Veloso Project auditions

How many blog entries must there be out there that start with "I know I haven't updated recently, but I've just been so busy..."

Anyways. It's a new year (because really, musicians follow the academic schedule, and the new seasons always start in September) and I have many new projects!

One of the most exciting is that I'm putting together a recording of composer (and close friend) Michael Veloso's choral works. This will be done in three segments - the first segment is three of his SATB pieces, the second segment is two of his pieces for women's chorus, and the last will be his first choral piece, Aether, for 8-part mixed chorus.

I just had auditions for the first segment - we'll start rehearsals next week, and be recording in mid-December. I put out a call on the local websites, and I got much more response than I expected. (In this town, if you offer even a little money for a gig, people are interested!) So last night and the night before were spent listening to many people sing for me.

It was surprising what I learned about myself. One thing is that I have opinions - I'm sure that nobody but myself is remotely shocked, but I frequently worry that I won't be able to hear enough, or that my ear won't be intelligent and discerning enough, to have an opinion. (This is a recurring worry with me, in many different contexts. It is thankfully proven wrong on a fairly frequent basis, but never seems to disappear.) However, we had a wide range of people come in to sing, and one of the most interesting things was hearing what a difference there was between people who studied voice and people who didn't. The disparity was stark, and I could get an idea of how long people had been studying, too. In other ways, such as tone and vocal production, I also heard wide differences. I had worried that differences I heard would be subtle, but I felt like I was hearing in primary colors.

It was also somewhat heart-breaking, because nobody's perfect, and some people's flaws couldn't make up for their spectacular talents. There was a woman whose sight-reading was flawless and phenomenal, but the quality of her tone meant that she wouldn't blend and I couldn't take her. That still hurts, because you so rarely find musicianship like that. There were a number of opera singers who sounded beautiful, and were obviously working on or already having professional careers, but the size and quality of their voices meant that blend would have been impossible. That felt ironic, turning people down for being too professional, or too well-trained. But opera, or any kind of solo classical singing, is a very specialized kind of singing, and if you concentrate on singing well alone, sometimes you sacrifice singing well with other people.

But I almost have a group together now, and I'm very pleased with the top three voice parts. I'm less pleased that only one bass auditioned, since I need three. Thankfully, the one was strong, but that's not enough. So please, if anyone knows of a good, solid bass with strong sight-reading skills, strip him, wash him, and bring him to my-- I mean, send him my way!

Boston Cecilia auditions

Hello, and happy end-of-summer to everyone! I come to you with a request for Boston-based friends.

Boston Cecilia is having auditions! If you know of any singers with strong sight-reading skills and good musicianship (or are one yourself) then spread the word! In particular, if anyone would like to print out the following POSTER and put it up at your workplace, pass it out to friends, post it at your church, etc., that would be great.

It is a matter of personal relief and pride (given the fact that I work for them) that I can whole-heartedly endorse joining this group. Don Teeters, the director, is really, really good. He has high standards, but he isn't nasty in order to get his singers to meet them, and he's a really fine and expressive musician. Also quite funny. And the people are nice and fun to sing with (and also completely addicted to sugar - I have never seen a chorus that has such candy-oriented snack breaks!)

So! Put up posters! Talk it up! I'm off to post on craigslist again!

O Mio Babbino

Did you miss the Boston Cecilia gala last month? If so, then you missed...

THIS!

Opera meets Doo-Wop. It's making the rounds. I suggest you watch! Ironically, I was out of the room working on something when the performance happened, so I can't say I saw it, but at least I was in the building.

(Thanks to Karen for nudging me to post it.)

Spring Cappella Clausura concert!

Come hear Cappella Clausura's spring concert! This is our final new program of the year - we have a BEMF concert in June, and a concert on Cape Cod in July, but those will both involve music we've already sung. The centerpiece of this concert is a Dixit Dominus by Marianne von Martines, a contemporary of Mozart. Also featured will be three pieces by Hilary Tann (who will be in attendance!) with some thundering organ accompaniment. This is also the Allegra show - Amy is letting me conduct one of the pieces, a Dixit Dominus by Isabella Leonarda (which includes orchestra!) and I have several solos - my favorite is the duet I get to sing with one of our sopranos who has a beautiful voice, and the one I'm most worried about is the one with lots of very fast old Spanish.

Here is the longer blurb, stolen from the website:

Cappella CLAUSURA adds a full baroque orchestra and a few tenors and basses to its core of singers and players to present what is believed to be the second performance ever of Marianne von Martines' "Dixit Dominus". This lively and delicious piece of classical composition was written to commemorate her election as the first woman to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna in its 108 years of existence. Martines was an aristocrat, friend and musical colleague of Mozart, whose musical accomplishments were much revered in her day. This excellently crafted composition includes some exquisite solos and duets as well as full choral sections. Together with this remarkable work, we bring you an exciting Dixit Dominus by prolific baroque composer Isabella Leonarda, for chorus, continuo and two violins, which we will play with full orchestra colla parte, and a Dixit Dominus for full chorus, with some verses chanted, by Juan de Araujo of Lima, Peru whose works reflect the lush and jaunty baroque style of the New World.

Opening our concert, in our tradition of championing new works by women, will be the US premiere of Hilary Tann's magnificent Psalm 86, "Incline Thine Ear" scored for full chorus, organ and trumpet, for the first time surrounded by its set partners, Psalms 136 for full chorus and organ, and Psalm 104 for chorus, organ and two trumpets. These are joyous works of praise and complete delight in all of creation’s beauty.

Meet the composer: Ms. Tann has graciously consented to be our guest at the concert!

The concert is at 8 pm TOMORROW night, Sunday, and directions can be found here. I hope to see you all there! We've been getting some good press in the Globe, etc., so hopefully we'll have a good audience! (Although part of me feels that the fewer people hear me butcher early Spanish, the better. Speaking of which, I'm going to go practice.)

Galas, galas, everywhere!

I have two gala benefits coming up in the next two weeks, and since both are for very worthy causes, I thought I should (belatedly) mention them in case anyone wants to attend either one.

The Cappella Clausura gala is happening this Sunday at 6:00 pm, and I will be singing a solo, as will some other members of the group. There will be wine, and dessert, and "musical enchantments" and it should be very lovely. It's being held in Taylor House in Jamaica Plain, and since Cappella was hosted there for a post-concert party once, I can tell you that the food they cook up there is amazing. Also, as galas go, it's quite reasonable, $45 for sponsor tickets and $75 for benefactor tickets. It's pretty late if you want to get tickets, and I should have mentioned it earlier, but I neglected to because...

I have been working my *** off for the Boston Cecilia gala, which will be a much more involved affair. Tickets start at $150 and go up from there. It will be held at the Harvard Club of Back Bay, musical guests are the GrooveBarbers (a group containing some of the founding members of Rockapella, including that guy with the blond braids on Carmen Sandiego) and there is both a silent auction and a live auction. When Cecilia members have mentioned the auction, they always mention the trips first (to Italy, South Africa, and various parts of New England) but I think they miss mentioning some of the most exciting things, such as:

• a Chocolate Extravaganza gift basket! Why is this not the first thing everyone mentions?
  
• a set of tickets to see a half dozen of the top choirs in Boston
• a private voice lesson with a pair of opera singers (I'm drooling after this one, but probably can't afford to bid on it, although I threatened to Don, our musical director, that I might stand near it and make disparaging remarks to keep the price down, which of course is the opposite of the point of a gala auction)
• and, OK, I confess the Tuscan villa looks pretty cool

At any rate, go check out the auction page, which I had to find all the pictures for. And consider coming! If all the other amusements fail, you can laugh at me hobbling around in strappy heels for an evening.

Schola Cantorum concert

Hear ye, hear ye! A great concert is coming up, and I encourage you all to attend.

I'll be singing with Schola Cantorum this weekend. This particular concert will be 10 voices, 2 on a part, and the highlight of the program will be Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia. Also, I will be singing soprano on about half the program, something that has not happened possibly ever, so I encourage you all to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event!

The details:

The concert I encourage you to attend if you are in the Boston area is this Friday night, April 13, at 8:00 pm. It will be at St. Peter's Church in Weston, MA, which may sound far away, but which is in actuality just off Rt. 128. Directions can be found here.

There are two other concerts, in Rhode Island. On Saturday, April 14th, we'll be at Saint Joseph's Church in Providence (Hope and Arnold Streets, East Side) at 8 pm, and on Sunday, we'll be somewhere even further south in RI, but I don't know where because they printed up the posters before we got that gig. So if you want to go to that one, comment and let me know and I'll get you the information!

Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, 2 voices to a part! It'll be fabulous. You know you want to come!

Teacher Vignette

Dramatis personae:
Me (assistant choral teacher)
JMC (orchestra teacher, with whom I share office space)

Me stomps into our office after chorus class

Me: I hate spring! I never knew it until this year, but I hate it. I wish it would go away.
JMC: The kiddies are losing focus, are they?

My uncle prophetically asked a few days ago if spring fever had hit. Well, today was pretty bad! Getting my kids to stop talking was a Herculean, nay, Sisyphean task. Getting them to focus on the music and actually sing was equally impossible. Why do they make so much noise when they talk and so little when they sing? Argh!


(Side note: I often refer to my students as "my kids." When people don't know me very well, this often gets me weird looks, and I have to clarify that they're not my offspring, they're my students. Don't other teachers refer to their students as "my kids"?)

The Construction of Boston

Hear ye, hear ye! The Boston Cecilia's final concert of the season is this Sunday at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. It features a one-act opera by local composer Scott Wheeler called The Construction of Boston, and also has several pieces by Virgil Thomson. The soloists are fantastic, and the chorus is sounding great.

I've heard parts of the rehearsals, and looked over the score, and the words that come to mind about this piece are "charming, amusing, witty, appealing." I find the music remarkably accessible and endearing. The text is a Dada play by Kenneth Koch, and he wrote it in 3 days as a performance piece for the artists Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle (click here for pictures of Niki's Tarot Garden.) It's a lot of fun (you get to hear people sing the characters of Back Bay and Beacon Hill, among others.) You can find program notes online here.

As Operations Manager, I have a limited number of comp tickets to this concert. Let me know (by commenting - I am automatically e-mailed comments) if you would like to come.

Details:

Location: Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory (right near Symphony Hall in downtown Boston)
Date: This Sunday, April 1
Time: 3 pm (pre-concert lecture by the composer at 2 pm)

Come one, come all!

Cabaret

I may or may not have previously mentioned that I am the vocal director for the Winchester High School production of Cabaret. Well, it went up last night. And hot damn. It was good!

It has been a long week. On Monday, I was in utter despair that this thing would pull together. We hadn't had a tech rehearsal yet - we didn't have a tech week at all, all tech issues were handled during the run-throughs on Tuesday and Wednesday - people didn't get their body mics until the dress rehearsal - people didn't have all of their costumes even at the dress rehearsal - the set wasn't competely constructed at the dress rehearsal - the band wasn't holding together all the time - the dancers couldn't hear the music - transitions were sloppy - I couldn't hear the chorus - we couldn't get through anything without stopping - I could go on. Even on Wednesday, the dress rehearsal, I was banging my head into the closest solid object I could find.

And voila, opening night last night went great. It was great! My mother came to the show tonight and couldn't say enough good things. Everyone loved it, and with good reason.

I think most of the credit for this has to go to the leads. Every single one is amazing - there are no weak links whatsoever, and everyone is perfect for their role. I keep trying to think of ways to make sure they know how great they are, and I keep being sure that I must be failing, and that they won't believe me. The entire cast has my gratitude. (Oh, and you won't believe how these kids can dance. There's a dance school in town they all go to, and it really shows. There is one dance in the first act that has me laughing hysterically every time I see it.)

SO, although this posting is late, if you're not busy tomorrow night, come to Winchester High School at 7:30 pm and see a quite excellent production of Cabaret.

Having quite literally worried myself sick this week, apparently for no good reason, I will now go to bed with some hot tea.

Classical Producer fakes CD's

From BBC.com. "The husband of a British pianist has admitted passing off other classical works as those of his late wife, the label of one "sampled" artist has said."

Brought to my attention by friend AS.

Concert this Sunday

I am in a concert this Sunday which I think is going to be quite interesting, and I encourage you to come if you are free. I'm ringing with the Choir of All Saints in Brookline. Details:

We'll be singing Mozart's Mass in F Major and Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb. Also being performed (and these are both very exciting) will be Barber's Dover Beach, performed by Robert Honeysucker (who has the most delightful bass voice in Boston) and Poulenc's Organ Concerto in g minor, performed by Barbara Bruns. The conductor, Don Teeters (who is also the director of the Boston Cecilia, and thus the reason I'm in the concert) keeps telling me the Poulenc is utterly amazing, and not to be missed.

It will be at 3 pm on Sunday, March 4, at All Saints Parish in Brookline...and this concert, folks, is...

FREE!

Yes, a FREE concert! Of high quality! When else can you hear Robert Honeysucker for free? So come on by!

AMC report

I believe in a previous post I mentioned going up to Pinkham Notch in NH to conduct a Mountains and Music weekend. That was the weekend before this past one, and it was a great time.

The big part of the weekend was teaching the singers who signed up Haydn's Paukenmesse. We had three rehearsals, and although we didn't do all of the Credo, just the final fugal bit, the entire thing came together really well. The last time I went up (in Fall 2004) the choir was OK, but this time the choir was great - all the voice parts were strong, and everyone could read, and I even had enough tenors! My friend AG came up and sang part of the soprano solo - I love conducting her, so that was a real treat. And JL, organist and keyboardist supreme, came up to accompany, which was also a treat, since I don't get provided with an accompanist all that often. We performed the mass with the orchestra on Saturday night, and it went really well. It's always good to have your family playing the loudest instruments (Mom on tympani, Dad on trumpet) because you know they'll be watching, and it makes you feel a bit more secure! Then the orchestra conductor, Peter Szep, conducted Beethoven's 8th and the Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream suite, and, as AG said, held them together by sheer force of will, which was extraordinarily instructive to watch (as well as quite amusing!)

Sunday night was a talent show, where we performed PDQ Bach's My Bonnie Lass, She Smelleth in a manner befitting a composer whose music has been rescued from the trash bins behind universities, and my dad and I performed Monty Python's Penultimate Supper sketch (over my mother's objections, but to great acclaim.) Earlier that day I also got to do a bunch of duet singing with AG, which was most fun.

But that was half the weekend - the other half, and the other reason everyone went up to NH, was to tramp around in the snow. As someone who tends not to get along well with winter, it was good to go outside in truly wintery circumstances and enjoy myself. Sunday I went snow-shoeing for the first time, and it was great. Monday morning I was told I didn't need snowshoes, and as a result the half-hour hike was spent with me up to my knees, and sometimes my hips, in snow. Luckily I had a tall guy in front of me to break down the snow, and I could walk in his footsteps - I felt like King Wenceslas's page. But the wind was blowing so hard that day that even if I was just three yards behind him, his footsteps would begin to be filled in. JL danced around me in snowshoes and mocked my staggering progress.

We stopped at the Pearl Izumi outlet on the way back through North Conway, but unfortunately even at the outlet I couldn't afford anything. However, the desk clerk was cute, and quite helpful.

And really, one can't discuss Pinkham Notch without mentioning the food, which (setting aside the corned beef) was great. I had hot chocolate with every single meal. The second dinner we ate I ate so much of the soup (corn chowder) that I couldn't eat the main entree. This made me very sad, but the corn chowder was worth it.

I enjoyed the first time I went up for this Mountains and Music weekend, but I enjoyed this time even more. It was a great experience, and although they have a policy of trying to always be looking for new conductors, I'm hoping they'll ask me back again someday!

Pachelbel Rant

Two links about Pachelbel!

The first one is from my friend Christianne: The Pachelbel Rant! (as featured, YouTube claims, on Dr. Demento.)

And, if you can't get enough, The Taco Bell Canon in D, from my parents. I believe it was originally done by a group at U Mich, but I don't know if that's who is in the video.

Heavy concert weekend!

Hear ye, hear ye! Cappella Clausura has a couple of concerts coming up this weekend, and if you are free, I heartily invite you to come. The title of the concert is: Planctus Mariae: A Medieval Opera, and it's a plainsong drama about Mary at the cross, interspersed with Laudae (congregational praise songs) sung by the choir. More information is in this article in the Newton Tab. And yes, I have a few solos, although I'm not one of the main players in the drama. If you like chant, or monophony, or early music, I think you will really enjoy this concert.

Details:

SATURDAY February 10th @ 8:00 PM
at Episcopal Parish of the Messiah in Newton

SUNDAY February 11th @ 7: 00 PM
at Centre for the Arts in Natick, and

SUNDAY March 18th @ 3: 00 PM
at Music at St. Mary's, Boston College

Also on Feb. 10 are:

The Winchester First Annual MadrigalFest, held in Winchester's Town Hall at 7:30 pm.

Schola Cantorum singing a program of White Lamentations, Byrd, and Fayrfax at St Joseph's Church in Providence RI. (401-274-5073 $20/15/8) I was asked to sing in this concert, and was crushed that I had to say no.

And the Westminster Graduate Conducting Recital of LLJ. Good luck, Linda!

RIP Menotti and Pinkham

Gian Carlo Menotti passed away last week. I recommend listening to the NPR memorial, which covers all his best-known achievements - writing the operas Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Consul, and The Medium, and his founding of the Spoleto Festivals in both Italy and the US.

With musicians, isn't it always better to listen to memorials, rather than read them?

While I'm at it, RIP to Daniel Pinkham, Boston composer, who sadly died in December. Every organist I know went to the funeral, and apparently it was a rather humorous affair, as people shared their often amusing memories. Here is one from my friend J. Lawton:

"One story told during the memorial service went like this: Dan sent for approval an opera libretto he was working on to a certain professor or official; the opera was to deal with Jesus' descent to Hell following the crucifixion. The official responded affirmatively, but asked whether something about "the soul of man" could be rephrased to be more inclusive. Dan responded, "Oh, say that I'm a traditionalist and won't change it." A couple of days later, though, he called the official back, saying he had decided on a couple of changes. He indicated that, first, the word "man" was to be changed to "all"; and second, that the part of Satan, slated for bass-baritone, was to be given to a soprano instead."

Here's an NPR remembrance of Daniel Pinkham, but it's in the middle of the clip, at 6:00 minutes. Sadly, this one doesn't include any musical clips, but it's very interesting nonetheless.

Two reviews

It has been a busy concert weekend! On Friday night, I went to see Värttinä with my parents. They are a Finnish vocal trio/folk group/rock group, and they were fabulous - I highly recommend their live show. They were expressive and energetic and really engaging - the singers moved and danced around the stage, and their faces were incredibly alive. All the musicians were really high caliber, and their sound is just so evocative. It defies my description - go watch a video on their website to get an idea.

Last night I went to BMOP's "Boston ConNECtion" concert. This featured pieces for orchestra or chamber orchestra with various soloists by six different local composers. Some pieces I found boring, but the overall compositional quality was very high, with Michael Gandolfi's Fantasia for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra being the highlight, in my opinion. And the musicians were all fabulous. I don't know that I've ever been to a BMOP concert before, and I was very impressed with their presentation - they projected an image that was professional and sharp, but also young and hip, and it was reflected in their audience, which was both younger than usual at classical concerts and also fairly big.

Next up will hopefully be Convivium next Saturday, because I have a friend singing. Stay tuned!

AMC Mountains and Music

[This post has been edited from the original post, because it turns out that we do have enough altos, but not enough on any other voice part.]

This is an attempt to recruit singers for a conducting gig I have coming up!

Three times a year, the Appalachian Mountain Club sponsors a "Mountains and Music" weekend. This coming February it's up in Pinkham Notch in NH. You pay a registration fee that covers your board, all meals except lunch, and activities (such as hiking or snow-shoeing.) People show up for the weekend, make some music, do some outdoor activities, sit by the fire and read...whatever they feel like. I myself plan on doing some downhill skiing. I'll be directing the chorus, and right now we need more singers on all voice parts (although we are actually all set for altos, and we are rather desperate for men.) And we all put on a little concert at the end of the weekend with the orchestra (we'll be doing Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli) so we need to have a little balance!

Information is here. There is no audition, or anything, and a wide range of musical experience, so it's a very low-stress experience. If you sing, and want to sing with me, think about signing up!

Sick, Round 2

Well, it was foolish to think I could get through my first year of teaching by only getting sick once, right? Of course, this time would hit over a holiday weekend.

I had to cancel several meetings with friends, my voice lesson, call in sick to school today, and worst of all, I'm missing the first rehearsal for Cappella Clausura's next concert. I am becoming a nightmare member for the poor conductor - the first concert, I got sick at the beginning of the rehearsal period too, had laryngitis during the whole process, and didn't sing until the dress rehearsal. Luckily this flu has not hit my throat as hard, but I still had to miss the first rehearsal today. I feel extremely guilty about this, especially since the concert is very complex and I really needed the read-through.

So, I thought, at least there's one productive thing I can do while lying in bed, I can listen to the tape of my last voice lesson and take notes. I record all my voice lessons and listen to them later so I remember what happened and can take notes on what I'm learning at a more leisurely pace. I popped the tape in five minutes ago, and discovered that somehow my last voice lesson was recorded at super-high speed, meaning the only thing I can make out is incoherent manic chipmunk voices. And my tape-player doesn't have a speed-of-playback control.

Apparently I am doomed to lie in bed and watch DVD's of Deep Space Nine. There are worse fates.

Octets rehearsal

This evening I sat in on the rehearsal for the Winchester Octets. The name is misleading - there are about 20 of them. They are the WHS a cappella group (unlike Lexington High School, which now has something like 9 a cappella groups, WHS has only one) and definitely the cool kids of the music department. They run their own rehearsals, but since they rehearse in the high school, a faculty member has to be present, and I was asked to be there tonight.

So I sat in the office and did work and listened to them rehearse "Circle of Life" from the Lion King in the next room, but at the end they asked me to listen to them sing through the song and make some comments, which I did. Afterwards, one of the members came up to me and thanked me for my input, said that it was really helpful to hear constructive criticism from someone who knew what they were doing and whose opinion he respected, and said that he hoped that I and perhaps the other choral teacher would consider giving some more helpful comments in the future.

Well. I spend all my days tearing my hair out trying to get these kids to listen to me. Let me tell you, nothing makes you feel as cool as having a high school kid tell you he respects your opinion.

Musical auditions

Today were the auditions for the high school musical, which is Cabaret. I am music director. The uber-director seems competent and experienced and smart and funny (thank goodness!) and nice, and I'm looking forward to working with him.

How strange to be on the other side of these auditions! I feel like I was just there, although I suppose none of my kids would believe that. And I remember how important this is, and how heart-broken some people will be. It's also unfortunate that the leads for Cabaret are all either high tenors or low altos. There are no parts for basses. Aside from parts of songs, there are no parts for sopranos. This sadly means that a great many qualified people don't even have the beginnings of a chance for a lead. I think every single male part has a high G, and more than one has a high A. I hate the thought of disappointing people, especially people who really don't deserve to be disappointed. But there are more good singers and dancers and actors than parts to go around. In some cases, there's hardly anything to choose between one person and another - you know they'd both do great. I'm dealing by forgetting, most of the time, how centrally important this is to some students.

The auditions also highlighted one thing I have a lot of trouble remembering about being a high school student - in fact, it's almost impossible. I don't remember the terror. I am so far from being nervous when I sing in a choir, or sing in front of people, or even sing in an audition. I get a little nervous for solo singing performances, but not much. I get more anxious for conducting, but again, nothing like the fears of a high-schooler trying out for the musical. And I can't even really remember it. I look at them, and have to tell myself how nervous they are, because otherwise I really wouldn't be able to see it, it's so distant. My empathy has to be conscious - I have to remind myself.

I suppose I should be grateful for the boons of experience! And I'm sure the kids will remind me often enough of how nervous they are before opening night.

Free Mozart!

The headline says it all - Mozart's entire musical works now free on Net.

Also, in a follow-up to the previous post about Alagna, he has now mounted his own production of Aida. Details here. He's also threatening to sue La Scala if they don't take him back? How do those two things jive? He's also blaming "low blood sugar" for his behavior? Riiiiight.

In the news

Alagna storms off the stage of La Scala!

Not only stormed off stage, but stormed off stage in the middle of a duet, leaving his poor partner, Violeta Urmana, stuck on stage without him. His understudy rushed on, a few minutes later, wearing jeans, and with no time to warm up carried on with the show. Of such things are careers made.

Ah, opera.

Concerts, concerts, everywhere

I'm happy to report that the Boston Cecilia concerts this weekend went extremely well - the choir sang beautifully, and there were no major management mishaps. (The volunteer service we used sent the ushers to the wrong place on Saturday, so we had no Saturday ushers, but so it goes.)

Although one audience member said to me on the way out, "You know, there was a lot of modern music on that concert. Not everybody likes that. I think it should be more 50-50 with the old and the new. And you know, not everyone in your audience speaks Latin. (Well, yes, that's why we included a full translation of all texts in the program.) You should have more English tunes." And I want it on record that I, being the extraordinarily tactful Operations Manager that I am, refrained from rolling my eyes and saying, "Whatever, lady." I think I just sort of hemmed and hummed in a thoughtful and non-committal way at her.

Luckily, most of the audience was happy to hear a carefully thought out and exquisitely rendered program of Messaien, Britten, Poulenc, Tavener, and Bach. Have I mentioned how relieved and proud and lucky I feel to have landed a job with such an extremely good chorus? This weekend strengthened my inital resolve to sit in on some rehearsals and figure out how they put that wonderful sound together.

And THEN, tonight, the day after this three-day weekend run of Cecilia concerts, was the Winchester High School first ever Winter Choral Concert! It was an hour of all-singing, and it went extremely well, and I am quite proud and relieved! My kids all did great, and on several occasions they surprised me with how well they sounded - sometimes things really blossom in performance! When I walked off stage after the last song I conducted, I completely understood how people end up staying teaching in a high school for twenty or thirty years. I'm also excited to pick out new repertoire for the spring.

For weeks, my goal has simply been to get past these four days. Now that they're over, I'm not really sure what to do with myself. Perhaps clean my apartment. Or correct all those theory packets that are waiting for me. Or buy Christmas presents.

Boston Cecilia concert - ushers needed!

I'm happy to report that my laryngitis healed in time for me to sing the Cappella Clausura concerts, and they went very well! We also had a recording session just last night of the concert music, which was interesting, because things felt much better in my voice when it was healed and healthy last night from when it was barely over laryngitis several weeks ago! Interestingly the thing I really lost when I had laryngitis was my low range. Who would have guessed? If nothing else, getting laryngitis was very educational. Among other things, I'm now more enthusiastic about using hand sanitizer, in an effort to prevent a repeat occurence.

I also have another concert announcement! Half of my 9-5 job time is spent being the Operations Manager for The Boston Cecilia, a really excellent choir in Brookline. We have three concerts coming up this week, on Dec. 8 at 8 pm, Dec. 9 at 8 pm, and Dec. 10 at 3 pm. The Friday concert is downtown at Church of the Advent (in the Back Bay) and the Saturday and Sunday concerts are at All Saints Parish in Brookline. More information can be found here.

As Operations Manager, I'm in charge of finding ushers. We're all set for Friday and Saturday (although if you really want to come, we could always use one more) but I need several more ushers for Sunday. You show up at 1:45, hand out programs, and then you get to listen to the concert for free! It's going to be a really splendid concert, with Poulenc and Messiaen and Tavener and Britten (oh, my!) Please let me know if you'd be interested in ushering. Also feel free to point musically-minded friends towards this post, especially if they're free on Sunday!

Cappella Clausura - first concert of the year!

I still have laryngitis. It's getting better, but extremely slowly. I'm trying to take every precaution, since...

I have a concert this weekend! Two, in fact - please come to one of them!

Cappella Clausura is one of the choirs I joined in September. I am really excited about being part of this group, because my fellow singers have some great voices, and the conductor really knows her stuff. It's an all-women's ensemble in Boston (Newton, actually) that specializes in music written by women, and specifically by women who were in cloisters, or "clausurae". However, this concert will not only feature music by Vizzana and Aleotti, two nuns from the sixteenth century, but also some music by Patricia Van Ness, a contemporary composer from our area. (One of the pieces we will perform was written for Peter Sykes and the First Church in Cambridge, MA.)

Whenever one hears that a concert will specialize in music by a minority, in this case women, one tends to wonder, "Am I going to hear really good music that I haven't heard before because women faced such prejudice? Or am I going to hear not particularly good music that people are trying to perform in an effort to be politically correct?" I can assure you that this concert falls squarely in the former category. I knew none of the composers on our concert before we started rehearsals (except for Van Ness) and that's a crying shame, because this music is just as good as the music written by men from the Renaissance and early Baroque that I've performed all my life. And one set of madrigals we're performing was written by a sixteen-year-old! Mozart was far more boring at sixteen than Aleotti (and set far less passionate texts!) So come and hear some new music that's centuries old.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 18th at 8:00 PM
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19th at 4: 00 PM

Tickets $15/$12
SATURDAY at Episcopal Parish of the Messiah
EMAIL: info@clausura.org for reservations or call 617-964-6609,

SUNDAY at Forsyth Chapel - reservations recommended!
call 617-524-3354 for tickets

Directions to both places can be found here.

I hope to see you there!

Sore throat

Don't forget, there's a Seraphim concert today at 3 pm at St. Paul's Church in Harvard Square! Sadly, I won't be there.

On Monday night I came down with a fever and severe sore throat, and I have been struggling to get well ever since. I missed 3 days of school, which is extremely frustrating, especially in a 4-day week (thanks to Veteran's Day) and spent 4 days in bed. On Saturday I returned to the world of the busy, and don't feel as sick anymore, but unfortunately I now have a big old case of laryngitis. My voice sounds quite odd, and I'm not sure how I'm going to control a classroom tomorrow. One trick I'm going to try is writing common phrases, such as "Turn to page (list of numbers)" and "Be quiet NOW!" on the board, and pointing to them when appropriate.

I'm doing my best to get better as fast as possible, especially since I have an important set of concerts coming up next weekend. Here is all the advice I've gotten so far, much of it from singing friends. Got anything to add?


If you have pharyngitis (the part of your throat at the back of your mouth) use a numbing throat spray, gargle warm salt water, or try a Neti Pot, which helps take care of the post-nasal drip problem. Most of the suggestions below will also help.

If you have laryngitis (the sign of laryngitis is a low, scratchy, breathy voice, sometimes a complete loss of voice) then do any and all of the following:

• Vocal rest, vocal rest, vocal rest. No speaking, no singing, and definitely no whispering. Humming or speaking gently is permissible, but silence is better.
• Suck on lozenges. Don't use lozenges with menthol, as these will dry out your throat. Chewing gum also has the same positive effect, since, as my mother informs me, "Saliva has the proper ph to kill viruses and bacteria (and also acts as an antacid in the stomach.)"
• Don't take blood-thinning medications like ibuprofin or aspirin--stick to tylenol. It is good to take tylenol, however, as this will make swallowing less painful and make you more likely to...
• Drink lots of fluids. Juice, water, etc.
  
• Drink slippery elm-bark tea.
• Drink tea with honey.
• Eat soup! Chicken noodle soup is always good.
  
• Fill a sink with hot water, put your face down next to it, and put a towel over your head. Stay like that for as long as you can stand - breathing in the steam will help your throat.
• Use a humidifier.
• Finally, my mother recommends gargling with H2O2 (2 parts to 1 part water) but since you can't swallow this, it makes me nervous, as I lack proper gargling skills.

What did I miss? What do you do when you lose your voice?

Seraphim concerts

I have more concerts to announce! At the beginning of September I joined a group called the Seraphim Singers. Then, about three weeks later, I got a job with The Boston Cecilia. Unfortunately, both groups rehearse on the same night, so I had to go with the one that had hired me. I was able to finagle singing with Seraphim through their first fall concert, but trying to juggle being in two places at the same time just isn't tenable for more than a month. So, sadly, this will be my first and last set of concerts with the Seraphim Singers.

Which is all the more reason for you to come and see it! I especially recommend this concert to people interested in new music, since we will be premiering a piece by Elliott Gyger (which is, frankly, a bear) and also singing a piece by Julian Wachner. The program is filled out with Duruflé's Requiem. There is one concert this Sunday, in West Roxbury (and please let me know if you decide to come to that one, since I need a ride back to the land of the MBTA afterwards) and one concert next Sunday, in Harvard Square. And, if you need additional motivation, I'll be part of a solo sextet in the Gyger piece. Here are the details!

First Concert
Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 3:00pm at Holy Name Parish, 1689 Centre Street, West Roxbury, MA

Second Concert
Sunday, November 12, 2006 at 3:30pm at Saint Paul Church, Corner of Bow and Arrow Streets, Harvard Square, Cambridge

JENNIFER LESTER, conductor
HEINRICH CHRISTENSEN, organ
MARTIN NEAR, countertenor
TIM MACRI, flute

DURUFLE Requiem (with instrumentalists)
GYGER Temptation in the Desert
WACHNER At the Lighting of the Lamps

Suggested Donation $15 adults/$10 students & seniors

Honda Civic ad, part II

Some of you may remember this post about the Honda Civic ad. Well, now you can watch the rehearsal, too! Go to this link, and either watch the ad or wait until it's done, and then click "Watch Civic" and then "See the rehearsal."

Thanks to Christianne at Singin' in the Lane for the link!

Learning names

Learning names has been a big challenge lately. There's a lot of new people I'm interacting with in various environments. So for my high school classes, I concocted a game that will force me to learn my students' names.

Once every day, if everyone in the whole class raises their hand, I have to stop what I'm doing and go through the names of one of the rows or sections of the choir. If I get someone's first or last name wrong, or mispronounce it, I have to give them a piece of candy. This means I have been going around all day with a bunch of Werther's Originals in my pocket. I am giving away less and less candy as time passes, but I still have visions of the town dentist storming into my classroom, yelling, "What are you doing to my patients?" At least I'll be able to respond, "But they're sugar-free Werther's!" (They are. It was the only kind I could find in the grocery store, and then it occurred to me that this was a good thing.)

In other news, I biked to the high school for the first time yesterday. It felt good to be a bike commuter again, and it's only a 25-minute ride, meaning it's one of the fastest ways to get to work. Of course, I forgot that it was Friday, and Friday is the day I collect my students' music theory packets to take home and grade...meaning I had a stack of paper about 2/3 of a foot high that I had to figure out how to fit into my bike bag. Speaking of which, I should probably go do some grading.

Students playing tricks

So, today the Concert Choir (my meets-every-day, teaching-them-the-basics choir) played a joke on me.

A girl that I didn't know came into class, and a couple of the students told me she was a French exchange student and was going to sit in on class. The beginning of class tends to be total pandemonium, so I was like, "Fine, whatever, can someone make sure we have a chair?" And then I didn't think about it. So 20 minutes into class, she raises her hand and says, "Je mange?" And I said, "Um, you didn't have lunch yet? Who's she partnered with? Who's her host?" And someone raised their hand, but said they hadn't eaten lunch together, and the French exchange students just basically did whatever they wanted and went wherever they wanted. Which seemed strange, but I said, "Well, OK, this is second lunch, so I suppose you'd better go. Bye." And she left.

I proceeded to try and get on with rehearsal, but the whole class (it's 42 kids) was cracking up, and it was little pockets all over the class, not localized, and I was starting to wonder what I'd missed, and so I said, "OK, guys, what's so funny?" And it turned out that she wasn't an exchange student at all, but just someone's friend who wanted to sit in on chorus before she went to lunch. They told me she was an exchange student as a joke, and didn't expect me to believe it. One girl said, "Don't tell me you actually believed that awful French accent!" I have a feeling they are not going to let me live this down. I did tell them the story of two friends (twins) who swapped places in their college classes on April 1st and fooled their professors.

When I told my boss, the full-time choral director at the high school, she said, "Oh, they're playing tricks on you? That means they're starting to like you!" I'm not sure this makes an entirely huge amount of sense from where I'm sitting but I can hope!

the law of blog procrastinating

It's been over a month since my last post. One problem with not updating regularly is that the more time goes by, the more I have to blog about. I have been putting off updating for weeks, partly by saying to myself, "Well, but if I update, I can't possibly not talk about this, or that, or the other thing" but the longer I wait, the longer the list of "this, that, and the other thing" gets. So I will try to re-enter into blogging in moderation, and not feel compelled to talk about everything all at once.

I have two part-time jobs now, one at Winchester High School as a part-time chorus teacher, and the other at the Boston Cecilia as their operations manager. Last week was the first week that I juggled both, and it was very busy! I'm also doing a good deal of singing. I'm most excited about Cappella Clausura and Schola Cantorum. (I could not find a webpage for the Schola Cantorum, but information about the group's director, Fred Jodry, is here.)

Schola Cantorum is a group I feel very lucky to be singing with. For those of you who heard the Westminster Kantorei, the group is very similar to that one, in size and repertoire and performance level. I highly, highly recommend coming to all concerts, and the first set is this weekend! Because I had committed to a recording gig for another choir before joining the group, I will not be at the first concert on Friday (ouch) but here is the information for all three concerts this weekend.

Friday, October 20

8:00 pm

Schola Cantorum (Jodry, dir):
Schütz Cantiones Sacrae, Schein,
Buxtehude, ancestors of JS Bach.
St Peter's Church,
320 Boston Post Rd, Weston MA.
401-274-5073 $20/15/8

Saturday, October 21

8:00 pm

Schola Cantorum (Jodry, dir):
Schütz Cantiones Sacrae, Schein,
Buxtehude, ancrestors of JS Bach.
St Paul's Church, Pawtucket RI.
401-274-5073 $20/15/8

Sunday, October 22

3:00 pm

Schola Cantorum (Jodry, dir):
Schütz Cantiones Sacrae, Schein,
Buxtehude, ancestors of JS Bach.
Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church,
15 Newbury St, Boston.
401-274-5073 $20/15/8

The year really starts in September

Well, I nearly managed to do daily updates for a week last month...I only fell down on the last day!

Since then, I have gotten an apartment - not the slightly-too-expensive one I was worrying about, but a very reasonably-priced and spacious place in Cambridge, MA with three other people. Unpacking is proceeding slowly and fitfully.

I'll be substitute-teaching music at a private middle school in September, and school starts tomorrow with a day of teacher meetings. Then all the kids show up on Thursday! I don't actually start teaching classes until next Tuesday, however - everything until then is various sorts of orientation.

And today I just found out that one of the jobs I was really crossing my fingers for - the general manager of the Cantata Singers - was taken. (I say they need to take down the job announcement on their website since it's no longer open.) I found out in a rather abrupt way - I was interested in auditioning for them as well as working for them, but I didn't want to hurt my chances of getting the job by trying out if they didn't want their manager to sing. So I called the office, and was starting into my lengthy explanation of my predicament, but I didn't get beyond, "So, you have an opening for a general manager position -" before the woman on the other end said, "Oh, yes, that's been filled." So. Right. At any rate, I can now audition for them in an uncomplicated manner. I really hope I get in - I hear good things, and they have some overlap with Emmanuel Music, which is the best choral group in the city.

So, currently I'm trying out for Cappella Clausura and the Oriana Singers tomorrow evening, the Cantata Singers on Sunday, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus on Sept. 20. If I get my act together, I'll make a recording and send it to the Handel & Haydn Society as well, but luckily that's not due until mid-October. I'm also debating whether or not to audition for Boston Cecilia, but I'm thinking now that I don't need to. And I also have an interview for an arts management position I'd really love this coming Thursday, so keep your fingers crossed for me on that one!

If anyone is wondering where I'm getting all my information on Boston choral groups, the Boston Choral Consortium (www.bostonsings.org) is an invaluable resource. It's not quite comprehensive, but it's pretty damn close. They're having odd trouble with their website this week (a bad week to have trouble for a choral website!) but hopefully they'll be back up soon.

Daily updates, Day 6

Most of my mind today has been taken up with trying to decide whether or not to take an apartment slightly out of my budget range. It's beautiful, and perfect, and just barely too expensive. It's got a charming roommate with a darling cat. It looks like a home, not an apartment. And I keep telling myself I will take the plunge and do it, and then I remember that I really need to be taking voice lessons, and maybe organ lessons, and ideally Alexander Technique lessons, and that I'm still in a place where music is likely to cost more than it pays, and then I feel that I can't go forward with it.

This is all made harder by the fact that I feel that I got this degree, and now I somehow am not managing to do anything with it. It's very hard not to feel that the only explanation is that I haven't tried hard enough. I have classmates with music jobs (in fact, I can't think of someone in the program with me that doesn't have a music job) but here I am wondering if I should go back into tech support to pay off student loans. This feeling of "failing to be a musician" is common, I know - I've talked with friends about it - but that doesn't make it particularly easier to handle.

Daily updates, Day 5

Personally, I have nothing of musical interest to report today. I visited apartments, and ate with friends and family. However, that doesn't mean there's nothing of musical interest going on in the wider world, so I will use this daily update for some signal-boosting.

London's Proms are in full swing! You can listen to the concerts online, if you wish.

Outside London's Royal Festival Hall, a "virtual orchestra" has been put together.

Farinelli's body is exhumed. Yuck. (Farinelli was one of the most famous castratos in the history of the world.)

Wynton Marsalis is going to write an opera for the New York Met.

The Tehran Symphony Orchestra goes on tour in Germany.

It's not news, but if you missed the articles about U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a Xhosa version of Carmen, the film won rave reviews and quite a lot of press last year. (I was trying and mostly failing to find news that was not in the US or Europe.)

And finally (and sadly) Elisabeth Schwarzkopf passed away on August 3.

Daily updates, Day 4

Today I went shopping. Again. (I went shopping just a week ago with my friend AN.) I now have a complete wardrobe for teaching, (at least in the fall) and feel quite comfortable and professional in what I have.

One of the things that I faced up to at Westminster was how important image is. I think singers have to deal with the importance of presentation and body image more than any other type of musician, so as a school, it was a very clothing-conscious place. (I've never seen so many high-heeled shoes in my life. Did you know they make high-heeled flip-flops now? I'm not kidding!) And the importance of image is especially relevant for conductors - after all, people are staring at you for hours during a rehearsal. Your entire job is visual - while the music is going, it's the only available method of communication. It may seem obvious that therefore one's appearance plays a huge role in how musicians respond to you, but it is an idea that I've only grudgingly accepted. However, when faced with the prospect of a roomful of middle-schoolers, I am going to take every advantage I can get, and looking like I mean business will definitely help!

Daily updates, Day 3

Dear Diary,

Today, my friend JL taught me to play the organ. It was fun! I learned that I have no business doing anything with the pedals anytime soon. Also, my feet are much larger than I thought. Then I had a more-than-four hour meeting with the teacher I'm substituting for at the private school in September. She is wicked helpful and super-organized, with lesson plans for every day. Whew! Then I cooked some pasta primavera. It was yummy! It was the best day ever!

Tomorrow I go shopping, so I look all cool for school! Yay!

Daily updates, Day 2

I almost forgot to update today! I have no interesting musical tidbits to report, so I will simply provide a musical joke for the day.

What's the definition of an alto?

A soprano who can sightread.

Hey, it's funny because it's true! (There was no other reason for me to end up in the alto section in 3rd grade.)

Daily updates, Day 1

My friend Christianne (over at Singin' in the Lane) and I met for a good-bye dinner of sushi before I left Princeton, and we agreed that we both wished we updated our blogs more regularly. So we made an agreement that starting today, we would post something every day for a week.

Luckily, I have something to report! I got offered a job today, and I took it. It's a temporary substitute-teaching job at a private school in Cambridge, and I'll be teaching middle-school music for the month of September. The school has a good reputation, the classes are small, there's tons of administrative support, there are complete syllabi for me to follow, and the compensation is generous. It's a great gig. This doesn't mean I'm not still somewhat terrified of jumping in and teaching middle-school full-time for a month, but I think I'll survive. What happens after that is still unknown, but at least I'll have income for one month, and you know I'm going to learn something.

Car on fire!

I haven't posted for a while, mostly because there hasn't been much going on in my life. I've been applying for jobs, I've gotten a few scant interviews, and nobody has seen fit to offer me employment yet. It's been a pretty quiet summer, which is good for me after two intense years of graduate school, but maybe not so good for the excitement levels of my blog.

However, at last I have something to report! Last night, I was in a car that caught on fire!

Yesterday I went to a recording session in Philadelphia with fellow singers AN and LLJ. Dr. Jordan is recording some pieces for the publishing company he's associated with. I believe this is so they can provide recordings to prospective music-buyers, but I'm not entirely sure - all I know is, I learn my part, I show up, I sing, I get money. Pretty sweet. The group is called Anam Cara, and was formed for this recording session, but Dr. Jordan's so pleased with the sound that he wants to try and do other gigs in the future.

We took LLJ's car, which is actually her roommate's Aunt Betty's car. Her roommate is in Turkey. She was given the car by her Aunt Betty two years ago, who promised it was in perfect condition, but neglected to mention the bullet holes in the passenger-side door. I merely provide all this as background, and to prove that this is a car that appears to attract excitement.

The air-conditioning in the car was broken, so I spent one and a half hours yesterday in that heat in a non-air-conditioned car. Which wasn't fun. The drivers (AN and LLJ took turns) noticed that the transmission was acting funny, but we didn't worry about it. We did the recording session, went out for food afterwards, and headed home at probably around 11:30 pm.

When we got back into Princeton, LLJ noticed that she smelled smoke. I did too, but AN didn't, and we both (being rather blase persons) told LLJ not to worry about it. However, about a mile away from my house, LLJ saw smoke as well as smelled it, and pulled the car over. At this point, I think AN and I both a little annoyed, because hey, we were only a mile away from my house, right? How bad could it really be? However, I opened my door to get out, and that's when I saw flickering orange light coming out from under the bottom of the car. This rather changed my attitude. "Flames! Flames! Get out, guys, now!" I said. We all scrambled out, and stood about 10 feet away, and watched as the flames (which were coming from under the chassis, right under the driver's foot-well) died out over the course of about 5 minutes. LLJ during this time was placing a call to 911, with the pithy message, "Hello, my car's on fire." It must have been a slow night in Princeton, because we ranked 3 police cars and a fire truck.

The firemen all clustered around and helpful advice and various possible explanations were provided mainly by one fireman in flip-flops, boxers, a tank-top, and a big fire-hat. Everyone else was in full fire-gear. We tried to come up with hypotheses for this variation in dress code on the way home, and concluded that the car-fire-expert must have been asleep at the time of the call. They sprayed water on it to cool it down, and told LLJ to leave it there, call the police station in the morning to make sure she wouldn't get ticketed, and have it towed in the morning as well. Then all three of us walked the mile home to my house. AN had already planned to stay over, and LLJ stayed as well because she had no way to get home.

The moral of this story is that if you smell something burning, maybe there's something really wrong with your car, and if you smell something burning and see smoke, then you should probably get out of your car in fairly short order.

The last thing we did before bed was leave a message on the CarTalk voicemail system. If those producers don't choose LLJ to be on the next CarTalk show, they're crazy.

Ukelele player

If you're like me, you probably have some stereotypes connected with ukeleles. You probably don't think of them as particularly impressive instruments, or something that you'd go out of your way to see. That is, if you're like me and don't know anything about ukeleles. If you do know something about them, you may not be particularly astonished at the following link.

But whether you know something about ukeleles and the depth of musicianship of the people who play them or not, I suggest you watch this video. I've certainly never seen anything like it before.

A little poking around the comments on the video reveals that the guy's name is Jake Shimabukuro, and his website is here.

Resumes

Post-Spoleto, my life consists of applying for jobs, procrastinating from applying for jobs by surfing the web, reading, and watching TV (although I'm getting fed up with TV because there is increasingly little on of interest), trying to exercise every day and sometimes succeeding, and trying to be alone as much as possible to make up for the past year. The job hunt is frustrating - I'm discovering that there are far fewer private school choral teacher jobs out there than I thought, and public schools require certification, which I'm utterly willing to work towards but don't currently have. And all college jobs require a doctorate, or at least an ABD, which apparently means someone who has completed all the doctoral work except the dissertation. (I'll bet you didn't know that. See, you learned something today! What a good teacher I am! Hire me!)

So, time to turn to the internet for help! Here are my resumes - here's the education-oriented one, and here's the conducting-oriented one. If you know of any openings, please let me know, and if you feel like flinging my resume out into the world, please feel more than free to do so. (I wonder if anyone has ever had idea of putting resumes in bottles and flinging them into the surf as part of a job hunt. Couldn't hurt, right?)

An Inconvenient Truth

I went to see An Inconvenient Truth tonight, which, if you are unaware, is the new movie out by Al Gore about the current environmental crisis of global warming. Before I went, I read this quote by Roger Ebert about the movie: "You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to." (His full review is here, and it's quite good.)

"Well," I thought to myself, "that's probably too extreme. I mean, I'll see it, because I feel like I should, and maybe I'll learn a few new facts, but hey, I'm a liberal, and I took science in college, and I pretty much know what's going on, right?"

Well, I saw the movie tonight, and I have to completely agree with Roger Ebert. Everyone I know should see this film, and if I don't know you, then it's even more important that you go see it, because I'm less likely to talk to you about it. Some of the pictures are shocking, especially with regards to disappearing glaciers and projected rising water levels, and there are many interesting interconnections that I had no idea about. Berkshire folks, did you know that your caterpillar invasion this past May can be linked to global warning? Gore specifically mentions soaring caterpillar populations in the movie, albeit briefly.

Although it does resemble a PowerPoint presentation, it is never boring - the pace is clear and thorough but swift. Best of all, it doesn't just predict gloom and doom - Gore gives concrete suggestions about what we can do at the end of the movie, which can also be found at the movie's website. So what are you waiting for? Find out where it's playing, and go see it - now!

Charleston, Post 10 - Wrapping it up

I am home! I am tremendously happy to be here. The weather is beautiful, and it is so nice to be in my own home in my own bed again. It's also nice to have an actual kitchen, and be able to cook myself real meals like arctic char with citrus and fennel. I don't think I'll feel like eating out again for quite a while - Charleston was wonderful in that regard, especially the last week when my parents were visiting, but I think my digestive system is ready for some boring normal food now.

The last week is somewhat blurry, consisting mostly of Last Performances of things, most notably Dr. Flummerfelt's second Last Westminster Choir Concert. (See my remarks on the first one here.) This was an occasion of much weepiness among most of the choir, but perhaps heartlessly, my feelings were triumph and relief that I had finally graduated and was actually done, since it was our last performance at the festival. It was a pretty hard year, after all, on a number of fronts - it's sad to leave, but it's nice to be done!

Two performances during the last week deserve special mention. The first was the orchestral concert of Beethoven's 5th. This was really super - the Spoleto Festival Orchestra possessed an incredibly deep, rich, and powerful sound. No matter how big and thunderous the crescendos got (and Emmanuel Villaume conducts a very romantic Beethoven!) I still had the feeling that the orchestra could have kept going. And despite this powerful sound, the orchestra also had great ensemble and was very deft and maneuverable. I was all kinds of impressed and delighted at the performance. Special kudos to the winds, especially the first oboe, who were practically flawless, and the horns, for getting a wonderfully aggressive, brassy sound in the exposed section in the first movement.

The second performance was the Sara Baras Ballet Flamenco, which was beautiful and exciting and rhythmic and stunning. If she comes to your town, go see her. I want to take flamenco lessons now. And those dresses have got to be the most beautiful garments I have ever seen.

The chamber music also deserves a special shout-out, of course, as does its host, Charles Wadsworth. I believe I ended up seeing three of the chamber music concerts this year. Although all the chamber musicians were fabulous, I think my favorite performer was Jeremy Denk - he had such an expressive touch on the piano, and was so connected to the other performers, and phrased things so conversationally, it was a real delight to hear him perform.

It was a good month, and the performances were, I think, the best part of it, but I'm so glad to be home. I had reached the saturation point by the time it was over, and it's nice to finally have some time to process the past year...and figure out what I'm going to be doing for the next one!

Charleston, Post 9 - More music, what else?

Monday evening was the Mozart Mass in C Minor concert, with Jennifer Larmore. It went fabulously - the Mass was a hit (the Westminster Choir performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Festival Orchestra.) Larmore has lost a shocking amount of weight since we performed with her last year, but in the interests of kindness towards public figures I will try to refrain from extensive fretting about how this worried me. Her voice is still rich and her charisma is as incredibly magnetic as ever.

Monday before the Mass I went to the Intermezzo V concert in the afternoon. In addition to great singing, all three performers were incredibly attractive. (Two were stars in Don Giovanni, and one was the tenor from Romeo et Juliette.) I kept wondering all through the performance about why there were not legions of screaming adolescent girls at the front of the stage. What's wrong with this culture? Meltingly beautiful voices, stunningly attractive singers, intense delivery, charismatic presentation...what more do you need, really?

Tuesday was rehearsing all day and then the last Don Giovanni in the evening (to which my parents came.) It was fun, but exhausting - there were a lot of performances, and I'm not too sorry it's over.

Today was more rehearsing, lunch with my parents, and then the first Westminster Choir concert, which I think went very well. It was so wonderful, after the past year (which was very hard for the choir) to finally feel like we had arrived - I think everyone on stage felt like they were part of, and deserved to be part of, the tradition of excellence that has always been associated with the Westminster Choir. My one regret, watching the standing ovation, was that two people who had been in the choir all year weren't there - one bass couldn't come to the festival because he had a prior engagement, and another had to go home sick about a week ago. I wished they had been there.

And then there was a long and excellent dinner with my parents and my cousin Dee, full of the kinds of wide-ranging conversation that is sometimes lacking in a group of predominantly undergraduate singers. And now I'll go put my last loads of Spoleto laundry in the dryer, and watch some Angel with my suitemates!

Charleston, Post 8 - Money, Food, Clothing

One of the most difficult things about being at Spoleto is the way money flows like water. It is extraordinarily difficult to not spend above your means here. The main reason for this is that most of the choir eats most of their meals out. (The dorms we are staying in have refrigerators and microwaves, but nothing else.) So being social with other members of the choir pretty much requires going out for meals with them, and eating out is expensive. There's also the fact that most of the choir is undergraduates, most of whom are not yet worried about paying their own rent or bills, and who suddenly have a paycheck every week. As a result, the choir culture is very much one of enjoying being in a charming city at a wonderful festival, going out to eat all the time, going out to shop all the time, and in general not worrying about conserving a lot of their paychecks. (I have a feeling that most of them would deny this, but hey, that's how it looks to me.)

At any rate, it's very hard to continually turn people down when they ask if you want to go out to dinner. It feels rude. After all, when your suite says, "Hey, we're all going out for dinner! Please come!" it's hard to say no. It's also hard to turn down the prospect of Charleston cuisine, which is not to be sneezed at, and much more appealing than Easy Mac in the microwave at the dorm. And I have to admit, I'm a foodie! With places like Meritäge, Blossom, and the Hominy Grill right around the corner, it's hard to be fiscally responsible.

Then there's the fact that being in a city for a working vacation means you're tempted to visit all the little stores you might not see again, like The Brass Pirate...and there's the festival arts and crafts fair...and then there's just establishments you grow fond of, and want to support, like the Kudu Cafe.

So far I've managed better than last year, although I did visit the library book sale yesterday (library book sales are THE best thing ever) and also bought a skirt and a couple of shirts at the cheap clothing shop down the street. Speaking of clothing, Don Giovanni was interesting last night because my corset split a seam up the back right after I bounced on-stage. Since our outfits are entirely silk, people are getting used to having their pants rip, but I think this was the first time someone ripped a corset. It was probably because I waited too long to put it on (well, wouldn't you?) and it had to be laced up too quickly. Luckily it stayed on, and I kept my over-shirt on over it, but it makes it hard to concentrate on your job when you're wondering whether or not your clothes are going to fall off. Carrie the costumer said that clothes can tell when the end of a run is coming up and start to fall apart - since there's only one more performance of Don Giovanni, I guess that fits the trend.

Tonight is Mozart's Great Mass in C with Dr. Flummerfelt. We had the final dress rehearsal this morning, and it looks like it'll be an amazing concert. Here's hoping nobody rips anything.

Charleston, Post 7 - Bill T. Jones Dance Ensemble

This morning, after rehearsal, I finally got to one of the chamber music concerts. We heard Kodaly and Korngold, and it was amazing. I was especially impressed by the violinist Chee-Yun - she was an extraordinarily engaging performer, although everyone was great.

This evening was a difficult decision, since it was the only day I could see both Mahler's 5th and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company. I decided to go for the Bill T. Jones Blind Date, since, as many people said, I will probably get the chance to hear some Mahler in the future. While I'm not sorry I did, this is mainly because I would have been eternally wondering what I had missed.

First of all, we saw Mike Daisey outside the performance. This is the monologist that I loved so much at last year's Spoleto, and unfortunately will not get to see this year, since I'm performing every night he's performing. Secondly, he was wearing my Schrödinger's Cat shirt! Everyone in the choir who saw him said, "Hey, he's wearing your shirt! Go talk to him!" I felt kind of star-struck, but after some of the other choir members went over and told him they knew someone with his shirt, I kind of had to go over and introduce myself. He was really nice, and we had a brief geek-bonding moment. I'm now even more disappointed I can't go to any of his performances.

Anyways, then came the dance performance. It was kind of interesting, but I have to say that on the whole, I wouldn't recommend it. The performance involved lots of multi-media - lots of screens with different things on them, and two live singers, and some of the dancers speaking or singing, and words scrolling down or pictures phasing in and out of each other. The movement itself was great - it had a distinctive style, and was beautiful to watch, and the dancers were enormously accomplished. There were some very effective moments, such as when individual dancers told stories on the video, while at the same time they were dancing in real time.

However, it was very political, and the politics was not very well done. I was continually wondering, "What is the point of this? What is your message?" And while I do tend to want lots of explanation and clear-cut communication in my performances, I really feel that my confusion and impatience were a failing of the performance rather than a manifestation of my preferences. I got that war is bad; there was also the message that people who join the military are "sitting ducks" who just do what they're told and don't know what they're getting into; there was also a very ill-defined message that religion can lead to war, and some other negative messages concerning religion, although I'm not sure what they were. There was a rather mocking section where statistics about terrorist attacks and natural disasters were recited, interspersed with "Praise the Lord!" and "Hallelujah!" and the whole effect was sarcastic, and sort of mean-spirited without any point. There was an interesting point at the beginning about the ways in which the pure love of country that is patriotism can be manipulated into a tool of war, but that idea wasn't developed later on. All in all, the whole point of the piece was political, but not specific, or complex, or well-thought-out. I agree that the war in Iraq is not a good thing, but I didn't agree with some of the other messages - I thought they were disrespectful, especially the religious stuff. And at the same time as not agreeing with all of the message, I also didn't agree with how it was presented. Also, after a while, not knowing exactly what the piece was trying to say got old. If I don't get your message, that doesn't necessarily mean it's really deep - it might just be badly assembled, or not make sense to begin with. However, it certainly led to a lot of dialogue within the choir - people had a variety of reactions, and did a good deal of talking about them.

The most dramatic bit happened at the end, after the bows, while the lights were coming up. As the applause was becoming scattered, and people were leaving, somebody in the balcony shouted out, "Boo!" Bill T. Jones immediately bounced out on stage, and yelled, "Who said that! Who said that!" I will now relay an approximate transcription of the interchange (which I believe was not planted, but in fact spontaneous, and with an actual audience member):

Bill T.: Who said that? Come down here, out of the dark!
Booer: I don't want to!
Bill T.: What's your problem? Use words! What are you booing?
Booer: I thought it was a cliche, badly disguised as third-rate art.
Bill T.: I think you're wrong! I think your gut disagrees with my message, and that's what you're responding to!
Booer: Well, you're right. That's it. I do disagree with your message!
Bill T.: Well, if you don't criticize my art, I won't criticize your politics!

(It was actually longer than that, with a bit more hot air, and more wordy, but I'm pretty sure the booer's criticism and Bill T.'s last line are accurate.)

I mean, what the hell? First of all, of course people can criticize your art! Secondly, you are criticizing the guy's politics, starting with the fact that you just put on a performance with a very strong (if vague) political point-of-view that was critical of some other political points of view. It just seemed hypocritical in the extreme, and put the whole performance in a different light. However, it sure was dramatic and exciting!

It was an interesting experience, so I'm glad I went - but I'm also glad it was free!

Charleston, Post 6 - Nrityagram Dance Ensemble

Yesterday was another free day, so in the afternoon I went to see the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble perform a show called Sacred Space. It was amazing. The unity of the ensemble was unreal, and their precision was unbelievable. From the first movement you could just relax, knowing that you were watching dancers who absolutely knew what they were doing. Every part of their bodies is considered - hands, toes, facial expressions. And since they were wearing bells everywhere, the dance was part of the music, and far more connected to the sound than I usually feel is the case at dance performances. The only thing I've seen to compare, in terms of music and dance being one and the same, was here at Spoleto last year, when I saw Savion Glover. The difference was that Glover, a tap-dancer, concentrated all his energy into his feet, and the dancers of Nrityagram concentrated on everything. It was really beautiful, artistic, impressive dancing.

In the evening I went out to dinner with a few friends, and picked up some of the world's best pralines at a candy shop on the way. I never had pralines before - I had no idea I liked them. But these are amazing, and I think I've found a new food obsession! We also saw the artistic director of the chamber music program having dinner in the same restaurant, so we sent him a drink, and he came over and talked to us for a bit. I'd never sent someone a drink before, but it's fun! Now I'll have to actually get to some of the chamber music performances, or I'll feel guilty. The difficulty is getting myself to a performance at 11 am, which is when the chamber music is. That may not sound like much, but when your opera gets done at 11:30, and you get home at midnight, and nobody goes to bed for at least an hour, it can be difficult to get up before noon.

Charleston, Post 5 - Pickles! and reviews

I neglected in my last post to mention the most important thing about the Spoleto Festival opening, namely - the Pickle Ceremony! Before opening night, the assistant electrician of every show rigs up a pickle with some wires and a power cord. The entire cast assembles in the green room about 10 minutes before curtain, and after the lights are turned off, everyone starts a slow chant of "Pi-ckle! Pi-ckle!" Then the assistant electrician throws the switch, and if the pickle glows, then that means good luck for the festival. Naturally, both pickles did indeed glow. There was one at Don Giovanni at the preview, and one at Romeo et Juliette on the actual festival opening night. (That pickle was artistically decorated with a white veil and a knife in its little pickle heart.)

Today was our first day off since the Festival started, meaning we finally had time to attend some of the other shows. (As a Spoleto Festival member, I can show my badge and get in free to any show that's not sold-out.) In the afternoon I saw the Paul Taylor dance company, which was just fabulous. It was beautiful, and one of my favorite things about it was that there was so much joy in some of the pieces. Often it feels like artists feel compelled to only present dark things, but the first piece of choreography especially, set to Handel, was just pure happiness. And the second piece, set to early American jazz, was very funny, with incredibly original ways of moving. I enjoyed the abstract pieces the most, because that was where I felt the choreography really explored shapes and new ways of moving.

In the evening I went with some other Westminster Choir folks to try and see Tristan and Yseult. Owing to being sold out, and some confusion with the ushers, we didn't get to see the first ten or fifteen minutes, but after my friend AG approached the house manager again to see if we could stand in the back, we finally got in. I was sorry to miss the beginning, but glad I decided to stick around and watch it anyways. It was wacky and funny and odd in parts, but it achieved some really heart-rending moments, and the whole show was original and well-done.

Tomorrow is one of the longest days we'll have - rehearsal at 10, call for opera at 1 pm, with the performance at 2, and then call for a different opera at 7:30 and performance at 8. Luckily there's another free day afterwards, which means more shows! I'm either in an opera or planning on watching a show every single night until we go home. Who knows when I'll be able to come back again, after all.

Charleston, Post 4 - Festival Opening

Today is the official opening of the Spoleto Festival. The opening ceremony was at noon down at the Old Exchange Building. Apparently Philip Glass wrote a fanfare for car alarms, but I got there too late to hear it. I'm not too sad about this, as I hear it was highly anti-climactic.

Last night was the preview performance of Don Giovanni (which just means it was a performance before the official opening of the festival) and tonight the festival really gets swinging with the first performance of Romeo et Juliette. This entire past week has been piles of dress rehearsals for both shows - there's always a piano dress/tech and two orchestra dresses for each show. It's exciting that we're finally into performances, because those are much more exciting - having an audience can really transform a performance.

Doing both operas really eats up time - Don Giovanni has seven performances, and Romeo et Juliette has 4, which means that there are very few days off (or more importantly, evenings off) to go see other performances. All performers in the festival get free admission to any performance they want, as long as it's not sold out, and since there are so many performances, very few things are sold out. One of my favorite performers last year, Mike Daisey, is coming back, but I sadly won't be able to see any of his performances as I have performances at all the same times.

The make-up and wig call is in half an hour, so I'll sign off here. (I am wearing a black wig. I look rather like a wax-work person in it, since I'm so pale.) It's hard to know what else to say about the festival - give me help. What should I post about?

Charleston, Post 3 - Water

The theme of this year seems to be water. We were met with a torrential downpour coming into the Charleston airport. The first day rained. In the Gounod opera, Act III ends with us being rained on (after Tybalt and Mercutio die.) And in Don Giovanni, there is an onstage lake that we splash around in, and get totally drenched in. Don Giovanni has a set that truly deserves a lengthy description, another day. For now, suffice it to say there is a pool with a small stream that runs to an onstage lake. On the chorus's first entrance, we run to this pool as fast as we can, jump into it, and then proceed to splash each other. Today was the first day practicing with water, and we sure do get soaking wet! We then proceed to go and sit next to the audience in the aisles, and watch the rest of the act, still soaking wet. At a later point, Don Giovanni also sprays us with champagne. (Hopefully it will be real - don't know yet!)

Luckily I have tomorrow for laundry - it's our first day off! Also for trying to find an optometrist, so I can get contacts - splashing water plus glasses do not combine to create the best vision.

Charleston, Post 2 - The choir

Day 3 of the Westminster Choir's schedule at the Spoleto Festival rehearsals was much like days 1 and 2. Music rehearsal in the morning, 10-12:30. Staging rehearsal for one of the operas, 2-5 pm. Staging rehearsal for one of the operas, 7-10 pm. Sprinkled in between are meetings with the costume shop and the wig shop for fittings.

The Westminster Choir has been a part of Spoleto Festival USA since the festival's founding in 1977. We serve as the opera choir for all the operas at the festival - last year there were three, this year there are two, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Mozart's Don Giovanni. The chorus for the Mozart is smaller, only using half the choir, and the full choir is in the Gounod. I am in the half of the choir that is performing in both. In addition, there is one performance of Mozart's Mass in C and two performances of the choir performing shorter works accompanied only with piano (a Bach motet, some of the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Barber's Reincarnations, etc.) We have two weeks of rehearsal before the festival to get the two operas staged - it's been three days, and they are almost entirely staged already - only a few scenes remain in each to really nail down. A good thing, too, because we begin orchestra rehearsals on both sets tomorrow.

Physically, staging is fairly exhausting (especially the Mozart, which involves sprinting around an auditorium in bare feet.) Mentally, being at Spoleto is more restful than being in school - after all, I only have to be where people tell me, and then do what other people tell me once I'm there. However, physical exhaustion alone can be overwhelming, and my wig fitting tomorrow is at 9:30 am (yes, I will be wearing a wig for the Gounod!) so it's off to bed for me.

Charleston, Post 1 - Arrival

I made it to Charleston, SC! This is slightly more of an accomplishment than it sounds. We (the Westminster Choir) left yesterday afternoon, and flew into the Charleston airport in the middle of a fairly impressive thunderstorm. While I felt this was less exciting than I would have imagined, we did see some fairly impressive bolts. Once we landed, we had to wait for a while, because the thunderstorm meant it wasn't safe for the airport workers to go and unload our luggage. Then we had to stay in the airport because there was a tornado warning for the airport - several tornados were seen touching down close to the airport, one 1/4 of a mile away. In addition, the chorus was on two planes - the second plane was not allowed to land, but was diverted, and we had to wait for them to arrive.

Once planes were allowed to land and we were allowed to load the bus and leave, we reached our temporary lodgings with no further adventures, but since it was sheeting down rain, very very wet. We're staying in the dorms of the College of Charleston, which are fairly nice - two to a room, with bathroom included, and two rooms to a suite, which has a mini-kitchen and a little area for a couch and TV.

More on what the Westminster Choir is actually doing here in Charleston tomorrow.

Roseae Feminae

It's approaching that time of year when everything gets the adjective "last." Last night was the last concert of Roseae Feminae, the women's choir I put together a year and a half ago.

It went really well! We had more audience than at any previous concert (meaning double-digits!) and the group sounded really strong. There were a few bobbles, mostly because I got overly enthusiastic in the last month and added too much new repertoire, but concert as a whole was strong and solid. The sound was beautiful, and I was proud that there were many different sounds of the choir, depending on what era of repertoire we were singing. And even better, I feel like we all, me included, were energetic, extroverted, and communicative, something that after last year I knew would be my biggest challenge. I was able to look at specific singers and think, "Wow! They are really delivering the piece! I know they didn't sing like that a year ago."

I'm glad I got to do one more conducting concert after my Master Singers concert - I felt like I was able to continue applying a lot of what I learned several months ago, and continue to make progress.

So thank you to all my Roseae Feminae singers - not only was leading that choir one of the most educational things I did here, but it always reminded me that the reason I do this is not for class credit or a degree or recognition, but love of the job!

P.S. Apparently what I was complaining of in the last entry is not tennis elbow, which affects the outer side of the elbow, but golfer's elbow. This is disappointing, as it's much less fun to claim I have golfer's elbow. However, since my arm feels fine now, I suppose it's irrelevant.

Final Roseae Feminae concert

The final concert of my women's choir, Roseae Feminae, is tomorrow, May 2. I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to come - it will be at 7:30 pm at Christ Congregation (50 Walnut Lane in Princeton, NJ.) The chorus sounds really awesome - I'm very encouraged at how everything always sounds better and better! I know that's what's supposed to happen when you rehearse, but it is nevertheless quite encouraging that it actually does.

However, we just had our dress rehearsal, and I am sorry to report that I am turning into that dreaded being, the over-enthusiastic conductor who runs over time. I kept them 15 minutes past the end of the rehearsal. Luckily they have not been smart enough to form a union yet, or I'd be taken out and thrashed. However, keeping people late is something I really do try not to do - I'm rather ashamed I didn't quite succeed.

Also, I'm getting tennis elbow from conducting too enthusiastically - this happened during my Master Singers concert as well. Suggestions for how to care for tennis elbow (ice? heat?) are welcome.