Back to Work

Christmas has, overall, been fairly relaxing and like most people, I have not wanted to return to the impact of the daily routine. So even though I love to sing more than life itself, I wasn't necessarily thrilled that it was again time to return to having my time rigorously scheduled.

Rehearsals began for me on Monday. Fortunately, the group was pretty chill and the rehearsal went well without any stressful or tense moments. We read through several pieces, tried a few different keys and voice assignments, and have found 4 pieces that we know we would like on our next concert. I was asked to solo a Ciconia piece and I am hoping to solo (duet or trio) a couple more pieces (as yet undetermined) from the Cyprus Codex (compiled ca.1413 - 1422). I'm sure people will make proposals of pieces they'd like to do via email throughout the week and we'll read through those next Monday.

Tuesday evening, I go through the process again with another ensemble.

There is also daily voice work and practising other instruments. So much to do while the Christmas holiday continues.

I Have Returned!

Friday September 17th, 2010

After a couple of months away from the blog, I have returned!

The rest of my Summer was a busy one indeed. After my vacation in Santa Fe, I returned home to continue with appointments with my dentist and ENT. I had several visits with each. My teeth have been cleaned, dental work done, and I now have braces. I have had a tonsillectomy and have pretty much recovered.

Both the dental and ENT work were done to improve my appearance and general health. Both of which are important to my career.

Last week, I returned to rehearsals with Coro. I had received lovely e-mails from members of the choir while I was in the midst of all the medical and they were glad to see me upon my return. We had an excellent rehearsal.

This concert set includes:

Guillaume Dufay (August 5, 1397? – November 27, 1474)

"Missa Sine Nomine"

"Ma Belle Dame Souverainne"

"Alma Redemptoris Mater"

Johannes Ockeghem (1425-1497)

"Alma Redemptoris Mater"

"Salve Regina"

Antoine Busnois (c. 1430 – November 6, 1492)

"Votre Beaute/Vous Marchez"

3 different Kyrie's

Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)

"La Messe de Nostre Dame"

I think that I am doing a couple of pieces, as well. :-)

Keep you posted on that.

Taverner Concert

Later today I will be performing in the Taverner "Western Wind Mass" concert set at the Berkeley Early Music Festival.

I've not been to this venue before, so I need to leave a little extra early to make sure I find parking. I've heard from fellow singers that the room in which we'll be performing is quite lovely and that the acoustics are nice. We'll have a bit of a pre-performance rehearsal and then the excitement begins.

After the concert, I'll be changing out of performance garb and traveling to another destination for a rehearsal for Friday nights' "Trecento" concert. It will be a very full day of singing.

Thursday through Saturday, the venders will be set up at First Congregational Church to offer their services and wares. I need to get a bow rehaired and I am curious to see what exciting music A-R Editions will be bringing.

Berkeley Early Music Festival

It's that time, once again, for the bi-annual Berkeley Early Music Festival. "BFX Ten", as it is being called this year, has a large selection of concerts, lectures, and vendors to explore. Musicians from various parts of the globe congregate in Berkeley every other year to perform, share information, and spread the beauty of Early Music.

I am performing in 2 different fringe concerts during the heart of the festival with Coro Ciconia. We are reprising the "Trecento" concert from April, in addition to a second concert centered around Taverner's, "Western Wind Mass".

Rehearsals for each of the 2 concerts have alternated from rehearsal to rehearsal and we have increased rehearsals the past week in preparation for the festival.

I have yet another rehearsal tomorrow before the "Western Wind" performance on Wednesday, which will be followed by a rehearsal for the "Trecento" concert. So I'll be singing a lot on Wednesday! The "Trecento" concert will be on Friday.

Trecento Concert and Day Off

Well, the concert went well.

Pedro Memelsdorff was in attendance, so there was a bit of nervousness within the group. But the group managed to pull it off. :-)

You can imagine, after a week of rehearsals, plus a pre-concert rehearsal before the actual concert, that my voice needed a little rest. So I didn't sing on Monday at all.

Monday was rainy and dreary and since my voice was exhausted, I stayed inside and loaded Logic Studio onto my computer. I recently purchased a 2T hardrive (in addition to the 3 1T's) to partition so I could have several startup drives running specific large programs. All of this, to eliminate (hopefully) any conflicts which would otherwise occur.

It took several hours to upload Logic Studio, even with 12 G of memory. But let me tell you... it totally rocks! I am SO PLEASED! I struggled with ProTools for months with its' depressing interface and magically, I was recording with Logic and its' happy interface within minutes of finishing the installation! It was amasing!

Trecento: Early Flowers of Polyphony

This afternoon is our final rehearsal for our first performance of the "Trecento" music set. This concert will be repeated at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June 2010. We might get a few minutes of a break before the concert begins at 7pm.

Pedro Memelsdorff will be attending. The group is a little nervous since he is considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on the very music we will be performing. Many of the tunes will will perform tonight, his ensemble, Mala Punica, has recorded.

We are doing some very interesting pieces by Landini, Jacopo, Firenze, and Ciconia. There are now only 22 pieces on the concert.

My clothes are ready to be donned and I begin warming up once I finish up here. I leave in about 2 hours to head out into the unusually heavy rain to drive the 42 miles to the venue. Sometimes the rain makes for a small crowd at events and sometimes, it bring people out in droves. It will be interesting to see which it is this time.

Concert Week

It's Sunday. Only a week until Coro's preview concert.

The week ahead will be extremely busy with the concert coming up next weekend. I have several rehearsals in preparation for it between now and next Sunday, April 11th. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is an immense amount of music and only one short piece is somewhat easy. Not only are the individual parts challenging, but the ensemble aspect is quite a challenge all in itself.

I have also been offered, and I have accepted, an opportunity to sing with an ensemble in south bay in September. I am slated to sing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit" from "Nisi Dominus, RV 608" and a cantata or other large work of my choice in an all Italian concert set. Pretty awesome. I am considering Pergolesi or Scarlatti for the larger work. There are to be multiple performances of this set of Italian works around the bay area.

That invitation was very exciting.

Here is Andreas Scholl singing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit":

Upcoming Coro Concerts

Wow! I hadn't realised that it had been so very long since I had posted to the blog.

We are working on 26 songs for Coro Ciconia's next concert. It concerns me since it makes the performance much longer than audiences typically prefer. I have a firm belief in, "leave them wanting more". I'm sure that we will trim the program and focus on the best sounding pieces.

This concert set will be performed on April 10th, 2010 at St. Alban's Epicopal Church in Albany, CA. It will be repeated for the Berkeley Early Music Festival on June 8th at the Berkeley City Club.

The following evening, we will present a completely different set of music, the "Western Wind Mass" by Taverner, at the same location.

As seems to be rather typical of altos, I am currently experiencing some sort of sinus/ENT malady. For the longest time, I thought it was just me, but apparently, this is common among altos. We are prone to issues in this area. It would be great if someone in medical research did a study on it. Perhaps it's somehow connected to why it takes altos longer to warm up before singing.

Coro Ciconia Dates

"Trecento: The Earliest Flowers of Polyphony"

April 10th, 2010

7 pm

St Alban's Episcopal Church

Albany, CA

June 8th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

"Western Wind Mass"

June 9th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

Invited Back To Coro Ciconia

Well, it was a very busy concert season. My last post in November was the last time I really had an opportunity to devote any time to the blog endeavor. I couldn't believe that the performance season began so early for me this year. And that I was so terribly busy.

I have been invited back to sing with Coro Ciconia. It seems to be a good fit, thus far. My greatest appreciation for this group is their overt appreciation for having a real alto. Throughout my career, I have witnessed an enormous amount of dismissive attitude regarding altos and alto lines, in general. It has only been in rare circumstances that groups acknowledge the importance of this line and the importance of having a real alto singing it. The real kicker is that most of the time when acknowledgment is given, the alto line and singing voice is only given any real recognition when a man is is singing it.

Coro Ciconia's next concert is on Sunday April 11th; a mere 12 weeks away. I have already received 10 of the pieces. I think there will be about 16 of them. We will be singing Ciconia, of course, along with Jocopo, Landini, Firenze, and other 14th century Tuscan composers.

We will reprise the concert set a couple of times, in addition to a completely different concert program, for the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June. I am really looking forward to this experience.

Coro Ciconia Concert

I had a lot of rehearsals and concerts over the past 10 days.

I increased my obligations this month by adding another singing ensemble. It is an Early Music ensemble. Our Autumn concert was Sunday night (night before last).

It was a fortunate that we were using a huge hall that doesn't have installed seating, because we had more than a full house and had to bring in more seating. The room is mostly wood and very lovely for singing. The house lighting was off and we sang by candlelight.

Our program included works by Josquin des Pres (1440-1521), Johannes Ciconia (1373-1411), Francesco Landini (1325-1397), Vincenzo da Rimini (14th century), Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474), Jacopo da Bologna (ca, 1355-1370), and 2 selections from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (ca.1399).