Workshops for singers!

Hear ye! En guard! Mind the gap! (Well, maybe not the last two.)

My voice teacher, Emily Romney, is holding several workshops for singers this spring, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to take their singing to the next level, while perhaps being leery of any major additional time commitment in your life. Check it out! She is a warm, lovely person with an amazing amount of wisdom about vocal pedagogy.

Here is some more info:

The New School of Music: Workshop Series for Choral and Solo Singers
Do you feel your singing voice has greater potential than you can realize on your own? Would you like to know more about how your voice works and improve your singing?

Here's an excellent opportunity to do just that.

"The Living Instrument & How It Works"

Emily Romney, workshop leader
This series of three Sunday afternoon vocal workshops are designed to develop greater sensitivity to and confidence in your breathing, body alignment, and tone quality. Each session will include singing activities, useful information and sharing of ideas.

Workshop Dates (all Sundays) in spring 2014: Feb 16th, March 16th & April 27th
To Register & for more Information:
New School of Music
25 Lowell Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.492.8105
info@newschoolofmusic.org

Friday cat post!

This program in Louisiana looks fantastic - cats, vets, and prison inmates, all helping each other.

(I'm totally aware that perhaps I should rename this blog "A Cat-Lover's Blog, and Also Occasionally Musical Tidbits," but I do have some ideas on revitalizing things in this online corner in a month or two. Stay tuned!)

Cantilena auditions!

Hear ye, hear ye, Cantilena is holding auditions for our spring semester! Our program is called ""Immoveable Objects, Unstoppable Forces", and it will have everything from Schubert to Sojourner Truth. We are particularly looking for low altos. Looooow altos. If you know any, please send them my way! If you are one, come try out! Audition info at our website!

Annual Messiah Sing Post!

Here it is, your annual Messiah Sings post for 2013! Late as usual. But there are still quite a lot of sings coming up! If I missed any that you know of, leave a comment!

Upcoming:

Fri. 12/6: Messiah Sing to benefit Project Bread. 7:30 pm. At All Saints Parish, Brookline. Tickets $10/$5 stu&sen. Scores provided, or bring your own. (You can still make it!)

Sun. 12/8: Nashoba Valley Chorale annual Messiah Sing. 3:00 pm. At the Congregational Church of Littleton. More info here.

Sun. 12/8: Sudbury Memorial Congregational Church Annual Messiah Sing. 3:00 pm. At Sudbury Memorial Congregational Church, Sudbury. More info here.

Sun. 12/8: Carter Memorial United Methodist Church Messiah Sing. 3 pm. At the Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, Needham. Scores available, or bring your own. More info here.

Sun. 12/8: JP Concerts Messiah Sing-a-long. 7:00 pm. At St. John's Episcopal Church, Jamaica Plain. Suggested donation $10. Scores provided, or bring your own. More info here.

Tues. 12/10: Brandeis University Messiah Sing. 4 pm. At the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium, Brandeis University. Free admission. Scores available, or bring your own. More info here.
 
Wed. 12/11: Cathedral Church of St. Paul Annual Messiah Sing. 12:15 pm. At the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, downtown Boston. More info here.

Fri. 12/13: Masterworks Chorale annual Messiah Sing. 8:00 pm. At Cary Hall, Lexington. Suggested donation $12. Scored provided, or bring your own. More info here.

Fri. 12/13: Roxbury Latin School Concert and Messiah Sing. 7:30 pm. At the Roxbury Latin School, West Roxbury. Free admission. Scores provided, or bring your own. More info here.

Sat. 12/14: Masterworks Chorale annual Messiah Sing. 8:00 pm. At Cary Hall, Lexington. Suggested donation $12. Scored provided, or bring your own. More info here.

Sun. 12/15: Assabet Valley Mastersingers Messiah Sing. 3:30 pm. At St. Mark's School in Southborough. Scores available, or bring your own. More info here.

Sun. 12/15: St. Peter's Church in Weston Messiah Sing. 4:00 pm. At St. Peter's Church, Weston. Free admission. Limited scores available, or bring your own. More info here.

Sun. 12/22: Harvard Unitarian Church Messiah Sing. 5:00 pm. At the Harvard Unitarian Church in Harvard, MA. More info here.

Sun. 12/22: Belmont Open Sings Messiah Sing. 7:30 pm. At All Saint's Church, Belmont. Tickets $10.  Scores provided, or bring your own. More info here.  

Passed:

Thurs. 12/5: Annual Dunster House Messiah Sing. 8:00 pm. At Dunster House, Harvard. More info here. 


Merry Messiah season to everyone!

Cantilena concert this Sunday!

Cantilena's winter concert is this coming Sunday, and I hope you all come!

I am very proud of the pieces on this concert - we are (of course!) doing Britten's A Ceremony of Carols in honor of his 100th birthday year. We're also doing Paul Csonka's Concierto de Navidad, a very cool piece that I was introduced to by our awesome harpist, Barbara Poeschl-Edrich. The pieces are very different, and compliment each other nicely, and we have worked very hard on both!

The concert will be this Sunday at 4 pm. We'll be performing at First Parish Arlington, 630 Mass Ave, Arlington, MA. And there will of course be a delicious reception afterwards!

Hope to see you there!

Friday cat post!

It's been a while since we've had a Friday cat post, but my mother sent along this article last week, and I thought I would share. I think you will find it very helpful in planning your next vacation!

Anthology new music concerts this weekend!

Anthology, my women's vocal quartet, is starting our fall season with a concert of world premieres, written particularly for us by six members of the Boston Composers' Coalition! Join us this weekend, in person or online, to experience six unique pieces of new music by Heather Gilligan, PoChun Wang, Brett Abigana, Andrew Smith, Ramon Castillo and Justin Casinghino! (To pique your interest, I will say that one of these pieces is something I would definitely like to program again with a women's choir; and another is one of the cleverest pieces of new music I have ever sung.)

Friday, October 4th at 8 pm (7:30 pm pre-concert reception) at
The Green Room (thegreenroomsomerville.com)
62 Bow Street, Somerville, MA
Come and join us in this intimate new performance space for a salon-style evening of new music, conversation and refreshments. Be warned: we expect this concert to sell out, so get there early!

Saturday, October 5th at 8 pm at
Killian Hall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Both concerts are free and open to all. Details concerning both concerts and directions to venues can all be found at: www.bostoncomposers.org
If you can't attend the concert in person, you can also visit the website during concert time to be connected to a live stream of each event. 

 

We have worked our tails off on this concert, and there is so much variety and invention on the program that there is sure to be something for everyone! Hope to see you this weekend, either in person or in cyberspace!

Sing with Cantilena!

My women's chorus Cantilena is singing Britten's Ceremony of Carols this semester! We're pairing that with Concierto de Navidad by Paul Csonka, an Austrian-Cuban-American 20th-century composer (he had to keep running away from fascists.)

Auditions are tonight, and also next week. Come to First Parish Arlington at 7:30 pm either tonight or 9/23 and join an awesome, friendly group for some great singing!

Who wouldn't want to sing this?

Cats have vocal prowess!

Apparently some cats employ what is called a "soliciting purr" to get food from owners.

I wish Samson would talk to those cats. He just meow, meow, meows when he wants to nag me about something!

Monday link

Check out 10 tips for better practicing from NPR! (And conductors, don't neglect it!)

In non-musical news, check out these awesome photos a photographer dad took of his daughters.

Monday link

Happy September, and happy back-to-school!

Now that everything gets busy, it's very important to remember to get enough sleep! Especially because it turns out sleep is an essential part of practicing! (But not the only essential part, don't get too excited.)

And also, have a charming class syllabus. Hat-tip to Anney Barrett (whose new rehearsal and performance space is opening in Somerville, for all you Boston-area musicians! Check out the Green Room.)

Monday link

Great article about Marin Alsop! I find it so refreshing that she acknowledges that it's somewhat taboo to talk about sexism when it comes to conductors, but she's willing to do it anyways. Hat-tip to my mother.

And if things weren't hard enough, there is a new study out on the importance of appearance for musicians. I don't think most of the singers or conductors I know would find this particularly shocking; it's kind of cute (i.e. naive) that the reporters for both the articles I read on this study remark that it's "surprising." After all, there's a lot of research done on how appearance and attractiveness benefit people across the employment spectrum. One would assume it would matter even more in an artistic and performance-based job! Doesn't mean we have to like it, though. Hat-tip to my father.

Job for beginner conductors!

Chorus pro Musica has a fantastic reputation as one of the best amateur choruses in Boston, and they are looking for a conducting intern! This would be a great job for a college student, or anyone who would like to break into choral conducting.

Monday link

A great article about the long-term effects making an opera together had on a second-grade class.

Monday links

I came across a couple of articles today, both from Northwestern:

I'm a Trans Composer. What the hell does that mean?

Northwestern U. Student Jeopardizes Degree by Refusing to Perform Whitman

(The latter link is sadly only completely available if you are a subscriber to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, but I'd be happy to send anyone the full text via e-mail. Very interesting!)

Monday link

To all the kids out there, whether you self-identify as creative or artistic or weird, or haven't yet labelled yourself...we're waiting for your stuff!

And to anyone out there who misses Opera Boston - a similar type of bird might be rising from the ashes.

Summer lectures voting results

This past Wednesday, I finished up a series of lectures I was giving at Lasell Village. I taught eight classes on the works of Benjamin Britten, and eight classes on the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. At the end of each class, I had everyone vote for their favorite work - it's a nice way of having a final discussion, and it's always interesting to me to see what people go for.

In the Britten class, the votes fell out as follows:

Peter Grimes won with six votes.
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and the War Requiem tied with three votes each.
The Third String Quartet came next, with two votes.
And Curlew River and Sacred and Profane got one vote each.

For the Gilbert and Sullivan class:

The Gondoliers narrowly beat out The Mikado, with HMS Pinafore coming in third. Yeomen of the Guard got two votes, while Patience, Iolanthe, and Trial By Jury each got one.

(I'm happy to share my syllabi with anyone who is interested!)

Friday cat post!

It turns out that cats ALSO like watching cat videos! New levels of meta.

Another great summer sing with Cantilena, and another repertoire list!

This past Monday Cantilena hosted our second summer sing! The theme was "classics of women's choral repertoire" (that is, "whatever the conductor feels like") and it was just as fun as the first one! For those who are interested, here is the repertoire list! (The repertoire list for the first sing is here.)

• Britten – "Old Abram Brown" from Friday Afternoons
• Lotti – Vere Languores Nostros
• Haydn, M. – Laudate Pueri Dominum
• Mendelssohn – "Lift Thine Eyes" from Elijah
• Brahms – "Benedictus" from the Missa Canonica
• Brahms – Ave Maria
• Kodaly – Evening Song
• Elgar – The Snow
• Morley – Though Philomela
• Weelkes – The Nightingale
• Weelkes – Come, Sirrah, Jack, Ho!
• Casals – Nigra Sum
• Rachmaninoff’s Six Choruses for Women's Voices
• Munn – "The Stove" from The Muse, the Stove, and the Willow Plate 

Thanks to everyone who came! I am already thinking about next year's summer sings!

Winner of the book giveaway!

I'm happy to announce that (thanks to Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies Custom Random Number Generator) we have a winner of last week's giveaway! Kirsten, you'll be getting a copy of Stacy Horn's Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others in the mail!

Monday links

A handful of links today from various corners of the web.



My cousin sent me this trailer, which looks FANTASTIC. And it's playing right now in Kendall Square!

I got inundated last week with people sending me this link about how choir singers synchronize their heartbeats. So I pass it on to you!

Did you know? Choral Arts New England has a concert calendar and an online newsletter, both packed with information.

Via a friend on Facebook, read all about composers and their maladies! (They should mention, however, that Fauré also suffered from increasing deafness during his last two decades.)

And while doing some programming research, I found this wonderful website about Latin American choral composers!

Friday cat post!

The Amazing Acro-Cats (a 13-cat stunt troupe) is coming to Somerville on 7/24 and 7/25! You should get your tickets. Click on the link for a video of what you might see these trained cats doing.

And for your daily dose of cute, if you don't mind a dirty song (audio is NSFW) then check out this talented geeky singer-songwriter singing an unintentional duet with a kitten.

Great summer sing w/ Cantilena - repertoire list

So, last Monday night I hosted my first summer sing with Cantilena, and it went very well! I was really impressed with the level of reading ability among all the folks who showed up. The repertoire got increasingly more difficult throughout the sing, but we got through absolutely everything I threw at them!

A summer sing with a women's chorus is of course different from most summer sings, because the repertoire was unfamiliar to everyone. In most summer sings with SATB groups, you can rely on most of the people in the room having already sung the Brahms Requiem or the Mozart Requiem or Vivaldi's Gloria at least once already. But there is no repertoire for women's chorus that is SO well known that I can rely on the majority of the group knowing it, with the possible exception of Britten's Ceremony of Carols, which is hardly appropriate for July. So everyone is really sight-reading!

Therefore I had to choose repertoire that I thought would be readable as well as interesting and fun! Here's what I came up with under the topic of French sacred music for women's choirs (I included links to the CPDL to some of them):

• Dufay's Gloria ad modum tibi
• Gounod's Messe brève no. 4 in C
• Delibes' Messe brève
• Massenet's Ave maris stella
• Caplet's "O Salutaris Hostia" from Messe a Trois Voix
• Fauré's Ave Maria
• Fauré's Ave verum corpus
• Franck's Alleluia (so fun! but long)
• Charpentier's Gaudia Virginis Mariae (also so fun! and short)

And I had copied, but we didn't have time for:

• Fauré's Tantum Ergo
• Franck's O Salutaris Hostia
• Saint-Saëns' Ave Maria

Remember, the next sing is this coming Monday at 7:30 pm! Come do some sight-singing with me!

Exciting book giveaway!

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Stacy Horn, who has just come out with an exciting new book, Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others. You may have heard her interviewed on Talk of the Nation last month - it was an in-depth and interesting conversation that I recommend. (I also recommend her blog, at her website, because she ALSO has many cat pictures!)

She has generously agreed to do a book giveaway on this blog! If you would like Stacy Horn to mail you a free copy of her book, please leave a comment here describing a fond memory you have of singing with other people. (It doesn't have to be the-very-best-memory-ever. Just a positive memory that pops into your head!) I'll choose someone using a random number generator one week from today, and contact you to get your mailing address, so be sure to leave contact info in your comment.

Ready, set, go!

Cantilena's first summer sing - TONIGHT at 7:30 pm!

Calling all sopranos and altos! If you are free tonight, I hope you will come to Cantilena's first summer sing! Tonight we are going to be singing French sacred music for women's voices. (Next week is a little broader - just doing some of the most popular works for women's chorus out there.) Both sings are at 7:30 pm, at First Parish Arlington, 630 Mass. Ave, Arlington. Easily accessible by T (77 bus) and there is plenty of parking! And there will be SNACKS! See you there, and spread the word!

Summer Sings Calendar, 2013!

Here it is, your 2013 Summer Sings calendar! Apologies to those groups who have already held some sings!

I also would like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be conducting my first summer sings with Cantilena this summer! This coming Monday we will be doing French sacred works for women's voices, and on Monday, 7/15 we will be singing Best-Beloved Classics for women's choruses!

Monday, July 8, 7:30 pm
French sacred choral works for women's voices by Dufay, Delibes, Fauré, Franck, Gounod, Saint-Saëns and others
Conducted by yours truly, hosted by Cantilena
At First Parish Arlington, 630 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA

Tuesday, July 9, 8:00 pm
Poulenc's Gloria
Conducted by Jamie Kirsch, hosted by Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA

Monday, July 15, 7:30 pm
Popular classics of women's choral repertoire
Conducted by yours truly, hosted by Cantilena
At First Parish Arlington, 630 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA

Monday, July 15, 7:30-8:30 pm
Choruses from Handel's Messiah
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore
At the First Trinitarian Congregational Church, 381 Country Way, Scituate, MA

Tuesday, July 16, 8:00 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA

Monday, July 22, 8:00 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Max Hobart, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem MA

Tuesday, July 23, 8:00 pm
Verdi's Requiem
Conducted by Katherine FitzGibbon, hosted by Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA

Monday, July 29, 8:00 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by David Callahan, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem MA

Monday, July 29, 7:00 pm
Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass
Conducted by Gerald Weale, hosted by the Newburyport Choral Society
At the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 7 Harris St., Newburyport, MA

Tuesday, July 30, 8:00 pm
Bach's Magnificat
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA

Monday, August 5, 7:30 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Jamie Kirsch, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

Monday, August 5, 8:00 pm
Fauré's Requiem and Vivaldi's Gloria
Conducted by William Sano, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem MA

Tuesday, August 6, 8:00 pm
Fauré's Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA

Monday, August 12, 7:30-8:30pm
Opera, Operetta, and Broadway Choruses
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore
At the First Trinitarian Congregational Church, 381 Country Way, Scituate, MA

Monday, August 12, 7:30 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by Jamie Kirsch, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

Monday, August 12, 8:00 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Paul Madore, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem MA

Monday, August 19, 7:30 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Jamie Kirsch, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

Did I miss anything? Please let me know in the comments, and I'll update the list!

Friday cat post!

It's been a while since we had any pictures of Samson! But he's doing great, totally unconcerned by the lack of publicity, sitting on his little seat next to my bedroom window.

Monday link

Maestro Flummerfelt is retiring from the Spoleto Festival! I sang and studied under him at Westminster; feel very lucky to have done so!

Friday cat post!

Together with last week's post, this week's link would seem to demonstrate that the Japanese really know the value of cats. Hat-tip to my mother.

Monday link

So, full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir project. It is just not my thing. But if it is your thing, Virtual Choir 4.0 is in the works, so if you would like to sing in it, check out the website, download the score, and go nuts!

Friday Cat Post

Apparently this has been going around a while, but I missed it. There is an island in Fukuoka, Japan that has a large population of feral cats. The photographer Fubirai has spent five years documenting the cats on this island. Buzzfeed has a compilation of some of the photos, but it's really worth going to his blog, because you can see series of photos of a single cat over a few seconds or minutes. (The photos of cats leaping onto things are great!)

Monday link - Cantilena on TV!

Check out this TV segment on Cantilena's concert last Sunday!

Great Cantilena concert, and a nice review!

I'm happy to say that Cantilena's "Poetic License" concert on Sunday went splendidly. The premiere of Scott Wheeler's "Jabberwocky" went particularly well - we kept a zippy tempo and high energy all the way through! There's a chance I'll be able to share a video later on, but I'm not sure yet. And I got lots of happy feedback after the concert, so I think everyone enjoyed it quite a lot.

And we got this review from the Boston Musical Intelligencer! (My favorite quote is that on the first piece, "Cantilena surprised with a burst of volume filling the sanctuary." I worked very hard on getting them as loud as possible at the end of Gwyneth Walker's Now I Become Myself - glad to see it paid off!)

Monday link

This is a great TED talk about body language, projecting power, and how your body language can shape your thoughts and emotions and even who you are, not just the other way around. Great reading for everyone, but obviously very relevant for conductors!

Fabulous concert weekend!

John Tenniel's illustration of Jabberwocky.

I hope you don't have any important plans for this coming weekend, because it is going to be a GREAT concert weekend!

Being the second weekend in May, of course there are a billion choral concerts. But the one I want to call to your attention is, of course, my own! Cantilena will be performing their spring concert, called "Poetic License." This performance is in honor of Mordena Babich, a member of our alto section who passed away last spring. She was a writer, so in her honor we have chosen musical settings of all the best poets. Jane Kenyon, E. E. Cummings, Yeats, Shakespeare, and others will all be represented. And we will be performing the world premiere of a commission by Scott Wheeler, his setting of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" for two cellos and women's chorus. It's a very exciting program and I hope you can come! For more about our commission, check out the interview I did with Scott Wheeler.

If that is not enough choral music for you, I also feel that I owe a nod to Musica Sacra, who always has the most interesting programming, and this weekend is no exception. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, and Musica Sacra will be celebrating these events. To quote from their press release, "In this Saturday's concert, music from and about the Civil War period will be interspersed with readings of texts by Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, performed by drama students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School."

I greatly enjoyed Musica Sacra's March concert, "Baltic Inspirations," where they explored some stunning Northern European music that had a truly head-spinning quantity and variety of languages. (And I felt a little guilty for not reviewing it on the blog!) So go check out Musica Sacra for a very patriotic Saturday...and then come see Cantilena for a poetic and inspired Mother's Day!

Friday cat post!

Hat-tip to my mother: Feline film festival makes cats the stars.

Walk for Music follow-up

I just wanted to post a follow-up to my post about the Walk for Music. April 28 was the most beautiful possible spring day in downtown Boston - everything was blooming and flowering, and the sun was out in a clear blue sky, and it was absolutely beautiful. We had more Cantilena walkers than in any previous year, and it was altogether a delightful afternoon!

And I'm happy to say I beat my goal, which was $250, and raised over $300! Thanks to the following people for helping me out with that goal:

Anney Barrett, Derek Bruneau, Jody Doyle, Peter Eldredge, Dave Galvin, Eve Goldfarb, Edwin Henneken, Adrian Martin, Jack Martin, Molly and Terry Martin, Sophie Michaux, Mary Parker, Vicky Reichert, Nancy Robertson, Chartis Tebbetts, Ron Wallace, Jeff Watson, and Todd Weber.

Now don't forget to come to the Cantilena concert this coming Sunday at 7 pm at First Parish Arlington!

2 job openings

Both of these positions look interesting!

Mak'hela, the Jewish chorus of Western Mass, is looking for an Interim Director to lead rehearsals in Northampton on Tuesday evenings.

 The Rhode Island Children's Chorus is looking for a conductor to lead one of their choruses one evening a week.

Be fruitful and multi-apply!

Monday link - Scott Wheeler interview

I haven't done any "Monday link" entries in a while, but this one should make up for it!

Check out this video of an interview I did with Scott Wheeler about the piece we commissioned him to write for Cantilena. He set Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." It is awesome, and we will be premiering it in 6 days (on Mother's Day, this coming Sunday!) at 7 pm at First Parish Arlington. If you have never been to a Cantilena concert, now would be the time!

Friday cat post!

I think what today needs is a picture of a cute kitty in the middle of some spring flowers, don't you?

Courtesy of my brother, here is one of his cats Porkchop!

 

You may remember Porkchop, who is the younger and newer housemate of Oomi. Porkchop recently had a little...operation, and now he is also free to roam outside!

Walk for Music - I need $5 of support!

I'm happy to say I'm doing the Walk for Music again this year on April 28! This fundraiser supports all types of music programs in Boston's neighborhoods and surrounding communities. 100% of the pledges raised will go straight to these music programs (and are tax deductible)! I will be part of the Cantilena team, and my personal goal is to raise $250. It's extremely ambitious, but my goal is to get 50 people to give me $5 in the next week and a half!

This is an important fund-raiser for Cantilena. A big portion of our annual budget comes from donations and fund-raisers; ticket sales cover a very small part of our operating costs. And we have a special goal this year; we have started a new music fund! This fund is in honor of former alto Mordena Babich, who was a beloved member of the chorus for a long time. We are committed to commissioning new works for women's voices (already while I have been the director we have commissioned three works, and we will be doing a premiere by Scott Wheeler on May 12! You will be hearing more about that soon; it is a FANTASTIC piece.)

I hope that you are able to support me with a pledge of $5! Checks can be made out to Cantilena and sent directly to me at Cantilena, PO Box 380702, Cambridge, MA 02238. Or you can use the "donate" button on the Cantilena web site (www.cantilena.org). Or you can hand me $5 when you see me!

$5 for new music and women's voices singing together! Spread the word!

Job opening

A chorister forwarded this on to me - the UCC church in Davis Square is looking for a music director. Looks like a great congregation!

Monday link

RIP Sir Colin Davis.

Friday link

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to visit my parents in Austin, TX (where it was either 80 or 90 degrees, sunny every day, and there were flowers out everywhere in the city.) They took me to see the movie Quartet while I was there, which was utterly delightful. It is a movie about a home for retired musicians, and the process of putting on a gala concert there. Everyone's performance was marvelous, and the whole film was utterly charming. One of the best things about it is that many of the roles were played by retired professional musicians, not actors, and Dame Gwyneth Jones had a cameo. I heartily recommend it. You can watch the trailer here.

Today's link is Maggie Smith being interviewed. Even though she clearly is not the biggest fan of tooting her own horn, she is quite funny, charming, and honest!

Weekend Concert/Service calendar

Hey, it's Holy Week! So the chances of great choral concerts are more slim, but there is a lot of good choral music going on this week! Feel free to leave a note telling us what crazy-awesome music is going on at your church this weekend.

And if you are on the South Shore, stop by First Parish Cohasset at 10 am on Sunday, where you can fill your needs for Handel and Sweelinck and folk and gospel all at the same place!

Audition announcement!

This is an audition announcement for any sopranos looking for an a cappella singing opportunity during Wednesdays before noon. The Notables, a group that I used to direct, is looking for both soprano 1's and 2's. They are a tremendous amount of fun, and a really generous group of ladies - the purpose of the group is to go sing in retirement homes in the MetroWest area. Details are below!

NEEDED!!!

SOPRANOS (I and II)

for a

WOMEN’S A CAPPELLA GROUP

“THE NOTABLES”

• 16 member FUN group made up of women of all ages from the western suburbs

• Rehearsals and most of the concerts are Wednesday 9:30-11:30 am, September through May

• Approximately 16 concerts bringing music to a wide variety of independent and assisted living and nursing home venues

• Wide repertoire of songs from the early 1920’s to the 1970’s in 4, 5 and 6 part harmony, occasional kazoos and choreography

• Under professional direction; audition required

Interested? Find out more and come see us sing!

Contact : Alice Moylan 781-899-9397

Kay Wynant 781-894-4102

(E-mail addresses also available, just leave a comment.)

Great job, Boston Gay Men's Chorus!

I am sticking my head back into the blogosphere to congratulate the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, who gave a tremendous concert today. I was looking around last month for a concert I could share with my college singers, and since the title of today's program was "Seize the Day!" and we sang that song last year, I thought it would be a great show to take them to. I also knew that the BGMC often has a Broadway bent, and lots of my kids like Broadway, so it seemed like a great fit. I had no idea how right I was!

I didn't think anything was going to be able to top Ricky Ian Gordon's multi-movement work Only Heaven, settings of the poetry of Langston Hughes that was arranged for the BGMC and also stunningly danced by two great dancers, Christian Bufford and Bradley Gibson. This is a work that people should absolutely look into (solo sopranos, it was originally a song cycle for you!) Kudos are also due to the Wellesley High School Select Choirs, who sang in the middle of the show. But Stephen Schwartz's work Testimony, based on words from the It Gets Better Project, was definitely the high point for me - it brought me to tears. It was written for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, whose performance is in the video below. Hearing a stage full of hundreds of gay men singing full-throated and full-hearted "It gets more than better, it gets amazing and astounding" was a really powerful moment. The concert is over now, as today was the last performance, but you can hear "Testimony" below and you can go to the BGMC's next performance! I was very impressed at their professionalism and quality; they really assembled a program that perfectly played to their strengths and had a powerful emotional impact. Bravo, guys!

 

Harvard Women's Chorus Festival!

Guess what Cantilena is doing this weekend? We are participating in the Harvard Women's Chorus Festival!

Cantilena will be singing in the concert on Saturday at 4 pm at Sanders Theater. We are going to be doing quite the mix of music, including the most Romantic, angst-y piece you've ever heard, by d'Indy, as well as stuff by Eleanor Daley, Roger Bourland, and Irving Fine. And we have some good company, so come to this concert!

(Related to the above, this weekend is ALSO going to necessitate the most careful and accurate application of caffeine to my system that I have ever been required to balance!)

Friday cat post

A little bit of humor. Hat-tip to my brother.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Do you have any choral concerts this weekend? Let us know!

Monday link

"What Every Music Teacher Wants You to Know"

#4 is the absolute best one. "We didn’t go into teaching music because we wanted to get better at math. We want what we do to be valued for its own purpose. We want people to think it’s important to have music in schools, well, just because it is! Imagine your life without music."

Yes, that.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Did anyone plan ahead, and schedule some concerts for this weekend, when there are very few choral concerts going on? Let us know in the comments!

Cantilena CD release

Hey look, I'm in the papers! Happy New Year to me!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Anyone got any New Year's Eve gigs? Let us know in the comments!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Christmas feels late this year - lots of Sundays in December, and Thanksgiving was early. But we're almost to the finish line, musicians of Boston! Tell me what you have going on this weekend.

Monday link

Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.

This trailer is about an orchestra in Paraguay where the instruments are all recycled. Pretty great! Looking forward to seeing the movie.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Put your feet up on a little pillow by the fireplace, have some eggnog, and tell me about all your choral concerts this weekend.

Messiah Sings Post 2012!

Here it is, the annual Messiah Sings Post! I am a little late off the mark this year, but this has been quite the busy semester, and it shows no signs of stopping. For that reason, I am going with a more spartan list this year - just the date and the organization. You can click through the links for all the other information! Links to events passed included at the bottom so that you can mark your calendar for next year if you like; the same organizations will probably be hosting.


Thurs. 12/13: Brandeis University

Fri. 12/14: Masterworks Chorale

Sat. 12/15: Masterworks Chorale

Sun. 12/16: St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church and the Cambridge Community Chorus

Sun. 12/16: Nashoba Valley Chorale

Sun. 12/16: Assabet Valley Mastersingers

Sun. 12/16: St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Weston

Wed. 12/19: Cathedral Church of St. Paul

Sat. 12/22: JP Concerts

Sun. 12/23: Belmont Open Sings


Sings that are passed:


Date unknown, but passed: Roxbury Latin

Sun. 12/2 (passed): St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Brookline

Thurs. 12/6 (passed): Dunster House at Harvard University

Fri. 12/7 (passed): All Saints Parish and Project Bread

Sun. 12/9 (passed): Sudbury Memorial Congregational Church

Sun. 12/9 (passed): Carter Memorial United Methodist Church

Mon. 12/10 (passed): Choral Art Society

Did I miss any sings, past or yet to come? Please leave a note in the comments!

Monday link

Very awesome video with Marin Alsop about conducting and gender. She makes SUCH a fabulous point about gesture. About 3 min. long. Hat-tip to Amy Kiley for sending me this!

Friday cat post

Trained cats!Trained by an enterprising kid, no less. Hat-tip to my brother.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

OK, Choruses of New England. Battle for your audience this weekend. Go!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

It is the BEGINNING...of the DECEMBER CONCERT SEASON! Boogah, boogah, boogah. Don't worry, I'm sure there's enough eggnog to see us through it. Got any concerts this weekend? Let us know!

UNLESS it interferes the following (and then I don't want to hear about it!):

Cantilena's Winter Concert: La Belle Epoque and Beyond! Music of Poulenc, Caplet, d'Indy, Boulanger, Delibes, and others. 4 pm, First Parish Arlington, on Sunday, Dec. 2.

FOLLOWED BY:

Cantilena's CD release party! 5:30 pm, also at First Parish Arlington on Sunday, Dec. 2.

A good time will be had by all in the French style. What more could you want?

Friday cat post

Via Shakesville. Cheers to all - hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Happy Thanksgiving! If you have a concert this weekend, I'm not sure what I think of your management, but let us know if we should take the relatives to any choral concerts this weekend!

Friday cat post

Where should a cat sit? Sometimes there's an easy answer.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Singing any choruses in public this weekend? Well, I think you're mad, quite mad, but let us know about it in the comments!

Monday link

Robert Page is retiring. Big shoes to fill!

Friday cat post

Cats in wartime. Via Sylvia Berry.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

I officially give you permission to be self-aggrandizing. What are you doing that we should know about this weekend?

Sporadic Friday Cat Post

My brother found a kitten crying under the deck a few weeks ago, and so (long story short) now he and his wife are a 2-cat household! The new denizen is called Porkchop. She is very cute!

Porkchop and Oomi apparently do not get along, but they get along WAY better than the two cats in our household, Samson and Kitty, who cannot be in the same room without trying to kill each other. January will see Operation Acclimate the Cats. Baby gates may be involved.

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Concert season is heating up; let us know if you have anything we should be sure to attend this weekend!

What do they teach in these schools...

Classes that they REALLY ought to require for your degree in Choral Conducting:

• Math 101: Scheduling
• Math 203: Scheduling
• Math 405: Scheduling
• Design 101: How to lay out attractive recruitment and concert posters
• Design 102: What the hell is up with that Facebook timeline thing
• English 101: Writing a Decent Resume
• English 102: Writing a Decent Press Release
• English 201: Writing a Decent Newsletter Update
• English 202: Writing a Decent Blog Post
• Social Media 101: Twitter, Facebook, and You
• Social Media 201: Surviving a Discussion Thread on Choralnet
• Comp 101: E-mail: How Mohammed Dealt With the Mountain
• Comp 201: E-mail: Mailing Lists: Getting Off Them
• Comp 301: E-mail: Mailing Lists: Getting Other People On Yours
• Advanced Seminar: Carpentry 400, or Dealing With Your Board
• Advanced Seminar: Econ 400, or Getting Above Minimum Wage
• Advanced Seminar: Public Relations 400, or Explaining Why We're Not Doing That John Rutter/Eric Whitacre Piece

and finally:

• Score-Reading 400: Because you'll never have time to practice, so you'd better be able to sight-read deez notes!

What'd I miss?

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Got something to promote? Promote away!

Free ticket offer!

Hey there, concert-goers: an opportunity for FREE tickets!

If you would like to go to either of La Donna Musicale's upcoming performances, then be the first to e-mail ladonna@ladm.org. Mention that you saw the offer on this blog; feel free to use the code ALLEGRAISAWESOME.

Soprani Virtuosi!

Friday, October 26th at 7PM
First Church in Cambridge
11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA

Sunday, October 28th at 4PM
United Parish of Brookline
210 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

We are pleased to introduce internationally known opera singer Robert Crowe, a 1995 National Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition. He returns to Boston after many years singing leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe. Mr. Crowe will delight us with both flashy virtuosity and heart-rending pathos, recreating the musical world of the fabled castrati. Joining him will be a rising star, Colombian soprano Camila Parias. Together they will summon Eros with their intertwining harmonies as they sing duets of 18th-century composer Maria Antonia Walpurgis and 17th -century composers Maria Nascinbeni and Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana. Music by Camilla de Rossi and the great educator of female musicians Antonio Vivaldi will top off our concert.

Robert Crowe, Camila Parias, soprani
Laura Gulley, Joy Grimes, violins
Jane Starkman, viola – Janet Haas, violone
Ruth McKay, harpsichord - Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba, director

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Are you singing this weekend? Are we allowed to come? Let us know in the comments!

Tuesday job annoucement

Calling all organists and accompanists! A friend of mine is the music director at this UU/UCC church, and they are looking for an organist. She is super-easy to work with; check it out!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Are you getting gussied up to perform this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

Concerts!

I am busy this weekend!

Tonight, as previously mentioned, I'm singing in a concert with Schola Cantorum. We're doing Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Romancero Gitano with Aaron Larget-Caplan on guitar, and also Victoria's Missa O Magnum Mysterium, among other things. Singing with Schola is always an utter delight.

And tomorrow, I'm singing in a concert with the Video Game Orchestra at Symphony Hall! I'm pretty sure this is my Symphony Hall debut, and it is going to be an extremely cool concert. It's really a window into another musical world for me; the world of video game music is not one I've had a lot of contact with, but we have a number of guest composers who are going to be there, and we'll be doing music from Final Fantasy, Grandia, Kingdom Hearts, Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid and Chrono Trigger. Details about the concert are here.

One of these things is definitely for you, I'm sure; so that means I will definitely see you this weekend!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Got any concerts coming up? Have at it in the comments!

Come hear Schola Cantorum this weekend!

This weekend Schola Cantorum is doing a very cool concert. We are performing a set of pieces by Castelnuovo-Tedescho that are settings of de Lorca poems. The work, Romancero Gitano, is for mixed chorus and guitar, and it's very cool! We'll also be doing Victoria's Missa O Magnum Mysterium and some other works by Spanish composers. I hope you can come! Saturday at 8 pm in downtown Boston!

Monday link: Help me out!

This Monday link is quite special!

My women's chorale, Cantilena, has set up a deal with Amazon whereby if you buy on Amazon through a certain link, a percentage of the proceeds go straight to us.

I know there are a number of non-profits who have set up this deal with Amazon, and it is such a simple way to benefit us. If you go to www.cantilena.org and scroll to the bottom of the front page, there is a button you can click that will take you directly to Amazon. Any purchase you make when arriving at Amazon from our site will be credited to our total, and at the end of each month a percentage (between 4% and 8%, depending on volume) of the monthly total will be deposited in our bank account.

Please give this a try the next time you buy anything on Amazon!

Thursday Self-Promoting Open Thread

Got any performances coming up? Let us know about them in the comments!

THAT post

Gentle reader,

It's time for THAT post. The one where the blogger says, "I am so busy! So I won't be around much, but I will definitely be back to blogging in [set time period]."

Generally it is followed by a post six months later saying, "I'm back! Ready to blog!"

And then there is total radio silence for about a year.

Well, I am hoping the last bit of that story doesn't necessarily happen, but blogging is going to be EXTREMELY light this semester. I'm teaching Music Appreciation 101 this semester for the first time, and anyone who has taught a 3-times-a-week lecture class for the first time knows how much work that entails. Add my church job (starting a kids' choir in October!), my auditioned chorus Cantilena, my college and retirement home choruses, and Anthology, not to mention some freelance singing work, I'm going to be pretty busy.

I will still try to post occasionally, but the Weekend Concert Calendars are going to be a self-publicized affair. I'll put up an open thread every Thursday morning, and you should feel free to publicize any concerts (of any kind, doesn't have to have a chorus) yourself. And I hope to get back in the blogging saddle sometime in December after finals!

For now, since it's Thursday, if you have any exciting concerts this coming weekend, let us know in the comments!

Monday link: Well played, Spain

Do flash mobs ever get old? Discuss.

And while discussing, watch this! (Hat-tip to NR.)

Musica Sacra auditions!

Musica Sacra, one of the most excellent of the many excellent choruses in the greater Boston area, is having auditions!

Musica Sacra is seeking low altos and BASSES for the upcoming season! Musica Sacra has sung in Cambridge and Boston for over 50 years, 30+ of them under the direction of conductor Mary Beekman, who is known in the Boston area for her inspired programming. A diverse selection of both sacred and secular music, ranging from the 15c Flemish to the newly-composed, with everything in between. Rehearsals on Wednesdays, 7 - 10PM. Auditions will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2012. (Please contact us if you cannot make that date.)

If you would like to arrange an audition time, please email us at info@musicasacra.org. You are not required to prepare a piece for the audition, but you will be asked to sight read. Please be sure to include your voice part in your email. Auditions and rehearsals are held at Harvard Epworth Church in Harvard Square.

Hey chorus managers - you too can get me to plug your chorus's auditions and events on this blog if you offer me a pair of free comp tickets on a regular basis, as Musica Sacra so generously does. *cheesy wink*

Friday Cat Post

Did you know it's Black Cat Appreciation Day?

You can also "like" the ongoing Black Cat Appreciation page on Facebook.

Yay, black cats! (Samson and Oomi approve, I'm sure.)

Monday link

Always good to have a reminder about the importance of mindful practice!

Commission opportunities

This just came across my desk - economical commissioning opportunities for choral composers!

Details are here - this project is particularly aimed at choral conductors who have never commissioned a piece, but is open to all. Correction: this project is ONLY aimed at conductors who have never commissioned a piece before.  Consider participating if you:

• Have always wanted to commission a piece, but have never had the money.
• Would like to set a particular poem, or need more music for a particular theme.
• Are programming multiple settings of a particular text, and could use a modern perspective.
• Would like to honor someone special to your organization with a special work.
• Have never commissioned a piece - if this is the case, IT IS TIME.

I personally believe that performing new music is an extremely important part of being a performing musician today. Participating in the larger musical community and collaborating with other musicians, particularly composers, is an aesthetic obligation. I myself have commissioned 2 pieces for Cantilena, and we are commissioning another this year! So that's 3 pieces in 4 years. Never mind the 20 pieces in under 5 years that Anthology has commissioned.

This project makes the commissioning process, which can be intimidating, very easy, straightforward, and stress-free, so it is a great way to get involved. Be sure to let us know when your premiere is!

Urban Voices farewell

I kept forgetting to share this, but it's really fantastic, so even though it's not quite timely anymore, here it is!

For the past four years I've taught through the Urban Voices program at the Mission Hill School in Roxbury. This was my last year - I'm going to be teaching a Music Appreciation class at Lasell College in addition to my work there with the chorus, and so I won't have time to continue working at Mission Hill. I'm hoping to go back next year just to visit, though, because those kids are pretty great!

As are the teachers. When I e-mailed them in May that I would be leaving at the end of the school year, I got this e-mail, verbatim, from one of them. I think people should communicate like this all the time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOYO6hsbgv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdOvOzqGqPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj96QFzOL5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RAbLMY6BN8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdiN0sW-wVU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snihdG1rE0Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_3-S6sZchc

Centenarian singer

Earlier this summer one of the singers in my chorus at Lasell Village, Erna Rosenberg, passed away at the age of 100 (almost 101!) She had a solo in our April concert - in Cole Porter's "Let's Do It." Her obituary is here.

Now you know - no excuse to stop singing until you're at least 100!

Summer singing opportunity!

A summer singing opportunity, for those of you in the Boston area! This came into my inbox this morning.

PLEASE FORWARD

For the Mercury Orchestra’s upcoming performance of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé in Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, the Orchestra is looking for experienced classical choral singers to join the new 100-member Mercury Orchestra Chorale, directed by Channing Yu. The Chorale is an all-volunteer, no-pay/no-fee ensemble. Because of the abbreviated rehearsal schedule, the Chorale is best suited for singers who can prepare the score on their own. Rehearsals Aug 5, 12, 15, 17; concert Aug 18.

Auditions for singers will be held on Sunday, July 29, 2012 (afternoon) and Tuesday, July 31, 2012 (evening) in the Chorus Room at Symphony Hall. All auditions are by appointment only. Please schedule an audition using our audition form here:

http://www.mercuryorchestra.org/chorale

Singers who are current active members of selected area choral ensembles may be able to join without an audition; please complete our form to inquire about this possibility.

Friday cat post

If you truly cannot get enough of cute cat videos, then you are in luck - there is a whole festival just for you!  Hat-tip to my mother.

Brahms' Requiem: The Major Third Motive

So I am currently preparing for my lectures tomorrow at Lasell Village, and for the "Ten Greatest Choral Works" class I am working on the Brahms' Requiem, and trying to come up with some things for them to listen for.

And one thing that really annoys me, as one of the procrastinators of the world, is that all kinds of sites have program notes and essays about this piece, and they give you the exact same bit of tiny information.

"A German Requiem is unified compositionally by a three-note motif of a leap of a major third, usually followed by a half-step in the same direction. The first exposed choral entry presents the motif in the soprano voice (F–A–B♭). This motif pervades every movement and much of the thematic material in the piece." (via the Wikipedia article)

Well, that's very nice, but where else is it? Nobody will say. Some of us are preparing at the last minute here! How about throwing us a bone? Where else does this motive show up? Nope, everyone seems to have just cribbed from the Wikipedia article. (Like I wanted to do, except there's not enough info!)

So HERE, for anyone ELSE preparing a lecture last minute on the Brahms' Requiem, are some other places that the motive of a rising major third followed by a rising half-step occurs.

Movement 3, m. 164, if you put the bass and tenor lines together, on the words "I hope"

Movement 3, m. 173, the beginning of the fugue subject (the tenors have it first) on the words "The righteous souls" (actually just "the right--") and of course whenever else the fugue subject comes in

Movement 4, m. 4-5, the first three notes of the soprano melody, on the words "How lovely", and whenever else the melody reoccurs.

Movement 6, m. 208, the first three notes of the fugue subject (the altos have it first) are this motive in reverse (descending half step followed by a descending major third) on the words "Lord, you are worthy." Provides kind of a nice contrast to the corresponding fugue in Movement 3.

Movement 7 obviously reincorporates the material from Movement 1.

This is just after a 10-minute glance through the choral score. Anyone have any other points where this motive occurs? Want to argue that Brahms used an inversion of it somewhere? Leave a comment! Help the future procrastinating music lecturers of the world!

Opportunity for choruses - Lenox Caroling Festival

Hey, folks! It's nearly August, which means it's nearly time for choral directors to be hip-deep in Christmas music. And some of you might be interested in this letter which came across my desk. I don't yet know if I'll be participating in any way - I suspect not, given the timing in December - but it does look like fun, and the prizes are pretty good!

As a fellow choral director in Massachusetts, this letter is to give you some advance notice regarding the 2nd annual Lenox Caroling Festival which will take place on Saturday December 8, 2012.

Following the tremendous success of last year’s Festival, we wanted to give you an early lead on next year’s plans. Please take a moment to look through our materials and contact us if you are interested and have any further questions.

The Caroling Festival is a competition that will take place at outside locations on each of the village’s main streets. The winning groups will be determined by 50% popular vote, and 50% judge’s vote at each location. Voting will be done by distributed ballots that will be filled in by the spectators at each venue, who then turn them in at participating retail locations. Festive dress, while not required, is most appreciated.

The prizes are as follows:
First prize: $2,000
Second prize: $500
Third Prize: $250

Choirs must have a minimum of ten participants, and do not need to bring an entire choir to qualify as long as the minimum is met. Priority times and singing locations will be given on a first come, first served basis, and we would be happy to schedule your choir around any other singing commitments you might have for that day or weekend.

In case of inclement weather the festival will be relocated indoors in one of many historic churches and public buildings. We also have many additional performance opportunities both on December 8th and 9th for visiting choirs. Please contact us for details.

A final showcase performance for all participating choirs will occur at 5:00pm on the day of the Festival, the end of which the winners will be announced.

Please visit: www.lenoxcarolingfestival.org for a video and further details and an application form. Thank you for your interest.

Audition notice!

Calling low altos! Looking for an a cappella singing opportunity?

I have several friends in the group the Random Chants, a great local a cappella group. They are all totally delightful people, so you should consider auditioning!

*****

Random Chants is holding auditions for a new Alto II in the next few weeks. Our Alto 2s take on some pretty low notes, so auditionees need to be able to solidly hit a low D (below middle C) - anything lower is highly prized! Interest in vocal percussion or arranging music is a plus, though not required.

We practice weekly in the greater Boston area. We're hoping to find others like us -- women who... love to sing, enjoy a wide range of songs, and are willing to do some practicing on their own time. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact us at auditions@randomchants.com and we will fill you in on the audition details!

Note: At this time we are only auditioning Alto 2s. If you are interested in other voice parts (Soprano 1 or 2, Alto 1), please contact us and we'll be sure to let you know about future auditions. Go ahead and friend us here on Facebook or if you are not already a part of our mailing list, please sign up ( http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/random_chants/ ) -- either way, you won't miss any audition or upcoming gig announcements.

Thanks!

-Random Chants

Monday link - required reading!

This article from Salon, called "No sympathy for the creative class," should be required reading. It's long, but worth it. In fact, I beg you to read it - it is so descriptive of my own life right now. In some ways, I am protected by the arts-loving city I live in; but even amongst the support, I get a strong sense that art is just "play" from anyone not actually working in the field.

Last week we celebrated what is American - how about this week we think about the direction we want our society to go, and the things about our cultural expectations that we could stand to change?

A few quotes:

"“There’s always this sense that art is just play,” says Peter Plagens, a New York painter and art critic. “Art is what children do and what retired people do. Your mom puts your work up on the refrigerator. Or the way Dwight Eisenhower said, ‘Now that I’ve fought my battles, I can put my easel up outside.’”"

"Our image of the creative class comes from a strange mix of sources, among them faux-populist politics, changing values, technological rewiring, and the media’s relationship to culture – as well as good old-fashioned American anti-intellectualism.

"Creativity is a form of expertise,” something a nation that keeps insisting on its status as a democracy has never been entirely comfortable with."

Go read!

Summer Sings, 2012

Well, it's a little late, but here it finally is - the Summer Sing post for 2012! I'm also noting the ones that have passed, just so you have a sense of what everyone is doing (and perhaps next year even if I am late again, you will remember to look up some of these groups!)

Tuesday, June 12 at 8 pm (passed)
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Tuesday, June 19 at 8 pm (passed)
Poulenc's Gloria
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Tuesday, June 26 at 8 pm (passed)
Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem
Conducted by Michael V. Turner, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 9 at 8 pm
Verdi's Requiem
Conducted by Max Hobart, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Tuesday, July 10 at 8 pm
Fauré's Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 16 at 7:30 pm
Haydn's Mass in Time of War
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore
At the St. Mary of the Nativity Parish Center, Scituate

Monday, July 16 at 8 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by William Sano, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Tuesday, July 17 at 8 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 23 at 8 pm
Mendelssohn's Elijah (Part I)
Conducted by Priscilla French, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Tuesday, July 24 at 8 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Jaime Kirsch, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 30 at 7 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Hosted by the Newburyport Choral Society
At the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 7 Harris St., Newburyport

Monday, July 30 at 8 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by David Callahan, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Tuesday, July 31 at 8 pm
Bach's Magnificat
Conducted by Anne Watson Born, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Friday, August 3 at 6 pm
Potluck and Summer Sing, including works by Esther Scliar, Jack Gottlieb, and Ken Langer, as well as Hassler, Lauridsen and Palestrina
Conducted by Ellen Oak, hosted by the Three Rivers Chorus
14 Lincoln St., Maynard

Monday, August 6 at 8 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Jeffrey Brody, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Tuesday, August 7 at 8 pm
Mendelssohn's Elijah (abridged)
Conducted by Katherine FitzGibbon, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
At the Noble and Greenough School, Lawrence Auditorium/Wheeler Music Center, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, August 13 at 7:30 pm

Vivaldi's Gloria

Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by the Choral Art Society of the South Shore

At the St. Mary of the Nativity Parish Center, Scituate

Monday, August 13 at 7:30 pm
Bach's Jesu Meine Freude
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston

Monday, August 13 at 8 pm
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (4th movement)
Conducted by Dirk Hillyer, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Monday, August 20 at 7:30 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston

Monday, August 20 at 8 pm
Handel's Messiah (Part 1)
Conducted by John Koza, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Monday, August 27 at 7:30 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
At Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston

Monday, August 27 at 8 pm
Fauré's Requiem, Rutter's Requiem
Conducted by Paul Madore, hosted by the Paul Madore Chorale
At the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem

Got any more Summer Sings to share? Leave 'em in the comments!

Monday links

This article about going through orchestral auditions for a percussionist spot with the BSO is fascinating. Also kind of depressing.

Are you familiar with Matt who dances around the world? He has another video out, and it's the best yet! This post by Ethan Zuckerman gives some good context for Matt's latest video.