The inaugural concert of the Scona Chamber Singers was a great success yesterday. A near capacity house, and the choir was in very fine form!
And now - I'm exhausted, but have to quickly change gears to conduct Mendelssohn and Bach with Da Camera next weekend, with dress rehearsal #1 tonight. So away from the English repertoire I go, and into the Bärenreiter editions I fall!
Will post more once the dust has cleared - and hopefully link some mp3's of the show.
Showing posts with label project choir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label project choir. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
And then, it was Monday
What a great weekend!
Scona Chamber Singers rehearsals started on Friday for our concert next Sunday, and even though a good portion of the choir was very tired, having not only had ten hours of rehearsals with me, but also a day long retreat with the University choirs for a production of Haydn's Creation which is coming up for them.
I was very pleased with the ensemble though - the focus during the rehearsals was very strong, and we accomplished quite a lot in the weekend process. There were a lot of notes left on the floor, but a substantial amount of progress was made from Friday to Sunday night. We have two more full rehearsals, and a dress rehearsal left next weekend before the concert on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully they will all take the few days away from the full choir rehearsals to look at a few notes. In general though, a lot of great music making was had this weekend.
Here is the program for the "Cathedral Music" concert:
O clap your Hands – Orlando Gibbons
Lift up your heads – Orlando Gibbons
Super Flumina Babylonis – Philip De Monte
Quomodo cantibus – William Byrd
Peccavimus a 7– Christopher Tye
Intermission
I Was Glad – Henry Purcell
O Lord, the Maker – William Mundy
Evening Hymn (solo)– Henry Purcell
Turn Thee unto me, O Lord – William Boyce
O Where shall wisdom be found? – William Boyce
O God Thou Art my God - Henry Purcell
In particular, the De Monte, Byrd and Tye set are proving to be the most challenging, but for most of the younger singers, they haven't been exposed to a lot of this high renaissance polyphony, so it doesn't come naturally. It is however, agreed by all that the music is absolutely beautiful!
Time to put this aside for the day though, and concentrate on Da Camera rehearsal tonight, we are only two rehearsals away from that concert too - and there is a fair amount of work to be done on Jesu Meine Freude tonight.
Scona Chamber Singers rehearsals started on Friday for our concert next Sunday, and even though a good portion of the choir was very tired, having not only had ten hours of rehearsals with me, but also a day long retreat with the University choirs for a production of Haydn's Creation which is coming up for them.
I was very pleased with the ensemble though - the focus during the rehearsals was very strong, and we accomplished quite a lot in the weekend process. There were a lot of notes left on the floor, but a substantial amount of progress was made from Friday to Sunday night. We have two more full rehearsals, and a dress rehearsal left next weekend before the concert on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully they will all take the few days away from the full choir rehearsals to look at a few notes. In general though, a lot of great music making was had this weekend.
Here is the program for the "Cathedral Music" concert:
O clap your Hands – Orlando Gibbons
Lift up your heads – Orlando Gibbons
Super Flumina Babylonis – Philip De Monte
Quomodo cantibus – William Byrd
Peccavimus a 7– Christopher Tye
Intermission
I Was Glad – Henry Purcell
O Lord, the Maker – William Mundy
Evening Hymn (solo)– Henry Purcell
Turn Thee unto me, O Lord – William Boyce
O Where shall wisdom be found? – William Boyce
O God Thou Art my God - Henry Purcell
In particular, the De Monte, Byrd and Tye set are proving to be the most challenging, but for most of the younger singers, they haven't been exposed to a lot of this high renaissance polyphony, so it doesn't come naturally. It is however, agreed by all that the music is absolutely beautiful!
Time to put this aside for the day though, and concentrate on Da Camera rehearsal tonight, we are only two rehearsals away from that concert too - and there is a fair amount of work to be done on Jesu Meine Freude tonight.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Introducing ...
The Scona Chamber Singers!
After a busy fall preparing and planning the aforementioned project choir, everything is now rolling forward! We chose "Scona Chamber Singers" as the name of the ensemble for a few reasons. Back when I did my Doctor of Music recitals, I named my pick up choir the Scona Chamber Choir, which was a group of about twenty four singers. We did two concerts, one a mixed bag of repertoire from de Victoria, through Hindemith and Schnittke, and the other a fairly ambitious production of Bach's Johannes Passion, both of which were quite successful.
This new incarnation of the ensemble will vary in size from project to project. Anywhere from one to a part singing to mid-sized chamber choir numbers, so we decided to go with "Singers" rather than "Choir" to allow for this flexibility. The name "Scona" comes from the area of Edmonton where we will rehearse and perform for the time being, known as Old Strathcona. There are a few other venues and buildings that take on the Strathcona name, including Edmonton's largest farmer's market, a theatre, and a historic Victorian era three story hotel, one of the last remaining wooden structures in the area. And although the hotel's structure is beautiful, it's modern reputation now somewhat sketchier, I still feel it identifies the ensemble as local, without carrying a bold lettered "Edmonton"moniker. If the future is bright (and yes, I have pipe dreams here - but without dreams, where would we be?) the name will carry a national (international?) uniqueness.
The first concert will be on Sunday October the 25th at 3 PM at Holy Trinity Anglican Church (in the heart of Old Strathcona). The ensemble is made up of seventeen of the best choral singers in the Edmonton area, and a few who now make their home in Calgary. The concert is called "I Was Glad - Music from the English Cathedral" and will include music of Orlando Gibbons, Christopher Tye, William Mundy, William Byrd, Henry Purcell, and William Boyce. Aside from Purcell and Byrd, most of these composers are not well known out of Anglican circles, and all of it is fantastic music! I'm quite excited for the first rehearsal next Friday - only one of four to put the nearly seventy minutes of music together.
In unrelated news. summer is officially over today in Edmonton (we tend to go from summer to winter without much of any autumn). Which means the golf clubs and shoes get removed from the trunk, to be replaced by the curling broom and shoes! Time to locate my tuque and mitts! (I had always thought it was spelled toque, but according to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, tuque is the correct spelling - interesting!)
Here is our "long term" forecast for the next few days (0C = 32F)
(Click on image for a larger, and more depressing look).
It's worth noting that today, it isn't that bad - predicted to be about 15C, but when the cold front comes through this afternoon, we are expecting very high, potentially damaging winds of up to 90 km/h (55 mph). Any loose objects are being stored in the garage today! This has been the windiest summer and fall I can ever remember!
After a busy fall preparing and planning the aforementioned project choir, everything is now rolling forward! We chose "Scona Chamber Singers" as the name of the ensemble for a few reasons. Back when I did my Doctor of Music recitals, I named my pick up choir the Scona Chamber Choir, which was a group of about twenty four singers. We did two concerts, one a mixed bag of repertoire from de Victoria, through Hindemith and Schnittke, and the other a fairly ambitious production of Bach's Johannes Passion, both of which were quite successful.
This new incarnation of the ensemble will vary in size from project to project. Anywhere from one to a part singing to mid-sized chamber choir numbers, so we decided to go with "Singers" rather than "Choir" to allow for this flexibility. The name "Scona" comes from the area of Edmonton where we will rehearse and perform for the time being, known as Old Strathcona. There are a few other venues and buildings that take on the Strathcona name, including Edmonton's largest farmer's market, a theatre, and a historic Victorian era three story hotel, one of the last remaining wooden structures in the area. And although the hotel's structure is beautiful, it's modern reputation now somewhat sketchier, I still feel it identifies the ensemble as local, without carrying a bold lettered "Edmonton"moniker. If the future is bright (and yes, I have pipe dreams here - but without dreams, where would we be?) the name will carry a national (international?) uniqueness.
The first concert will be on Sunday October the 25th at 3 PM at Holy Trinity Anglican Church (in the heart of Old Strathcona). The ensemble is made up of seventeen of the best choral singers in the Edmonton area, and a few who now make their home in Calgary. The concert is called "I Was Glad - Music from the English Cathedral" and will include music of Orlando Gibbons, Christopher Tye, William Mundy, William Byrd, Henry Purcell, and William Boyce. Aside from Purcell and Byrd, most of these composers are not well known out of Anglican circles, and all of it is fantastic music! I'm quite excited for the first rehearsal next Friday - only one of four to put the nearly seventy minutes of music together.
In unrelated news. summer is officially over today in Edmonton (we tend to go from summer to winter without much of any autumn). Which means the golf clubs and shoes get removed from the trunk, to be replaced by the curling broom and shoes! Time to locate my tuque and mitts! (I had always thought it was spelled toque, but according to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, tuque is the correct spelling - interesting!)
Here is our "long term" forecast for the next few days (0C = 32F)
(Click on image for a larger, and more depressing look).
It's worth noting that today, it isn't that bad - predicted to be about 15C, but when the cold front comes through this afternoon, we are expecting very high, potentially damaging winds of up to 90 km/h (55 mph). Any loose objects are being stored in the garage today! This has been the windiest summer and fall I can ever remember!
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Project Choir
Over the past six months, I've been working closely with a soprano in the city putting together a professional, project based, choral ensemble. The choir will be sixteen voices and will concentrate on early, Medieval to Renaissance music, with a focus in the early English Tudor school, as well as early baroque German repertoire, including Schütz and his contemporaries. At least, that is the focus this year! We are mounting two concerts this season, one in late October, and one in early January. The choir is made up of professional choral singers from the Edmonton and Calgary area, the rehearsals will be intense, with only six full rehearsals for each concert.
Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the experience of putting together a new ensemble, managing schedules and budgets for a choir which currently has no membership and no capital.
There is a long term goal here, although for now, I think I will take it one concert at a time until we can solidify our membership, and build some kind of sponsorship base, and (hopefully) advances in the grant collecting department.
In other tidbits of news:
Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the experience of putting together a new ensemble, managing schedules and budgets for a choir which currently has no membership and no capital.
There is a long term goal here, although for now, I think I will take it one concert at a time until we can solidify our membership, and build some kind of sponsorship base, and (hopefully) advances in the grant collecting department.
In other tidbits of news:
- it's my birthday tomorrow. My wife also celebrates her birthday tomorrow, and as hers will be the start of a new decade (the one I'm approaching the end of) I threw a sizable party for her over the weekend. It was a great party - and we sure enjoy the ease of having larger gatherings in our new, bigger, house!
- we have our Da Camera retreat this coming weekend - and it seems a good portion of the choir will not be at rehearsal tonight due to a variety of reasons. Does anyone else find that the rehearsals before and after weekend retreats have poor attendance?
- the deck I built last month has passed the county's building inspection with flying colours. I have never been so proud of something that I have built with my own two hands. I used to laugh at a former conducting teacher who after retirement turned to making wood furniture. However, I could see myself doing a lot more of this type of building in my life.
- Fall has arrived. It's so windy outside right (gusts of 80K) that I'm not sure at the end of the day, anyone on our street will end up with the same garbage can they put out for collection this morning. I also had to turn the furnace on this morning for a little while for the first time.
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