Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/10/08

Spring! It is finally here! You can throw off the shackles of heavy overcoats and boots! And you will actually want to go out this weekend, instead of staying nestled on your warm couch while the cold winds howl. So, what should you do this weekend?

Well, first off, of course you should come see ME sing. I'm joining the King's Chapel Choir for a concert on Sunday at 5 pm at (where else?) King's Chapel.

The program is called "Made in America: Choral Masterpieces" and will consist of:
Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
Aaron Copland: In The Beginning
Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings)
Daniel Pinkham: The Creation of the World

Details: King's Chapel is located at the corner of Tremont and School Streets, one block from the Park Street T. Suggested donation is $12/$8, there are no advance ticket sales, and the doors open at 4:30. Validated concert parking is available for $7 at the One Beacon Street Garage.

I'm actually practicing hard for this one, and also, the mezzo soloist on the Copland is fabulous, as is the entire choir generally, so please do come! These are all pieces that any choral musician should be familiar with.

Other options? As usual, you are spoiled for choice.

First off, this weekend is "Singing at Tufts!" weekend. On Friday at 8 pm, the Tufts Third Day Gospel Choir will perform; on Saturday at 7 pm, Tufts will present the inaugural "Boston Area Young Men's Choral Festival" (actually this is an all-day event, with the evening performance at 7); and on Sunday at 3 pm, the Tufts Chamber Singers present English and American choral music. More information on all these fine events is here.

Friday:

On Friday, the Boston Secession presents "Justina Golden and The Amiable Consort." (I believe this means that the Secession themselves are not singing, although some of their members also sing with The Amiable Consort. Please correct me if you have further details.) They specialize in Hildegard von Bingen and solo and multi-part chant, so if that is your bag, baby, I suspect you won't want to miss this. 8pm on Friday, Gordon Chapel at Old South. More details are here.

Also, the Boston Camerata is having a concert at 8 pm at First Church in Cambridge, but I really can't figure out from their website whether or not it involves choral music. See what you think. (Scroll down to "Alla Turca.")

Saturday:

Usually I have an idea of what big events are coming up. But this one almost completely slipped by me. Emmanuel Music is performing Bach's B minor mass on Saturday at 8 pm! At Emmanuel Church in Boston, of course. This should be AWESOME - someone must go and report back to me! And frankly, their publicity department should be ashamed of themselves. No postings on the Boston Singer's Resource? No postings on the Greater Boston Choral Consortium website? And why am I not on your press release e-mail list? Shame! (That last one is sort of a joke - only Concora (see below) has been savvy enough to add me to their press release e-mail list.)

At 8 pm, the Chorale and Women's Chorus of the Boston Conservatory will perform works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Handel. The concert will be at the Mary Baker Eddy Library, Hall of Ideas, and it's FREE! Directions are here.

On Saturday at 4 pm, there will be a celebration of the music of Irving Fine at Slosberg Hall at Brandeis. This looks very, very neat. More details at this website.

If you are down south, or out near/on the Cape, head over to Plymouth - Church of the Pilgrimage, Town Square (Leyden & Main Streets). The Pilgrim Festival Chorus will present a Spring concert, featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs. This one is at 7:30, so don't be late! More info here. They will repeat this concert at 3 pm on Sunday at the same location.

Sunday:

You already know where you should be on Sunday at 5 pm - at King's Chapel, of course, as mentioned above.

However, there is some stiff competition for that time slot - The Oriana Consort will be performing at 5:30 pm at First Lutheran Church in Boston (Berkeley and Marlborough Streets.) This is the same concert program as last weekend, featuring motets by Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Claudio Monteverdi; J. S. Bach's cantata "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich" (BWV 150); Randall Thompson's "Ye shall have a song"; Irving Fine's "Have you seen the white lily grow?" and more.

If you want to do some singing yourself, head on over to the Belmont Open Sings, and sing the Mozart Coronation Mass (which has perhaps my favorite Credo movement that I have yet run into.) 7:30 at the Payson Park Church, 365 Belmont Street, Belmont - and they even provide the scores! More information is here.

If you feel like tootling down to Connecticut (or if you are already there) the Concora women's chorus will be performing Rachmaninoff's Vespers. This will be at 7:30 at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, West Hartford, CT. More information is on their website; more information about the accompanying historical lecture and open rehearsal is here.

Also on Sunday: The Pilgrim Festival Chorus will repeat their Saturday program (see above).

The non-choral pick of the week is a concert performance of the musical Chess at the Boston Conservatory. It's on Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, and Sunday at 2. It's a great score, and I am willing to bet you'll hear some fabulous voices, so check it out!