Winding Down and Counting Down

The Winding Down:

Holy week has come and gone, and with it six large choral/organ services in seven days, two trumpets, one ham, scalloped potatoes, and a fair amount of chocolate and jelly beans have been consumed. (OK, I didn't consume the trumpets, perhaps some extra punctuation was warranted there).

The last full day of classes was today, although my last teaching day was last Thursday, so just a few reports to mark and a final exam to set and mark left!

Two shows with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra to sing this week. A fun concert of pops, everything from "O Fortuna" to "Clang Clang Clang went the Trolley", then RES cools down for the year, with only a few rehearsals before break.

The Counting Down:

Da Camera has a few big shows in May. We are teaming up with a sister choir from Calgary, the Spiritus Chamber Choir (their director and I are good friends, and were roommates for sometime around 8-10 years ago). We do one show in Calgary on the 8th, then reprise the show in Edmonton on the 9th.

"Podium" then begins on May 20th in Saskatoon, where our two choirs will meet again to perform a portion of our program at the national choral communities conference. Always a great conference to meet with the conductors from across Canada, hear some great choirs, and attend great sessions on choral music.

My hope is to get over my little case of blog-block by then and be back here in more regular intervals, perhaps highlighting a few of the sessions and choirs that will be featured in Saskatoon.

Miscellaneous:

A typical Edmonton spring weather is having trouble deciding between abnormally warm temperatures, and chilly cold temperatures, sunshine, rain and snow (yes, still snow). Although, not enough rain or snow according to the farmers. It seems the drought will continue this year as it is already dryer now than this time last year. A full fire ban has been in effect already, which is earlier than I can ever remember. Golf season is around the corner, but just when you think the corner is getting close, another night of snow happens (and then drys up by the end of the day). So I'm hopeful that I will be on the course soon.

In fact, the clubs are already in the trunk!