audience to reflect upon themselves and, possibly, to heal and grow."

You can reach Janet Goetze at 503-294-5917 or by e-mail at janetgoetze@news.oregonian.com.

Songs celebrating dance highlight Encore’s Tigard concert
Beaverton Valley Times, reproduced with permission
May 17, 2001
Written by Janie Nafsinger

Dance as a celebration of life. Song as an expression of joy and harmony.

The two art forms will blend in a free concert that Encore, a women’s vocal ensemble, will present Saturday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Tigard United Methodist Church (9845 S.W. Walnut Place off Highway 99W).

The concert, titled "Let’s Dance!", is a collection of music praising dance’s contribution to milestones in people’s lives. The program will include folk songs and traditional tunes from Scotland ("Dance to Your Daddie"), France ("Je Danse La Polka") and Romania ("Chindia"), along with Cole Porter’s "Begin the beguine," "Under the Sea" from Disney’s "The Little Mermaid" and a selection from the Johann Strauss opera "Die Fledermaus."

Encore, comprising 13 women singers from Tigard, Lake Oswego, Portland and other metro communities, will present "Let’s Dance!" as its spring 2001 concert. Though admission is free, a $5 donation is suggested to help defray expenses.

Kate Kaake, of Lake Oswego, Encore’s president, has been part of the group since its inception eight years ago – and she is the only charter member at this time. The ensemble’s mission: to bring joy and harmony to the community through a variety of distinctive choral music. "I love it. It’s my outlet. It’s my therapy," Kaake says with a laugh. "In the past we have been a closeknit group. A couple of years ago we did a tour of Medford and sang in four or five homes and had a ball."

Encore, which gave its first concert in the spring of 1993, was an offshoot of a larger choir, the Metro Southwest Singers, which Kaake also sang with. That choir’s director, Jennifer Carver, founded Encore as a more elite group with more challenging music, Kaake says.

Encore’s current director, Debby Lyttle of Gladstone, arrived about six years ago when Carver moved on to other things.

The director chooses the music for Encore, which sings everything from classical and show tunes to pop, Kaake says. The women occasionally sing foreign-language songs. "Fortunately, one member (Petra Haefker of Lake Oswego) is German by birth, so she helps us with the German part," Kaake says.

The ensemble, accompanied by pianist Marcia Petty, performs during Christmas and in the spring. Venues include The Grotto and the Oregon Zoo’s Zoolights Festival, along with retirement homes and assisted-living communities.

Encore rehearses Tuesday nights from 7:15 to 9 at Tigard United Methodist Church. The ensemble usually holds auditions twice a year. Another audition will take place this summer.

More information about Encore is available on the Web at www.encoresings.org.