Weekend Concert Calendar, 10/28/10

Because of Halloween weekend, not so many choral concerts going on, but still enough to fill your dance card!

Friday: On Friday, take a little hike down to Providence to hear Zefiro, a group of eight Renaissance singers. They will be stretching their repertoire with a program called "Meditations," which will include Arvo Pärt's Prayer after the Canon, as well as a cappella works by Parry, Brahms, and more. If you don't want to trek down to Providence to hear them on Friday at 8 pm at St. Stephen's Church, check them out at 8 pm on Saturday closer to home, at the Nave Gallery in Somerville.

Saturday: Or on Saturday, you could also check out the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and Radcliffe Choral Society as they present a program called "Exuberance and Elegance," featuring classics of Tudor England and new America. This concert is a big deal, as it is the debut of Andrew Clark, the newly appointed Director of Choral Activities at Harvard. Sanders Theatre, 8 pm!

Sunday: The Boston Camerata will team up with the choral fellows of the Harvard University Choir to present works by Dufay, Josquin, Marenzio, and Monteverdi. At Memorial Church on the Harvard campus, 4 pm.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 10/21/10

How ironic that I write this entry with earplugs in my ears to blog out the music from my upstairs neighbor, who apparently only ever listens to one piece. Or at least music with one exactly-the-same bass beat. Anyways, moving on. What should you be listening to this weekend?

Friday: Of course on Friday I choose myself! Come to the Schola Cantorum concert tomorrow night (today, by the time you read this) at 8 pm at St. John's on Bowdoin St. in Boston. We will be doing a pile of English Tudor music, including Byrd's Mass for 4 Voices. And I have a solo on one of the Tomkins pieces! We are repeating this concert in Rhode Island on Saturday and Sunday; see the website for details.

Saturday: Since both were gracious enough to give away tickets on this blog, obviously Saturday is a tie between Musica Sacra (Rutter's Requiem! Schütz's Musikalisches Exequien!) and the Boston Cecilia (Mendelssohn! Schubert!) Musica Sacra is at 8 pm at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge, and the Boston Cecilia is at 8 pm at All Saints Parish in Brookline.

Also on Saturday: Power Sing with Nick Page, Brandeis University Chorus.

Sunday: On Sunday, go see Simon Carrington direct Canto Armonico and members of the Harvard Baroque Orchestra in a performance of a new critical edition of CPE Bach's Magnificat at 3 pm at First Lutheran Church in Boston.

Did I forget anything? Leave it in the comments!

Ticket winners!

I'm happy to announce the winners of the ticket giveaway. Shannon Rose is going to the Boston Cecilia concert, and Curious Patient is going to the Musica Sacra concert. Curious Patient, could you please e-mail me your real name? Otherwise you will have to go to will-call and ask for the tickets being held under Curious Patient. For real, I'm telling their manager that tomorrow morning!

Ticket giveaway!

This is a very special week, as we have TWO ticket giveaways for concerts this weekend! They are on the same day, but life is full of tough choices.

The first concert is Musica Sacra, who have paired two great works together for what will no doubt be a very intense evening. They will be performing John Rutter's 20th century Requiem with the 17th century Musikalische Exequien by Heinrich Schütz. This concert is this coming Saturday, 10/23, at 8 pm, at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge (close to Harvard Square.)

The second concert is The Boston Cecilia, who are going Romantic with a program of Mendelssohn and Schubert. Tenor William Hite will be featured on the program, as well as pianist Barbara Bruns and up-and-coming mezzo-soprano Eileen Christiansen. (Please note: even if you don't win this pair of tickets, you can still get a two-for-one deal deal on the Boston Cecilia website if you use the code OCT50.) This concert will also be this coming Saturday, 10/23, at 8 pm at All Saints Parish in Brookline.

If you want a pair of free tickets to either of these concerts, leave a comment on this post before Wednesday at 6 pm, and tell me which concert you would want to go to, and what the last choral concert you attended was. I will choose one comment at random for each of the free pair of tickets. (Although if you truthfully tell me you have never been to a choral concert, I am throwing the random thing out the window and you are definitely getting one of the pairs!)

Monday link

You may have heard by now of the "It Gets Better" project. Started by always NSFW sex advice columnist Dan Savage and in honor of Billy Lucas, a queer teen who committed suicide in September, this project asks LGBTQ folk to make a video talking to younger LGBTQ people who may be threatened, harassed, bullied, depressed, or otherwise going through tough times, to encourage them, tell them they are not alone, and assure them that their lives will get better. Many, many folks have contributed wonderful videos already, including both celebrities like Tim Gunn and my own friends.

Here is NYC's Youth Pride Chorus and their contribution to the It Gets Better Project.

Friday cat post!

Let's check in with Oomi, shall we? What's she been up to?

Well, as you may remember, she is now a sometimes-outdoor kitty! Time for a game of Where's Waldo Oomi?

But she's not outdoors all the time.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 10/14/10

It has BEGUN. In my opinion, at least. The choruses, they are rolling out their first concerts, and the season is off to a good start! This is also the first week I will be challenged to stick to my new format, where I recommend only one concert per day. I know it's going to be good for getting a decent amount of sleep on Thursday nights, but it's hard to choose!

Friday: I think I have to pick the concert I'm going to, right? Probably the only concert I will get to this month that I am not performing in. BEMF presents Stile Antico, a Renaissance choir from Britain. Publicity folks make a big deal of the fact that they have no conductor and are self-directed, but with a dozen Renaissance singers having no conductor is pretty much the only right way to do it in my opinion (somebody up there conducting music with no bar lines only gets in the way); more exciting to me is the fact that they are supposed to be truly excellent.

Also on Friday: the Orpheus Singers.

Saturday: This is a good weekend for Renaissance music! If you go to Stile Antico on Friday, then you can go to the Blue Heron concert on Saturday and see how the home team holds up against them furriners! They will be singing music by Ludford and Aston from the Peterhouse Partbooks. Blue Heron are hot stuff; if you love early music and you have never been to one of their concerts, then you should be ashamed of yourself! And fix that this weekend.

Also on Saturday: the Orpheus Singers, Lorelei Ensemble, Boston Conservatory Combined Choruses.

Sunday: My pick for Sunday is "Halleluyah" at Emmanuel Church. Boston Jewish Spirit and Emmanuel are presenting an interfaith concert, featuring the Zamir Chorale under Joshua Jacobson, the Orpheus Singers under James Olesen (who are also giving two other concerts this weekend, see above) and the Spectrum Singers under John Ehrlich. This concert is a program of choral music celebrating the sesquicentennial of Emmanuel Church and the fifth anniversary of Boston Jewish Spirit. All three of these groups are great; all of them together should be fantastic!

Also on Sunday: King's Chapel Choir and Soloists, the Seraphim Singers, Belmont Open Sings, Music Arts Alive, Vox Lucens, Harvard University Choir, Cappella Clausura.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link

RIP, Joan Sutherland. Thanks to friend AS for bringing this to my attention.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 10/7/10

It's Columbus Day weekend, so concerts are still a little thin on the ground (didn't find any choral concerts on Friday night) but next week things really get rolling!

Saturday: Check out the BSO's performance of Mahler's 2nd, "The Resurrection Symphony" at 8 pm. Levine is back on the podium, and everyone is all a-flutter! (Also next Tuesday.)

Sunday: Exsultemus performs the Italian madrigals of Palestrina at 3 pm. (Also Saturday at 8 pm.) This is their core repertoire; it should be exquisite.

Also on Sunday: the monthly Boston Sacred Harp sing.

Monday link

It's not choral, but it sure is fun! The comedy troupe Axis of Awesome explains the Four Chord Song. NSFW! (Stand-up comedy, you know.)

(I'm not sure this is a fair critique of pop songs of the last 40 years, since it completely leaves out any variation that might exist in the bridge, for one thing, but it's still hilarious.)

Friday cat post!

So, I am sadly aware that I have missed the last two Friday cat posts. And you all must be wondering how Samson is. (Or, y'know, not.) Samson is fine...the dirty truth is that it turns out I am terrible at taking pictures of him. I mean, really. They are not good pictures.

To fix this, I think we should have WAY MORE guest spots on this blog. Do you have a cat? Want your cat to have its 15 minutes of fame? (Er, "fame"?) Drop me a comment, and we'll tawk.

In the meantime, here is an example of why I need photographic help. This is Samson trying to scratch his face on my feet. I mean, it's cute, but really, it's not an aesthetically pleasing photograph.


In other cat news, I was introduced to the funniest cat-related website ever by my new organist. (That deserves a whole excited entry of its own!) It is a website called "Simon's Cat" and features wonderful animated films about a very, er, personality-filled cat. The first one is a classic. Samson behaves quite a lot like this in the morning, although luckily without the denouement, and happily for me only when he perceives that I am waking up anyways. I also recommend this one for my mother in particular, who may recall a similar incident.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 10/1/10

Hm. Choral concerts are thin on the ground this weekend, let me tell you. I can only offer you a couple of options on Sunday. (Friday and Saturday I suggest you explore other musical genres.)

On Sunday at 2:30 pm, you could attend one of the Cantata Singers Chamber Series concerts, titled "Vocal Chamber Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Friends." It will be at the Edward M. Pickman concert hall at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.

Or, you could go to the Paretsky Center at Simmons College in Boston, and hear "Jaguza! Celebrate the Children of Uganda" where the Ugandan Martyrs Choir will perform with other native African singers to benefit the Malaka Fund, a non-profit based in Jamaica Plain.

That's all I got!

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday links

busy day today STOP no time for full sentences STOP go read about clothing and posture STOP interesting that they chose to do that first experiment with women not men don't you think STOP samson sends his greetings

Weekend Concert Calendar, 9/23/10

Concerts are not yet thick on the ground, this being September, but what there is is quality stuff!

On Friday, be sure to go to Emmanuel Music's performance of Alexander's Feast by Handel. This is new music director Ryan Turner's debut concert with the group, so you will want to be there to check him out! The usual roster of extraordinary singers will be there, along with the choir and orchestra, and the estimable and amiable Donald Teeters will be giving the pre-concert lecture at 7 pm. Located at Emmanuel Church in Boston, naturally.

On Saturday, go support Blue Heron by attending their Season Preview Event. Starting at 6 pm in the Chapel of the Episcopal Divinity School, you can hear samples of the 2010-2011 season, have some food and drink, and meet the musicians.

On Sunday, you can attend Opera Harvest, a gala benefit for the Boston Singer's Resource. The Boston Singer's Resource is a great, well, resource for singers in Boston - for one thing, they are one of the primary websites I use to create this here Weekend Concert Calendar, and for another, they are my primary source for audition notices. In addition to the venerable Robert Honeysucker, some of Boston's best young singers will be performing, including my fellow Anthology member Michelle Vachon! The festivities start at 3 pm at the Hamilton-Wenham Community House in South Hamilton.

Also this weekend on Friday and Saturday, check out the Contemporary Americana Festival.

Did I miss something? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link

I kind of fell down on the Weekend Concert Calendar and the Friday cat post last week. Oh, well, this week is a new week. Samson is still doing well; he got cat grass today, which he seems to like. (This seemed a good idea after I noticed him chomping on my bamboo plant.)

Today's link is the group Cantus singing "There is Sweet Music Here" by Daniel Gawthrop. Very lovely performance. (Cantilena singing this piece in December, along with his classic "Sing Me to Heaven.")

Quick audition thoughts

Cantilena just had our first round of auditions last night (there are two more weeks of auditions, so you still have a chance to try us out!) This means that today I got to call people and tell them that they were either in or out. I try to do this on the phone, because it just feels like I owe them at least that much.

And I want to say that I LOVE it when people say, "Can you tell me why I didn't get in?" YES! I can! And I really want to! Because I want you to continue to sing, and I want you to have an honest picture of your own voice, and I especially want to give you lots of advice on how to improve, so nothing would make me happier than to tell you why you didn't get in. In a gentle and constructive way, of course. If I just spent 20 minutes discussing your voices with members of my chorus last night, I definitely want to spend 2 minutes today discussing it with you.

So. It might feel awkward, people, and you might want to get away, or get off the phone as soon as possible, but please, ask me why you didn't get in! I will tell you. And honestly, I think it usually makes people feel better. The truth will not hurt as much as your own imagination.

This is on my mind because all the people I had to turn down today asked this question, and I thought it was very excellent and brave of them.

Monday link

You thought reviews of classical CDs were boring? Think again, my friend. And then check out Vice Magazine's reviews of recently released classical CDs. Pretty hilarious. Via Life's a Pitch, who gives you a rundown of the highlights. Be sure not to miss the very last review.

Friday cat post!

Samson is looking around because I am putting his dinner on the floor.

Also, via various sources, check out IKEA's new ad involving 100 cats let loose in an IKEA store. Here's a video about the ad being made; here's the ad.

Tickets!

While I am thinking about it, I'm interested in doing more ticket giveaways on the blog this year. So, consider having your chorus donate a pair or a pair of pairs of tickets; I'll announce the concert on the blog during your performance week, and whoever comments first gets free tickets. Run it by your chorus manager and let me know.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 9/9/10

Not too much going on this weekend, as the year is just getting rolling. However, you should be auditioning for choruses! Check out the Boston Choral Consortium's website first; then also look at the Boston Globe. And good luck at your auditions!

Saturday:

7:30 pm: Calliope; "Pious" - works by Copland, Mendelssohn, and more. Old West Church, Boston.

[As I mentioned, I'm going to be starting a new, less time-consuming format for the concert calendar, but since I only found one choral-related concert this weekend, it's a little moot.]

Monday link

OK! It's September! Time to throw off the the laziness of summer and get back to blogging! I am going to try to get back to regular Monday links, Thursday Weekend Concert Calendars, and Friday cat posts, hopefully with some actual content and thoughts sprinkled in there as well. Maybe on Tuesdays. The Weekend Concert Calendar format is going to change, though, so that it doesn't take me hours each week; I'll pick one concert per day that I think looks really stellar, and just list the names of the other ensembles who also have a concert on that day. (This saves time both with layout and data entry, and with googling countless churches to find their website addresses.) So I'm more imitating Jeremy Eichler's Classical Picks format.

Since it is Monday, here is your Monday link! This is courtesy of my mother. Freshman theory students of the world, memorize this and you have already aced your semester.

Friday cat post!

I am beginning to think that the only pose I will ever be able to catch Samson in is the pose of "I am baffled; why are you not petting me?"

Vocal Coaching for Choirs

This is a note for any conductors who happen to pop by the blog.

My voice teacher Emily Romney, who also teaches at Longy, is available to coach choruses and choirs in the area on vocal technique. She came to Cantilena last year, and worked with us on a number of issues including breathing, posture, diction, and getting rid of tension in the jaw and tongue. We were singing a lot of complex poetry last semester, so the diction was particularly helpful; I also got a lot of enthusiastic feedback from the chorus about how she helped improve their technique. She enjoyed working with us so much that she decided she would like to do this with other choruses, so she put together a PR sheet on what she is offering. I highly recommend having her come and do a session with your chorus; even if you are well-versed in vocal pedagogy, it's always useful for people to hear the same good ideas from a new source! Information is here.

PSA over! Time to go see how my cat is holding up in this heat. Did you know cats don't sweat? (Well, only through their paws, which is not so efficient.) However, Samson is currently lying in a sunny window, so apparently he's fine.

Friday cat post!

Finally - it is the day that (a few of) you have been waiting for! Time to meet...my new kitty!

This is Samson.

He is 2.5 years old, and I got him from a shelter a week and a half ago. He is very cuddly and fairly conversational; he is extremely good-natured; he is occasionally interested in playing, but pretty much always interested in having his head scritched, and if you use only one hand to do it, he will nudge the other hand because clearly that hand should be scritching him also. He also has the softest hair ever; petting him is an extremely addictive activity. He always wants to be near me, and follows me from room to room; he prefers to be curled up with some part of his body touching mine. He is, in short, totally darling.

"What are you doing with that clicking flashing contraption? Shouldn't you be scritching my head?"

Cantilena auditions!

Like everyone else, Cantilena will be holding auditions this fall; we are looking for strong women singers in every voice part, and especially at the very high or very low ends. Here are the details!

Cantilena, a womenʹs chorale directed by yours truly, is an ensemble of approximately 30 singers dedicated to performing music written for the treble voice. Our challenging and diverse repertoire spans the fifteenth to the twenty‐first centuries and includes works in many different languages and musical forms. We strive for a harmonious blend of voices and musical excellence in our performances.

Our repertoire this fall includes Brahms' "Four Songs for Women's Chorus, Two Horns and Harp", Holst's "Choral Hymns from 'The Rig Veda', Group 3", selections from Randall Thompson's "The Place of the Blest," and two pieces by Daniel Gawthrop. Our spring will be a celebration of madrigals, concentrating on Roger Bourland's settings of texts by Dickinson and Alarcon. (Of course, there will be a dash of Morley and Weelkes as well, and also possibly...Kodaly? You'll have to just come and find out!)

Rehearsals are on Monday evenings from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM at the First Parish
Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington Center. The fall season runs from the first
Monday after Labor Day to the concert date in early December. The spring season runs
from the first Monday after New Yearʹs Day to the concert date in early May.
Cantilena holds open auditions at the start of each season. Members generally have
prior choral experience and either some sight‐reading ability or a very good ear. If you are interested in auditioning, we ask that you come to one of the first three rehearsals in September or January, sing with us, and then stay afterward for a brief audition with our artistic director (moi!) and audition committee. There is no need to reserve a spot, and no preparation is required. The audition consists of vocal exercises, tone matching, sight-reading, and singing a familiar tune of our choosing.

2010‐2011 Audition Schedule

Fall Season
September 13, 2010
September 20, 2010
September 27, 2010

Spring Season
January 3, 2011
January 10, 2011
January 17, 2011

Leave a comment if you are interested in more information!

Anthology in the recording studio!

Hear ye, hear ye! We are taking a break from our non-existent summer blogging to announce that my quartet Anthology is in the recording studio! And we are soliciting assistance - click here to find out how YOU, yes you, can help!

Things I believe I already knew, but forgot: wow, recording is exhausting. When we get done with an afternoon's session, I am completely wiped out. Good thing I don't have a busy summer!

Friday cat post!

Oomi continues her outdoor explorations!

Friday cat post!

My summer blogging has trickled to basically nil; I moved on July 1, and then promptly went to a week-long seminar on conducting at Eastman. I'm back now, and currently trying to dig myself out of boxes ("dig" being a term that I wish was closer to exaggeration) and meet some programming deadlines for next year. Things may pick up in August, so check back then. For now, I present a very exciting picture of Oomi - my brother reports that "Oomi is becoming an outdoor cat - she's exploring the deck for the first time!"

Summer Sings

Here is this year's list of Boston-area summer sings! As you can see, there's quite a lot to choose from, and you can sing Fauré's Requiem in particular as many times as your little heart desires. This is a great way to keep in vocal shape over the summer, so get out there and have some fun!

Tuesday, June 15 at 8 pm (passed)
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Tuesday, June 22 at 8 pm (passed)
Fauré's Requiem
Conducted by Michael Turner, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, June 28 at 8 pm
Brahms' Requiem
Conducted by Paul Madore, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Tuesday, June 29 at 8 pm
Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass
Conducted by John Ehrlich, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Tuesday, July 6 at 8 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Katherine FitzGibbon, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 12 at 8 pm
Haydn's Mass in D Minor
Conducted by Valerie Taylor, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Tuesday, July 13 at 8 pm
Bach's Mass in B Minor (part 1, Kyrie and Gloria)
Conducted by Steven Karidoyanes, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, July 19 at 8 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by David Callahan, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Tuesday, July 20 at 8 pm
Rutter's Requiem
Conducted by Jane Ring Frank, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Wednesday, July 21 at 7:30 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Barry Singer, hosted by the Arlington-Belmont Chorale
Arlington Center for the Arts , 41 Foster Street, Arlington

Monday, July 26 at 8 pm 7-9 pm
Fauré's Requiem and Schubert's Mass in G
Conducted by Danica Buckley, hosted by The Choral Art Society
First Parish Cohasset, 23 North Main St, Cohasset, MA
Edit: Note the time correction! Don't be an hour late!

Monday, July 26 at 8 pm
Handel's Messiah (selections)
Conducted by Dirk Hillyer, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Tuesday, July 27 at 8 pm
Poulenc's Gloria
Conducted by Anne Watson Born, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, August 2 at 7:30 pm
Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
Old South Church, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square, Boston, MA

Monday, August 2 at 8 pm
Rutter's Requiem and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (vocal portions only)
Conducted by John Koza, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Tuesday, August 3 at 8 pm
Mozart's Requiem
Conducted by Amy Lieberman, hosted by the Masterworks Chorale
Lawrence Auditorium, Wheeler Music Center,
Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham

Monday, August 9 at 7:30 pm
Fauré's Requiem
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
Old South Church, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square, Boston, MA

Monday, August 9 at 8 pm
Orff's Carmina Burana
Conducted by Max Hobart, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Monday, August 16 at 8 pm
Haydn's Mass in Time of War
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
Old South Church, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square, Boston, MA

Monday, August 16 at 8 pm
Vivaldi's Gloria and Fauré's Requiem
Conducted by William Sano, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Monday, August 23 at 8:00 7:30 pm
Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes
Conducted by Betsy Burleigh, hosted by Chorus pro Musica
Old South Church, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square, Boston, MA

Monday, August 23 at 8 pm
Mendelssohn's Elijah (with cuts)
Conducted by Paul Madore, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Monday, August 30 at 8 pm
Verdi's Requiem
Conducted by Jeffrey Brody, hosted by The Paul Madore Chorale
Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA

Did I miss any? Leave the information in the comments, and I'll add it to the list!

Friday cat post!

Referring back to a classic, I give you "Oomi in a box: Part Deux."

Friday cat post!

I know I've been falling down a bit with the cat posts (last one was a month ago?!?) but we have an extra-special one today. Thanks to my globe-trotting parents, we've had pictures of Chinese cats and Turkish cats; now we have an Icelandic kitty from my brother and sister-in-law's recent trip to that island!

My brother says, "This cat was hanging out in a sculpture garden, then followed us for a few blocks out of the sculpture garden along with another cat."

Weekend Concert Calendar, 6/18/10

There's not a lot going on this weekend - except me! My quartet Anthology will be performing a concert of jazz and folk at the Taylor House B&B tonight (Friday) at 7:30 pm. Come for the music, stay for the incredibly scrumptious spread that Taylor House always puts out for their concerts. Hope to see you there!

And...this will be the last Weekend Concert Calendar until the fall - I'm going on summer vacation. Keep your eye on calendar.boston.com if you want to know what's going on!

Summer sings start tonight!

I'm working on a comprehensive list of summer sings, but since it's not done yet, I wanted to give you a heads-up about a sing happening tonight! Masterworks Chorale is having their first sing tonight. It's the Brahms Requiem, and it will be at 8 pm at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham. Check out their summer sings page for more information!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 6/10/10

The choral year is winding down with the academic year - get to a choral concert while you still can!

Friday:

7:45 pm: Arlington-Belmont Chorale with the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra; "Annual Pops Concert"; Arlington Town Hall.

8:00 pm: Boston Gay Men's Chorus; "Divas: Gay Pride Weekend"; Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston.

8:00 pm: Church of the Advent Choir; "Mass Appeal!" (includes Monteverdi's Missa da capella a sei voci fatta sopra il motetto “In illo tempore” del Gomberti and the Mass for Double Choir by Kenneth Leighton); Church of the Advent, Boston.

Saturday:

8:00 pm: Boston Pops Gospel Choir; "Gospel Night"; Symphony Hall, Boston.

8:00 pm: Blue Heron Renaissance Choir; "The Virgin and the Singer" (motets for Mary by Ockeghem and others); First Church Cambridge, Congregational.

Sunday:

1:30 pm: Melisma; Spanish and English Renaissance music; College Avenue United Methodist Church, Somerville.

4:00 pm: Youth pro Musica; "How Can I Keep From Singing?"; First Unitarian Society, Newton.

7:00 pm: Boston Gay Men's Chorus; "Divas: Gay Pride Weekend"; Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston.

Did I forget anything? Leave it in the comments!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 6/3/10

Air-conditioning broken? Go to a choral concert!

Friday:

8:00 pm: Boston Choral Ensemble; "Beg/Borrow/Steal"; First Church Cambridge.

Saturday:

7:30 pm: Polymnia Choral Society; "Spring Pops in Melrose!"; Memorial Hall, Melrose.

8:00 pm: Mystic Chorale; 20th Anniversary Concert and Sing; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: Voices Rising; "A Choral Tribute to Dance"; First Church Boston.

Sunday:

2:30 pm: Mystic Chorale; 20th Anniversary Concert and Sing; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

2:30 pm: Boston Choral Ensemble; "Beg/Borrow/Steal"; Old South Church, Boston.

2:30 pm: Voices Rising; "A Choral Tribute to Dance"; Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge.

3:00 pm: The Apollo Club of Boston; Spring Concert; Nahant Town Hall.

3:00 pm: Chorus pro Musica; Carl Orff's Carmina Burana; Jordan Hall, NEC, Boston.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 5/27/10

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! As far as concerts go, I have next to nothing. You can check out Renaissance quintet Melisma on Friday at 8 pm at the College Avenue United Methodist Church in Somerville, where they will be singing some Spanish and English Renaissance music. Or you could check out the Boston Opera Collaborative's evening of operatic trivia and performances, hosted by Ron Della Chiesa, at 8 pm on Saturday at the Dante Alighieri Society in Cambridge. But other than that, get outside and enjoy the lovely weather!

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Anthology in the Globe!

Anthology made it into Thursday's "g"-section of the Globe! Awesome! Check it out! AND we are one of the editor's picks in the Boston Phoenix!

This is simultaneously awesome and intimidating!

Friday cat post!

I know I forgot to do one of these last week, but this week's makes up for it!

My parents were visiting my brother and sister-in-law last weekend and my dad got this shot of Oomi. I believe it requires no explanation.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 5/20/10

First off, self-promotion! I have two big concerts coming up this weekend with my a cappella women's quartet, Anthology! We are doing a program of all new music - everything on the program was written for us by a composer in the Boston area. We have worked really hard on this concert, as you can imagine, and I would love to see as many of you there as possible!

A little more detail: We asked eight composers to write music on the theme of Light and Dark. The resulting works span an incredible diversity of styles and texts. We will be structuring the program so that each piece is performed twice, giving listeners more opportunity to appreciate and absorb the music. This year's composers are Peter Bell, Jonathan Breit, Brian John, Stefanie Lubkowski, Nikan Milani, Steven Serpa, Tony Solitro, and Po-Chun Wang.

Times and places:
Fri May 21 at 8 PM: Saint John's, 35 Bowdoin Street, Boston, MA
Sun May 23 at 2 PM: Christ Church Cambridge, 0 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA

Please come! Especially if you are a fan of new choral music!

Also, I guess there is some other stuff going on this weekend too.

Friday:

8:00 pm: Anthology, of course!; "Light and Dark"; Saint John's, Boston.

8:00 pm: Lexington Pops Chorus; Robert Ray's Gospel Mass and other works; Hancock Church, Lexington.

8:00 pm: Cambridge Community Chorus; "A Spring of Liberation and Freedom"; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Saturday:

8:00 pm: Musica Sacra; "Mary's Playlist: Choral Favorites from Thirty Years of Programming"; First Church Congregational, Cambridge. (I'm very sorry I'll miss this - I really do think Mary Beekman is easily one of the best concert programmers in the city.)

8:00 pm: Cappella Clausura; "Barbara Strozzi and Isabella Leonarda, Mistresses of the Italian Baroque"; Episcopal Parish of the Messiah, Newton.

8:00 pm: Lexington Pops Chorus; Robert Ray's Gospel Mass and other works; Hancock Church, Lexington.

8:00 pm: The Concord Chorus; Bach's St. John Passion; St. Camillus Parish, Arlington.

Sunday:

2:00 pm: Anthology, bien sur!; "Light and Dark"; Christ Church Cambridge.

2:00 pm: Boston Children's Chorus; "This is the Sound of Movies"; Strand Theater, Dorchester.

4:00 pm: Cappella Clausura; "Barbara Strozzi and Isabella Leonarda, Mistresses of the Italian Baroque"; First Lutheran Church, Boston.

And on Tuesday, you can hear the Greater Boston Intergenerational Chorus give their spring concert at 7 pm at First Parish in Watertown.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Back Bay Chorale Bach performance

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Back Bay Chorale's performance of Bach's B Minor Mass. It was quite an enjoyable experience, although it produced quite the internal intellectual quandary in me!

First things first, since I suspect that the vast majority of people to read this will be members of the chorus poking around the internet for reviews. The chorus's tuning was admirable, as was their rhythm; they were crisply in tempo the entire time, no mean feat. And their runs were remarkably clean for a chorus of their size; there was tons of space in the fast passagework, which was absolutely crucial. I really can't say enough good things about that amount of space in the phrasing. The majority of the singers were quite engaged, but there were some members who needed to get out of their books more (ahem, I noticed a few tenors in particular.) The orchestra was also very good; I especially enjoyed the flute solos.

The soloists were all extremely classy. Kendra Colton's instrument is a little too heavy for Bach for my taste, but her execution was flawless, and Krista River, Aaron Sheehan, and Sumner Thompson, all heavy hitters in the Boston area, were superb. I was also delighted to hear Sonja Tengblad given the chance to shine; I heard her at the Boston Singer's Resource auditions last month and her voice is ever so pretty, although I felt she was pushing a little given the size of the forces and the hall.

I had only one true complaint the entire night, and that for the maestro. Dr. Jarrett, come over here where no one can hear us. Now, I know you are more experienced than I. And I thought your gesture was both precise and expressive, something I envied greatly. You led the entire evening with intense focus and great aplomb. I know a number of your choristers, and they all not only love you, but think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread. And your excellent leadership clearly extends beyond the podium, because on a night with approximately a billion choral concerts the best seat I could get was in the back row of the balcony. But please, please, PLEASE do not mouth the words, especially to your soloists! You have done this before, and it drives me nuts! I admit this is one of my particular pet peeves, and I heartily disapprove of it when done to choruses, but doing it to soloists looks even worse. It gives the appearance you don't trust them and need to micromanage them. You know Krista River will make the magic happen, so please don't mouth at her. However, aside from that, I was amazed that you were able to lead such a large ensemble to such a tight performance of some very dense music.

And the subject of the size of the forces brings me to the main issue that pretty much dominated my experience last night. I'm not an early music expert, but I do love it, and I have always preferred a light, clean, crystalline sound for Baroque music, especially for Bach. I want everything to be as transparent as possible. So looking down at the giant stage with the sizeable orchestra and the massive chorus, I was pretty skeptical, and the Kyrie didn't really shake me out of my skepticism; it sounded like everyone was working very hard to stay clean, and didn't pack a clear emotional punch. But then the Gratias Agimus movement came, and it was really profoundly moving, as was the next chorus movement, the Qui Tollis. And I spent the rest of the concert waffling about questions of size. On the one hand, despite the chorus's rhythmic precision, and the amount of space they left between their runs, the size of the forces really precluded the highest level of lightness and transparency. On the other hand, the slightly slower movements sounded wonderfully rich in a way that a smaller force couldn't have managed. The Sanctus section really exemplified this dichotomy for me; the Sanctus, with its fabulous swingy sound, practically demanded an enormous choir, but then the Pleni sunt coeli, with its nimble runs, begged for a lighter sound. Big choir, little choir? This was the major question of the evening for me. I walked into the concert thinking I knew the answer; I walked out in a state of fluctuating doubt. The concert didn't answer the question; by posing a strong defense of the advantages of a large ensemble (with the Dona Nobis Pacem providing the perfect closing argument) it opened my mind up to the debate in the first place, a debate I hadn't really been open to before. So, well played, Back Bay Chorale.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 5/13/10

Wow, there is a lot going on this weekend. Good luck deciding what to do Saturday, especially. (Provided you're not actually performing, in which case the decision is pretty easy!) I think this is the peak weekend of the spring season!

Friday:

8:00 pm: Arlington-Belmont Chamber Chorus; "Music for a Spring Evening"; First Parish Arlington. Features an encore performance of "Three Poems of L.M.Montgomery" by Kenneth Seitz.

8:00 pm: Cantata Singers; All Schütz program; Jordan Hall, NEC, Boston.

8:00 pm: Exsultemus; "Las Ensaladas of Mateo Flecha"; Union Church, Waban.

Saturday:

7:00 pm: Somerville Community Chorus; 25th Anniversary Concert: "In Praise of Music"; First Church Somerville.

7:30 pm: Braintree Choral Society; Mozart's Missa Brevis and works by Beethoven, Morley, and Vaughan Williams; Thayer Academy Center for the Performing Arts, Braintree.

7:30 pm: Broadband; At the Beacon Coffeehouse; First Baptist Church, Newton.

8:00 pm: Back Bay Chorale; Mass in B Minor by J. S. Bach; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: Cambridge Chamber Singers; "Monteverdi Madrigals (Mostly)"; Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, Boston.

8:00 pm: Brookline Chorus; "The Heart of New England" - works by Argento, Pinkham, Thompson, and Mechem; All Saints Parish, Brookline.

8:00 pm: Convivium Musicum; "Beyond the Gamut: Chromaticism in the Renaissance"; Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston.

8:00 pm: Spectrum Singers; "Fugure: Rising Stars!"; First Church Congregational, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: Exsultemus; "Las Ensaladas of Mateo Flecha"; University Lutheran Church, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: Newburyport Choral Society; "Music from the Romantic Age"; Belleville Congregational Church, Newburyport.

Sunday:

2:30 pm: Newburyport Choral Society; "Music from the Romantic Age"; Belleville Congregational Church, Newburyport.

3:00 pm: Masterworks Chorale; "The American Five: Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, Ives"; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

3:00 pm: Coro Allegro; Davies' Prayers from the Ark along with music of Britten, Barber, Dinerstein, Hindemith, and The Manhattan Transfer; Church of the Covenant, Boston.

3:00 pm: Dedham Choral Society; Brahms' Requiem and Vaughan Williams' Toward the Unknown Region; Jordan Hall, NEC, Boston.

3:00 pm: Exsultemus; "Las Ensaladas of Mateo Flecha"; First Lutheran Church, Boston.

3:00 pm: Trinity Church Choir; "A Festival of Anthems: 20th-Century English Choral Masterpieces"; Trinity Church, Boston.

4:00 pm: The Williams Chorale; Music of Mozart, Pitoni, Haydn and more; Immanuel Lutheran Church, Attleboro.

4:00 pm: Sounds of Stow Festival Chorus; "Springfest: The Works of Eric Whitacre and John Corigliano"; First Parish Church, Stow.

4:00 pm: Choral Art Society; "Earthly Delights: Songs of Land and Sea"; St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Scituate.

7:00 pm: Cambridge Chamber Singers; "Monteverdi Madrigals (Mostly)"; St. John's Episcopal Church, Arlington.

7:00 pm: Convivium Musicum; "Beyond the Gamut: Chromaticism in the Renaissance"; St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Brookline.


Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Cantilena review!

I'm delighted to say that Cantilena got quite a positive review in the Musical Intelligencer. An example of a particularly delightful quote would be: "This is Allegra Martin’s first season as director, and programming is her strong suit." W00t!

I do wish, however, that the reviewer had opinionated more! I would have liked to know her opinions of particular pieces, especially the commissioned pieces. I think perhaps reviewers are not always aware of how avidly the chorus and performers will pounce on reviews as a source of feedback; as someone whose strong suite is programming (ahem, in case anyone forgot that in the last 1.6 seconds) I find it very valuable to know which pieces people enjoyed hearing when thinking ahead to the next season.

I was very happy with the concert; everyone sang beautifully and with great energy. The one disappointment was that the recording engineer totally failed to show up, or respond to any phone calls, so we were left high and dry and did not get to record the concert. The name of that recording engineer would be Michael Breault of Dracut, by the way. JUST in case anyone wants to know!

Cantilena in the Globe!

Cantilena made the g-section of the Boston Globe today! Hurrah for getting into print media! You can see the online version of our blurb here. Don't forget to come to the concert tomorrow!

The Boston Globe also has a delightful article about the Concord Women's Chorus concert, which is happening tonight...but further down in the Classical Notes is the heart-breaking news that the Boston Secession is no more. So sad - this is an enormous loss for Boston.

Friday cat post!

Last week we had Oomi in a bag; today we have Oomi in a cupboard!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 5/6/10

First of all, this is a very exciting weekend for me personally. On Sunday, the chorus I direct, Cantilena, will be performing a program called "Music About Mothers: From the Divine to the Deranged." It is going to be SUPER exciting, and you should all come! I feel very invested in this concert! And we are going to be premiering a piece we commissioned by Michael Veloso, setting poetry of Rachel Barenblat! Basically, you should come, because we will have something for everybody to relate to. 7 pm, First Parish Arlington; be there or miss out!

Friday:

7:30 pm: Treble Chorus of New England; Annual Spring Concert with special guest Dance Prism; Rogers Center, Merrimack College, North Andover.

8:00 pm: The Boston Camerata; "Alexander the Great: Hero, Warrior, and Lover"; First Lutheran Church, Boston.

8:00 pm: MIT Concert Choir; Bernstein's Chichester Psalms; Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: Boston Boy Choir; Duruflé's Requiem; St. Paul's Church, Cambridge.


Saturday:

7:00 pm: Paul Madore Chorale; Bizet's Carmen in concert; Wiggin Auditorium, Peabody City Hall.

7:00 pm: The deVaronistas; Spring Concert; Pleasant Street Congregational Church, Arlington.

7:30 pm: Heritage Chorale; Works by Mozart, Dvorak, and Morten Lauridsen; Wellesley Congregational Village Church.

8:00 pm: Concord Women's Chorus; 50th Anniversary Gala Concert - "American Women of Note"; First Parish Concord.

8:00 pm: Convivium; "Beyond the Gamut: Chromaticism in the Renaissance"; First Church Congregational, Cambridge.

8:00 pm: The Mastersingers of Lexington; Fauré's Requiem and Corigliano's Fern Hill; First Parish Lexington.

8:00 pm: In Choro Novo; "Soar into Spring"; Marsh Chapel, Boston University.

Sunday:

3:00 pm: Highland Glee Club; Spring Concert; War Memorial Auditorium, Newton.

3:00 pm: ENC Choral Union; Haydn's Creation; Wollaston Church of the Nazarene, Quincy.

7:00 pm: Cantilena; "Music About Mothers: From the Divine to the Deranged"; First Parish Arlington. (Conducted by ME!)

7:30 pm: Quincy Choral Society; Brahms' Requiem; Sacred Heart Parish, N. Quincy.


And for G&S buffs, this is the second (and last) weekend of the MIT G&S Players' production of The Gondoliers!

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Friday cat post!

Oomi in a bag!

Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/29/10

Oh, it's that time of year again. Among the thousands of concerts this weekend, you should clearly prioritize the ones I'm singing in! I will be performing music from Spain with Schola Cantorum on Friday in Boston, Saturday in Providence, and Sunday in Brookline. It's a very beautiful program, and a very tight ensemble, and I hope you can make it!

Friday:

8:00 pm: Schola Cantorum; Missa Ave Maris Stella by Victoria, and works by Guerrero, Cardoso, and Lobo; Church of St. John the Evangelist, 35 Bowdoin St., Boston (right near Gov't Center.)

8:00 pm: Handel and Haydn; "Bach Portrait"; Symphony Hall, Boston.

8:00 pm: Halalisa Singers; “A Branch of May: Songs, Chants and Dances from Around the World"; First Parish Lexington.

Saturday:

6:30 pm: Mystic Chorale; 20th Anniversary Gala Bash!; Arlington Town Hall.

7:00 pm: The A Cappella Singers; "Director's Choice"; Fisk Memorial United Methodist Church, Natick.

7:30 pm: New England Classical Singers; "My Spirit Sang all Day," a collection of spirituals, gospel, and madrigals; All Saints Episcopal Church, Chelmsford.

7:30 pm: Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus and the Boston City Singers; Annual Combined Concert; St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley.

8:00 pm: Schola Cantorum; Missa Ave Maris Stella by Victoria, and works by Guerrero, Cardoso, and Lobo; Holy Ghost Church, Providence, RI.

8:00 pm: Neponset Choral Society; Cherubini's Requiem in c minor; St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Foxborough.

8:00 pm: Broad Cove Chorale; 35th Anniversary Concert; Inly School Arts Barn, Scituate.

Sunday:

2:00 pm: Newton Choral Society with the Boston Civic Symphony; Verdi's Requiem; Regis College, Weston.

2:00 pm: In Choro Novo; Spring Concert; Amazing Things Art Center, Framingham.

2:30 pm: The Fine Arts Chorale; All Britten concert; Old South Union Church, Weymouth.

2:30 pm: Neponset Choral Society; Cherubini's Requiem in c minor; St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Foxborough.

3:00 pm: Handel and Haydn; "Bach Portrait"; Symphony Hall, Boston.

3:00 pm: New England Classical Singers; "My Spirit Sang all Day," a collection of spirituals, gospel, and madrigals; Eliot Presbyterian Church, Lowell.

3:00 pm: The Arlington-Belmont Chorale, with the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra; Works by Rossini, Mozart, Fauré, and Schumann; First Parish Arlington.

3:00 pm: Halalisa Singers; “A Branch of May: Songs, Chants and Dances from Around the World"; First Unitarian Society of Newton.

3:00 pm: Memorial Congregational Church Festival Chorus and Bay Colony Brass; works of Rutter and Tallis; Memorial Congregational Church, Sudbury.

4:00 pm: Schola Cantorum; Missa Ave Maris Stella by Victoria, and works by Guerrero, Cardoso, and Lobo; St. Paul's Church, Brookline.

4:00 pm: MIT Concert Choir; Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem; Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge.


For opera buffs, check out the Boston Opera Collaborative's evening of light opera and musical theater "Tonight, Tonight!" For G&S buffs, check out the MIT G&S Players opening weekend of The Gondoliers and the opening weekend of Hot Mikado at the New Repertory Theater. And if you are interested in auditioning for the Christmas Revels, auditions for adults and children are May 2 and 4 - more details at the Revels website!

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Friday cat post!

Oomi says: SMELL MY FEETS!

(I don't even know, guys. My brother is the one taking the pictures, ask him.)

Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/22/10

Well, today you get an abbreviated Concert Calendar, b/c I am busy writing my notes for the upcoming Cantilena concert. (May 9! 7 pm! First Parish Arlington!) There's a lot missing; feel free to leave it in the comments!

Saturday:

8:00 pm: Orpheus Singers; "Music of Elgar and Weelkes; Songs of Love, Nature, and the Soul"; Emmanuel Church, Boston.

8:00 pm: The Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus; Fauré's Requiem and Mendelssohn's Psalm 42; Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Sunday:

3:00 pm: Highland Glee Club; Spring Concert; First Baptish Church, Needham.

3:00 pm: Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus; Benefit Concert for MUSE (Music Serving Elders); Newton Presbyterian Church.

5:00 pm: Cappella Clausura; "Messa Paschale by Cozzolani"; Grace Episcopal Church, 385 Essex St., Salem.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link - The Boston Cecilia concert

Last Friday I had the very pleasant experience of hearing The Boston Cecilia's "When Britten Met Haydn" concert. I got there late (battery died, called AAA, had to get a jump, you know, the old story) so I sadly missed the first piece. But the three pieces I did hear were great! I especially enjoyed the Britten selections, which showed off tenor soloist Aaron Sheehan splendidly. He really has an amazingly pretty voice. And the chorus did wonderfully as always, performing with a great intensity, reaching out and communicating both text and emotion with the audience to a degree that was really admirable. (You can bet I will be mentioning this to my own chorus tonight in rehearsal!)

Sadly, but in these days not too shockingly, The Boston Globe did not review the concert (as far as I can tell.) But happily, there is a new site these days for classical concert reviews. The Boston Musical Intelligencer is a (somewhat new? insiders, fill me in!) site whose goal is to list and review as many classical music concerts as possible in Boston. Keep your eye on them...and check out their very positive review of Cecilia's concert. Says reviewer Brian Jones, "How can a reviewer do justice to a program and performance this fine? Presiding over the entire occasion was the generous spirit, intelligence and musicianship of Donald Teeters, one of Boston’s musical treasures." I couldn't agree more!

Caturday cat post!

Oomi has a catnip mouse!
The new mouse also has a bell.
Watch her chase it through the house,
Just as always, raising hell.

Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/15/10

The spring rush has begun, methinks!

Friday:

7:00 pm: Voices of Imani; Spring Concert; Trinity Chapel, Boston College, Newton.

7:30 pm: Boy Choir of the Choral Academy Dortmund; Program will include sacred works by Rathgeber, Franck, Britten and Faure, selections from several operas, and German folksongs; Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord.

8:00 pm: Boston Cecilia; "When Britten met Haydn"; All Saints Church, Brookline.

Saturday:

8:00 pm: Boston Conservatory Women's Chorus; Kocsar's Missa in A and Kodaly's Quattro madrigali; Seully Hall, Boston Conservatory, Boston.

8:00 pm: The Oriana Consort; "From France: Choral Celebrations ... in chants, motets, choral songs, and Requiems"; First Church in Boston.

8:00 pm: MIT Chamber Chorus; "A Musical Festschrift: Music of Samuel Barber"; Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge.

Sunday:

2:00 pm: Boston Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival; Cohen Auditorium, Tufts University, 40 Talbot Ave, Medford.

8:00 pm: Boston Conservatory Chorale; Orff's Carmina Burana and Barber's Reincarnations; Fenway Center, Boston.

Did I forget anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link

Last Thursday night I went to see the play Opus at the New Repertory Theater in Watertown. Everything I've ever seen at New Rep has been great, and this was no exception. It's a play about a string quartet, and how the members interact with each other. As a member of a quartet myself, I was very excited to see it, although considering the dysfunction of the group onstage, I'm happy to say that it didn't feel entirely familiar. But it all rang very true to life (esp. the passionate conversations about one crescendo in one particular bar) and the acting was truly excellent. This coming weekend is the last weekend, so go see it!

Here is a link to the Boston Globe review; here's a link to the Boston Globe interview with the playwright; and here's a link to buy tickets!

Friday cat post!

Oomi is enjoying the sun just as much as the rest of us - now she can lounge in the sunroom (which is rather chilly in the winter.)

Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/8/10

The concert series that I started at my church in Cohasset is having its final concert of the season this coming Sunday. The Renaissance choir Zefiro (who I used to sing with!) is coming to do a program called "The Spirit and the Flesh." It should be a beautiful day to drive down to a beautiful town on the South Shore. *nudge*

Friday:

7:30 pm: Boys Choir of the Choral Academy Dortmund; Bach's Cantata 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlangt mich, also works by Buxtehude, Telemann and Rathgeber; First Lutheran Church of Boston.

Saturday:

9:30 am: Scott Metcalfe presents a workshop on English Renaissance music; Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord.

7:30 pm: Youth pro Musica and Treble Chorus of New England; World premiere of Kinderkreuzzug ("The Children's Crusade"), by Ralf Gawlick; St. Ignatius Church, Boston College, Chestnut Hill.

7:30 pm: New England Classical Singers; "My Spirit Sang All Day"; Old Town Hall, Andover.

Sunday:

3:00 pm: Chanticleer!!!; Celebrity Series of Boston; Jordan Hall, NEC, Boston.

3:00 pm: Youth pro Musica and Treble Chorus of New England; World premiere of Kinderkreuzzug ("The Children's Crusade"), by Ralf Gawlick; Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord.

3:30 pm: The Oriana Consort; "From France: Choral Celebrations ... in chants, motets, choral songs, and Requiems”; Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge.

4:00 pm: Pilgrim Festival Chorus; Handel's Judas Maccabaeus; The Church of the Pilgrimage, Plymouth.

4:00 pm: Zefiro Ensemble; "The Spirit and the Flesh: Music by Palestrina, Monteverdi, and Duruflé"; First Parish Cohasset.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments!

Monday link

It's been crazy times over at Longy recently, from what I hear - lots of changes. And here's a huge one - Longy might become part of Bard College?

Longy insiders, share your opinions on where the school is headed!

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to share the quote in this morning's order of service at my church. It was written by our minister, Jan Carlsson-Bull, and it really touched me, so I thought I would share.

“Easter is about our readiness to be astonished that the stones of our tombs, whatever form those tombs take, have been rolled away and there we are holding hope when we thought all was lost.”

It is a picture-perfect Easter day here, sunny and warm and exceedingly beautiful. And I am proud and relieved to report that all the music this morning went excellently well. Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Friday cat post!

This week's post features a returning guest star, Toby. Toby is the cat that lives next door to my mother and father in Austin, and he is fond of coming over for visits, and insisting that he has never been fed. This visit occurred a little over a week ago.

"Hello. I've come for a visit. Would you let me in?"

"No, really. I insist. I'll wait."

"Hm, you don't seem to understand. Perhaps I can manage this door myself."

"Well, as long as I'm here, I might as well mark it as my territory."

"Finally. Thank you. What's for tea?"

(The full story actually involves Toby trying to slice off the screen to get through, getting his claw stuck in the screen, and having my mother open the door to rescue him, at which point he sauntered in. Hey, whatever works.)

Weekend Concert Calendar, 4/1/10

It's Easter weekend! Go hear the BSO perform Mendelssohn's Elijah, and if you are a church-goer, go see what your music director has cooked up for Easter. And enjoy the fact that spring and Easter seem to have coincided!