Our Directors
COBY FOSTER - Director
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Coby and his college roommate Gabe Caretto (former director of our Eugene chorus) formed a quartet in 1989 and wanted to compete. Unfortunately, there was not a local chapter so they decided to start one. The result was the 1991 chartering of the Rogue Valley Harmonizers in Medford, Oregon. After graduation Coby and his soon to be wife Julie (a barbershop brat) moved to Eugene and became a member of Cascade Chorus.
A quartet man from the start, Coby has sung in a number of quartets including several registered quartets: The Ragged Edge of Harmony, Last Minute Edition, Roadside Attraction, The Allnighters, in which he first sang lead and then tenor, Razorburn, After Five, Brews Brothers and his current quartet Brotherhood of the Ring singing baritone.
In the fall of 1996, while the chorus was in the process of a nationwide director search, he was thrilled when he took over the directorship of the Cascade Chorus. This position continued for nine months, including one division contest. His hard work and dedication to the Cascade Chorus led to his selection as Barbershopper of the Year in 1998.
When the chorus found itself once again in the middle of a director search in February 2000, Coby stepped up and took over the helm carrying the chorus through division and District contests and their spring show. He took a brief break from directing when his first son was born in 2001. He returned to full time service with the Cascade Chorus as an assistant director and in February 2003 became our primary director. Coby again took a break from Directing in the spring of 2013.
As we started 2016, Kathy Kileen decided to retire as our director. She suggested that our music team talk with Coby about directing the Chorus. The Music Team talked with Coby, an agreement was reached and approved by the Board. Starting February 9, 2016 Coby again became the Director of the Cascade Chorus.
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JIM KIRSCHNER - Assistant Director
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Jim started his love of singing in his Senior year (1974) at FDR High School in Hyde Park, NY. Then after graduation he attended the local community college, Dutchess Community College (1974 - 76) where he sang in the College choir and the Madrigal group as a Bass. He was involved in the Theater Production - My Fair Lady & The Crucible. His Barbershop singing hobby started while he was attending Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The Membership VP of the local chapter, The Poughkeepsie New Yorkers came by during a choir rehearsal to let us know of a performance by the New Yorkers at the local Montgomery Wards. He went to the performance with his roommate (who sang in a quartet in high school and was familiar with barbershop harmony) and immediately fell in love with the harmony they made. We were invited to come back afterwards and find out more about “Barbershop” and SPEBSQSA. They did a voice placement and put him in the LEAD section. He remembered singing his first tag (it is the embellished ending of a barbershop song) that night, “To Reach the Unreachable Star” and was hooked. Hearing the other three parts weaving their notes around his lead notes and making such harmony was breathtaking. He joined the Poughkeepsie Chapter/Poughkeepsie New Yorkers Chorus soon after and sang Lead 1975 - 1976.
In 1976, started his first job where he moved to Brattleboro, VT. ,sang in a number of SATB groups and was also in a number of theatrical productions. But he could not find any Barbershop chorus. Then in 1981 he started working in Keene, NH (which was only (20) miles east of Brattleboro, VT) where he continued looking for a Barbershop chorus to join. After working for a year he heard a rumor that there was Barbershop singing that happened at a restaurant called The Crystal owned by Dino Houpis, who was also the Director of the chorus. He stopped by one evening and found what he had been looking for. Guys singing barbershop harmony. He joined the Keene Cheshiremen Barbershop Chorus in 1982 and was a (35) year member, where he sang Lead & Bari and was Section leader for both parts. During his time he served as Music VP, Program VP, President, Assistant/ Associate Director and Co-Directed the chorus with Mark Brosseau, his best friend and who was also the Baritone of his quartet, Hearts Accord and received the Barbershopper of the year in 1991.
Jim formed his first quartet, the “Bear Essentials” in 1985 where he started singing Baritone. The quartet was together for (8) years. During that time they placed 12th at the Northeast District competition in 1993. He has sung in many other quartets. His last quartet “Hearts Accord” sang together for (9) years. He was the Lead of that quartet.
His next life journey was to make a big move across the country to the west coast. Landing in Santa Barbara, CA. He immediately found and joined the Rincon Beach Chapter/ Pacific Sound Chorus under the direction of Mike McGee (Bari – Main Street Quartet). He was only a member from Jan 2018 - March 2018, where he sang in a pick up quartet for Singing Valentines and competed with the chorus in the division contest in March. Needing to find work led he and his wife, Georgia, to move to Eugene, OR. where they became property managers of a 55+ Community, Briarwood Estates. He quickly found the local Barbershop chapter/chorus “The Cascade Chorus” directed by Coby Foster and immediately joined. Soon after joining he was asked to be the Music VP and Assistant Director and is currently still active in both positions.
Missing being in a quartet, he started looking for the right voices to sing with. While he was looking he did sing a pickup quartet called the “Harmony Police” and “Don’t Panic”. Finally, in 2020 just prior to the COVID pandemic, he got together with Coby, Wade & Loren to form the “Brotherhood of the RING” quartet. The pandemic had stopped any performances or competitions for two years. The first Evergreen District competition after COVID was in October of 2022 where the quartet became eligible to compete as a Senior Quartet (Coby finally turned 55, all the rest were older than that) where they were crowned the Evergreen District Senior Quartet champs. This gave them the opportunity to then compete in the Mid Winter International Seniors contest in Daytona, FL in February 2023. They competed in the next two district contests and had the opportunity again to compete at the Mid Winter contest in both 2024 & 2025.
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