Monday links!

Jeremy Denk, one of the best music writers around, as well as the best pianists, talks about why he hates the Goldberg Variations.

And Emilie of the Public Emilie blog (I love that blog title) talks about how musicians are exploited and why we should get paid a living wage. If you do not make the bulk of your income by performing and/or teaching music, then this is required reading for you! (If you do, then you already know all this, but it's nice to be validated.) Key sentence: "Because music is [others'] hobby, I fear they assume it is mine." But really, go read the whole thing.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 3/22/12

Whoops, the beautiful weather made me forget about putting this together. This is an extremely incomplete calendar this week - please augment in the comments?

And - come hear me sing with the King's Chapel Choir on Sunday at 5 pm! We're doing a program called "Mysticism in Music." It will featuer the poetry by George Herbert and John Donne set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Thomas Bold, Howard Helvey, Eric Sawyer, Hilary Tann, and others. It's a great program, and a great ensemble, and there will be a great reception afterwards!

Saturday:

• Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum with the University of Cologne Chamber Choir, selections from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, motets by Mendelssohn, and Barber’s Reincarnations, 8 pm, Brookline
• Cappella Clausura, "Mistress: A Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of America's First Poet, Mistress Anne Bradstreet", 8 pm, Cambridge
  

Sunday:

• Coro Allegro, Handel's Dettingen Te Deum and Coronation Anthems and the presentation of the Fifth Annual Daniel Pinkham Award to Donald Teeters, 3 pm, Cambridge
• Cappella Clausura, "Mistress: A Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of America's First Poet, Mistress Anne Bradstreet", 4 pm, Jamaica Plain
• King's Chapel Choir, "Mysticism in Music," 5 pm, Boston
  
• Oriana Consort, "The Many Voices of Spring," 5 pm, Cambridge
• The Apollo Club of Boston, Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus, Highland Glee Club, "Brothers, Sing On!", 3 pm, Weston (mistakenly listed last week - oops!)
  

Did I miss anything? This week I know I did - leave it in the comments!

Monday link #2 - veggies!

Two Chinese brothers play musical instruments made entirely out of vegetables.

Monday link - an audition!

Want to be part of the area premiere of an a cappella opera? OperaHub is performing Michael Ching's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and information about auditions for leads and chorus is here.

Friday cat post!

Conspiracy Cat says:



Courtesy of my brother.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 3/15/12

Celebrate spring with a little choral music! Some good stuff in the suburbs this weekend; suburbanites be sure to check out the list!

Friday:

• Masterworks Chorale with special guests Treble Chorus of New England, "J.S. Bach and Sons, Inc.: A Celebration of Motets!", 8 pm, Cambridge

Saturday:

• Freisinger Chamber Orchestra, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, 1:30 pm, Boston
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo, presented by World Music/CRASHarts, 8 pm, Cambridge
  
• The Spectrum Singers, "A 20th Century Choral Kaleidoscope", 8 pm, Cambridge
• Cappella Clausura, "Mistress: A Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of America's First Poet, Mistress Anne Bradstreet", 8 pm, Newton

Sunday:

• Cantata Singers, "The Passion: works of Brahms, Liszt, Demantius, and Bach", 3 pm, Boston
• The Apollo Club of Boston, Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus, Highland Glee Club, "Brothers, Sing On!", 3 pm, Weston
• The Oriana Consort, "The Many Voices of Spring", 3 pm, Waltham
  
• Emmanuel Music, "The Splendour of the Baroque", 3 pm, Rockport

And next Thursday at 5:30 pm, the Amherst College Madrigal Singers will be at St. John the Evangelist in Boston.

Did I miss anything? Want to promote your own concert? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link - opera!

How about a little exciting opera for a Monday? Andy Ihnatko lays it all out for us. First we get to hear a show-stopping aria by a wonderful Met soprano, Kathleen Kim - then, when she gets sick in the middle of the run, by her understudy Rachele Gilmore who, as Ihnatko puts it, "doesn’t necessarily need to protect her voice for the next two weeks of performances." It's all here!

Friday cat post!

Cat gets stuck in organ in Connecticut. But she's fine now!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 3/8/12

It's a good choral weekend!

Friday:

• MLK Morehouse Glee Club, "MoreJazz Scholarship Weekend Concert," 7 pm, Boston
  
• Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, 8 pm, Cambridge
• Boston Choral Ensemble, "Butterfly Dreams," 8 pm, Cambridge
  

Saturday:

• Choral Art Society, "Celtic Cabaret!", 6 pm, Hingham
• Back Bay Chorale, Bach's St. John Passion, 8 pm, Cambridge
• Labyrinth Choir, "We Who Believe in Freedom," 7:30 pm, Lexington
  
• Musica Sacra, "Piteous Beauty - Vaughan Williams' Mass in g minor and Scarlatti's Stabat Mater"; 8 pm, Cambridge

Sunday:

• Quincy Choral Society, "Love is in the Air," 2 pm, Quincy
• Zamir Chorale and Trinity Choirs, works of Bernstein, Rossi, Lewandowski, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, and more; 3 pm, Boston
  
• Arlington-Belmont Chorale and the Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus, "Almost Spring: American Composers, American Authors," 3 pm, Arlington
• Boston Choral Ensemble, "Butterfly Dreams," 3 pm, Boston
• Boston Boy Choir, adult choir from St. Paul's and the All Saints (Ashmont) Choir of Men and Boys, Parsons' Ave Maria and Howells' Collegium Regale Magnificat, 3 pm, Cambridge
  
• Assabet Valley Mastersingers, Beethoven's Mass in C and Rutter's Mass of the Children, 3:30 pm, Southborough
  
  

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Friday cat post!

Hero cat!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 3/1/12

You have an opportunity this weekend that does not come along very often, and that is to hear a performance of the Britten War Requiem. It is an extremely powerful piece, and because of the forces a performance must gather together, it is not as easy to put together as a Mozart or a Verdi or a Brahms. Do yourself a favor and go see it!

You have ANOTHER opportunity as well, and that is to see Anthology premiere a new program! 3 pm at the Beacon Hill Friends' House on Sunday, March 4 - don't miss it! We're doing a program of wedding music, so if someone you know is getting married, you should definitely come check it out.

Saturday:

• Chorus pro Musica, the Providence Singers, and the Boston Children's Chorus (with the New England Philharmonic), Britten's War Requiem, 8 pm, Cathedral of the Holy Cross, South End, Boston
• Mystic Chorale, Annual Gospel Concert, 8 pm, Boston
• Master Singers of Lexington, "The Art of the State: Songs and Choruses from These United States," 8 pm, Lexington
• New England Classical Singers, "Eternal Light: A Musical Meditation," 7 pm, North Andover
• Chorus North Shore, "“Bravo! Encore! Favorites from Chorus North Shore: 80 Years of Choral Performances," 8 pm, Ipswitch

Sunday:

• Anthology, "Songs from the Heart", 3 pm, Beacon Hill Friends' House, Boston
  
• Mystic Chorale, Annual Gospel Concert, 3:30 pm, Boston
• Chorus North Shore, "“Bravo! Encore! Favorites from Chorus North Shore: 80 Years of Choral Performances," 3 pm, Gloucester

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday links

Maestro Dudamel visits Elmo on Sesame Street.

Congrats to Meryl Streep on her Oscar win last night! Here, she talks to Terry Gross about how her opera training helped her acting.

Singers had better be careful when they go to North Carolina! I wonder what the punishment is.

Stephen Colbert and Placido Domingo together - can't go wrong!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 2/23/12

I'm not going out to any concerts this weekend, because I'm going to be testing for my second degree black belt on Sunday. But you should get out there and enjoy yourself!

Friday:

• Berklee College of Music Gospel Ensemble, NEC Community Gospel Choir and the Endicott Singers, "Gospel Journeys", 7:30 pm, Beverly (more info here.)

Saturday:

• Boston College University Chorale, Mozart's Coronation Mass and other selections, 2:00 pm, Chestnut Hill

Sunday:

• Labyrinth Choir, "We Who Believe in Freedom", 2 pm, Framingham
  
• Nashoba Valley Chorale, Harvard Pro Musica, and the Indian Hill Symphony Orchestra, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Haydn's Harmoniemesse, 3 pm, Littleton
• Eliot Church Singers, "The Choral Singer's Art", 3 pm, Newton
• Una Voce, Halalisa Singers, Vessels of Honor, GBCCA Choral Society, and Charles Street A.M.E. Gospel Choir, "Many Voices, One Song", 7 pm, Boston (more info here.)

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday links

I was at the ACDA conference last week, so I'm a little behind on everything. Here, have some links that I myself have not had time to read! Tell me if they're interesting.

On concert silence...

A deaf and hearing children's choir in Africa...

A lego harpsichord...

The lifespan of the voice...

Do you have any links we should look at?

Friday cat post!

Having trouble sleeping? Then imitating some of these kitty sleeping poses will probably not be the least bit of help.

Monday links

RIP, Whitney Houston.

I never became a strong fan of her most well-known pop tunes, but in college I discovered the soundtrack to the movie The Preacher's Wife, and it is still one of my all-time favorite albums. There is some GREAT gospel on there. (Thanks to both Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir, who are no slouches.) I sang the song "Step by Step" as I biked across the country in 2001, and nothing can top that version of "Joy to the World." Whitney, we'll miss your effortless voice and joyful singing. We wish we could have had more of it, but we're happy for the "Joy" you brought while you were here.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 2/9

I have two concerts coming up this weekend with Schola Cantorum - Friday in Boston, and Sunday in Providence. Please join us for one of them - there are some very silly madrigals on there in addition to some very beautiful motets!

Friday:

• Schola Cantorum, "The Folly of Love: Motets and Chansons by Lassus and de Rore", 8 pm, Boston

Saturday:

• Master Singers of Lexington w/ the Clarke Middle School Choruses, Annual Children's Concert, 3 pm, Lexington
  
• Libana, Music and Dance from Women Around the World, 8 pm, Littleton

Sunday:

• Schola Cantorum, "The Folly of Love: Motets and Chansons by Lassus and de Rore", 3:30 pm, Providence
• Soweto Gospel Choir, presented by Celebrity Series Boston, 3 pm, Boston
  
• Heritage Chorale, "Pops Diamond Jubilee", 4 pm, Framingham
  
• Scituate High School Select Choir w/ South Shore Interfaith Choir, Fundraiser for the Scituate Food Pantry, 4 pm, Scituate. More info here (scroll down).
• Concord Five Choirs Festival, works by Bruckner, Mendelssohn, and others, 4 pm, Concord
  
• Libana, Music and Dance from Women Around the World, 7 pm, Easton
• Boston Camerata, "The Game of Love", 8 pm, Boston

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link

Producers in England are looking for a bass to sing the lowest-ever-written-note for a choral bass part in the new work by Paul Mealor. More details are here - Boston basses, represent! Via my mother.

Friday cat post!

Cats make everything better! Even - especially? - great art!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 2/2/12

Folks, I only have found one choral concert going on this weekend. Which seems crazy - tell me what I missed? But this one choral concert is a doozy! You want to be there! It's:

The 33rd Annual New England Conservatory (NEC)
Thomas A. Dorsey GOSPEL JUBILEE

Featuring!:

• The Reverence Gospel Choir of Berklee College
• The Herbet S. Jones and the Inner Strength Gospel Choir of Boston University
• Linda Brown and Lesley University's Gospel Choir Unity
• David Coleman and the Third Day Gospel Choir of Tufts University
• The UNITY Gospel Ensemble of Northeastern University
• The NEC Community and Millennium Gospel Choirs

It's THIS SUNDAY at 3 PM at NEC's Jordan Hall in Boston.

Be there or be square!