IN THE KEY OF LIFE

Newspaper May 17, 1997

Buffalo News, The (NY) MARK ADAIR

the last original member of the singing group that ultimately became the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus -- will sing her last concert for that choral ensemble on Sunday, after 59 years in its alto section.

"It's almost unbelievable," the 83-year-old Amherst resident said. "The chorus has been a thread running through my life for almost 60 years.

Mrs. Cruser moved to Buffalo from Binghamton in 1938, shortly after marrying her husband, Robert.

"As soon as we moved here I started to look around for a group to sing with," she said. "I had been singing ever since I was very young and I wanted to continue doing it."

As luck would have it, shortly after moving to Western New York, Mrs. Cruser heard about a new choral group that was forming. A woman by the name of Jessamine Long would be its first director.

"At the time there was no large chorus singing classical music in the area," Mrs. Cruser said. "We felt that there should be a community chorus of that nature, one operated on an amateur basis."

And so Mrs. Cruser joined the group, which at the time had no name and little organization.

"There were only 20 of us, and we practiced in Jessamine's house," Mrs. Cruser said.

"A little while later we became the Buffalo Schola Cantorum. That means the 'School of Song.'

We performed at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Even back then we performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic several times a year."

The group struggled in the early years.

"We were all still suffering from the effects of the Depression," Mrs. Cruser said. "It was hard in the early going. We didn't have much money."

When Long died unexpectedly in 1945, Cameron Baird stepped forward to become both its director and its financial angel.

The group's name was changed from the Schola Cantorum to the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus in 1993 -- a move Mrs. Cruser opposed. But no matter what name the group used, it has been a constant in Angela Cruser's life.

She worked full time as director of continuing education for the Amherst Central School District, raised her daughters Melissa and Deborah, and through 59 years she never missed a single concert.

"I was always here," she said. "I was almost nine months pregnant and still came and sang in the concerts. The chorus has helped me through some rough times in my life.

"I lost my father in 1965 and my mother in 1990," she said. "One of my daughters had cancer. These are things that would normally be devastating if I had nothing to do but dwell on the bad things happening to me. Singing was always a comfort for me."

In December 1978 she performed while leaning on crutches, with a cast on her leg, after suffering a broken ankle.

What Mrs. Cruser enjoyed most, she said, was singing behind the orchestra.

"There were a number of wonderful, wonderful musicians over the years. I watched many of them go from being young musicians to retiring. I always felt so close to both the musicians and the singers. We didn't see each other socially, but we had so much to do with each other because of the music. It has all been so friendly."

She has great respect for the Philharmonic 's music director, Maximiano Valdes, and praises his dedication to the orchestra and the Buffalo area.

Thomas Swan, the choir's director for the past 17 years, said he will miss Mrs. Cruser's presence in the chorus.

"Angela has become a very, very dear friend of mine," Swan said. "She has been a tremendously loyal, extremely conscientious singer, a very devoted member who cares deeply about the chorus."

Neither Swan nor Mrs. Cruser wanted her long association with the chorus to end.

"But there comes a time when we all have to stop singing," Swan said. "Even for me that day will come. It happens to all of us eventually."

Mrs. Cruser says she will miss more than just the concerts. She will miss the grueling work that comes with being a member of the chorus.

"I loved it all," she said.

Swan understands that when Mrs. Cruser leaves the Kleinhans Music Hall stage for the final time, a part of Buffalo's history will come to an end. The last link to Jessamine Long's dream of a community chorus that sings classical music in Buffalo will be broken.

"She will be singing in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in her last concert," Swan said. "She has probably sung (in it) dozens of times in the last 59 years."

And even though her final concert with the chorus is imminent, Mrs. Cruser says she has not even considered the end of her career. She is involved in several other activities, among them volunteering for Villa Maria College and participating in the Amherst Retired Teachers Association.

"I have a lot of things to keep me busy," she said. "And I can't think of anything that has ever happened in 59 years with the chorus that has been negative -- even leaving it. I just think that this is my last year and how wonderful it was to sing with them all these years."

But even though Sunday will be the last time she will sing with the Philharmonic Chorus, her singing spirit is still strong.

"I'll probably go find a church choir to sing in," she said with a laugh