Thanks!

Thanks to Christina and Tristan for taking the rehearsal for me while I was in Ottawa. It is a great feeling knowing that I can go away and the work will be accomplished.  For those who missed the rehearsal you will need to get the notes from your colleagues - especially the material on finnish pronounciation - before we go at it again in January.

Next up Messiah.  I'll see you for only two rehearsals on November 30 and December 7 before turning over the choir to Noel Edison.  Please don't underestimate the need for us to dust off this score and get those runs practiced up to tempo. Looking forward to renewing this old friendship once again!

So I'll see you next  Tuesday evening at Bethany.  Have a great weekend.

Reference Recordings

In your preparation for Baltic Landscapes, hear are some reference recordings which you can see/hear on YouTube.  They are by no means definitive, however will serve as a reference point for your own learning.  When I have a little more time, and can get them to Sean, we can put recordings of the other rep on the Choir Only portion of the website. In the meantime this will get you started. Happy listening.


Benedictio – Urmas Sisask: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnB1rC5sq94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vCXxyG9p8Q


Totus Tuus – Gorecki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qOBQ1ZkQM

O Crux – Nystedt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgx9VoDSXuQ

Ave Verum Corpus – Raminsh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLtvqUaseLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMoCREW2qNk

Thursday Thoughts

I hope you all had a well deserved rest last Tuesday night.  Thank you all for working so hard to bring Voices Remembered and Mozart Requiem to such musical heights.

Now on to the next project(s): Baltic Landscapes and Messiah. I have chosen the repertoire for Baltic Landscapes, as the Baltic composers (of which, for this concert  will include those from Scandanavia - Norway, Finland, & Denmark; Poland, Latvia and Lithuania) are writing some of the most exciting choral repertoire today.  And for this program, obviously we will be working in a number of languages: Finnish, Russian and Doukhobor - a dialect which comes from Russia which settled in the south eastern part of British Columbia. 

As you know from looking at the music in your envelopes, about half the program is sacred music - in Latin, and half is secular. Note: The Russian/Doukhobor set of Slavic folksongs which will end the program - a very cool set of pieces written by the Canadian/Latvian composer Imant Raminsh for the Vancouver Chamber Choir's tour to the former Soviet Union in 1989 -  is on its way from the publisher and I will have it to you before Christmas.

This program will be challenging because of languages which are less common than the ones we usually sing, complex harmonic structures, lots of divisi and finite, precise tuning. I am heartened that some of you have mentioned the program content with enthusiasm.  This concert will be another Camerata landmark.

But first let me put it all in context: You just sang an excellent half program on November 7 of which, if you missed no rehearsals, we had 9 Tuesdays (including the Tuesday of concert week in the hall).  For this program, if you miss no Tuesdays,  we have 13 Tuesday rehearsals (including the Tuesday of concert week in the hall) to learn a full a capella program of some of the most difficult rep I have programmed for Camerata.

How we will help: In a separate blog post, I will list recordings of the repertoire available either on YouTube or which Sean will post in the Choir Only section of the website. This may take a couple of weeks. These recordings are to be used as a model only, not as difinitive performances. In addition, Christina will prepare spoken texts of songs and we will also post these in the choir only section of the web site. You can go to these resources anytime at your leisure to review texts and to get the sound and nuance into your ears. The IPA work which Christina has been doing all fall with you will be invaluable in your marking of your scores as she goes over these texts with you.

Your responsibility: There can be no wasted rehearsal time, so learning notes on Tuesdays is not an option - for anyone. Please don't underestimate the group process - I know that you have the ability to miss a rehearsal and prepare on your own, however the balance of a divisi section of 2 or 3 singers singing harmonic minor seconds really suffers if you are not there. So try, if possible,  to schedule your business trips so that you are there on Tuesday nights.

Speaking of missing - next Tuesday I have to be working in Ottawa (I could not refuse the Canada Council again) but I am leavning you in capable hands with Tristan and Christina.  You need to be familiar with the following pieces for Tuesday:

Benedicto - Sisask
First Snow - Holten
Ave Verum - Raminsh
Auvksihuutopsalmi - Psalm of Invocation - Rautavaara
O Crux - Nystedt

Thank you to Tristan and Christina for allowing me to go to Ottawa with the confidence that you will be in very good hands. I will see you all on November 30 at Bethany for the first of two Messiah rehearsals in preparation for Noel Edison.

Camerata in the news

Kudos to The Coast for taking the time to come to Voices Remembered and share their impressions of our concert.  Read all about it here: http://www.thecoast.ca/ArtAttack/archives/2010/11/08/voices-remembered

Outstanding work last night in Mozart Requiem. I know how weary you all are but I hope the music making and the ovation last night in the Cohn energized you.  See you on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday Thoughts ...but a little earlier in the week!

The great Robert Shaw used to regularly write his choir after rehearsals to comment on the rehearsal, offer his thoughts on the music, encourage (and admonish!) the singers, eand so on. Shaw used to always begin his letters with "Dear People" (after his death a book about Shaw was published called "Dear People" - a great read by the way).  So in my attempt to articulate everything going on inside my head and heart, I'll begin, fondly:

Dear People,

In the history of Halifax Camerata Singers there have been few times I have been as moved by your performance as I was on Saturday night. To be pragmatic, there were little things which went wrong, however as long as we all live and breathe, there will always be the human factor.  But the difference on Saturday was, we sang through the program, I was struck by the many times I looked at you and saw complete joy on your faces. It was not the plastic smile some conductors tell kids choirs to wear in performance, but rather the light in the eyes - the look in which I can tell that you are really "getting it! "   Peter Togni felt it, Jeff Enns talked about it, the Coast article on Monday called it "soul-stirring and heart touching," and a friend in the audience who has really critical ears called it "exquisite."

Peter emailed me yesterday and I told him I would communicate his thoughts with you. These are Peter's words: 

"Once again may I say BRAVO for such a wonderful musical meditation. It was very good to be there and to meet Jeff Enns and hear his beautiful music. May I say BRAVO  again  for such an immaculate performance of Requiem Et Lux.!! I was deeply moved as was my whole family. The boat is now in the water. It was so great to speak with so many of your wonderful singers last night, their enthusiasm and depth of understanding and care for this piece was most humbling. They really have become a great choir and  are not only a treasure here in Halifax but in Canada. Your deep commitment to the truth of music and your energy and spirit and what you have done for choral singing is truly astounding! I look forward to more projects together in the future."

Powerful words which are important for you to hear.

There are so many people to thank:  Thanks to all the soloists who had a part in the concert. This was a concert where I didn't have the opportunity to acknowledge each of you but you are all appreciated for stepping up and selflessly giving of your talents in the many small solos each of you performed. Thanks to Tristan, for your gentle spirit and good humor and always being ready to get the choir in voice for me. You will have bigger roles to play in the concerts to come. Cynthia,  thank you for playing the daylights out of that bugger of an accompaniment and making the room sound like we had an orchestra playing its heart out with us! Tenille, thank you for coordinating the nightmare of details and events leading up to the concert. Your learning curve was beyond steep and I look forward to working with you in future projects. Finally, I would be remiss not to single out my respected (and much loved) colleague, Christina for all the help you have given me in the preparation of this concert, for your working with me on "Camerata vision" and the extraordinary heights you have brought Xara in such a short time. Xara is a treasure of which we all can be proud. You need to communicate this to these young women.  In a more somber note, please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your very ill grandfather as he approaches his last days.

We all are weary but as we approach Mozart Requiem this week, I hope the music will give your batteries a quick charge and get you through to Thursday (until you at least have a couple of days off before the Sunday afternoon concert).  You all have Tuesday, November  16th off but I will bring a new package of scores for you this week so you can look them over before the 23rd.

Keep checking the blog, as it will be the way I will communicate with you re reference recordings for the new repertoire, scheduling issues, and notices other than Thursday Thoughts. 

Finally, in my thanks to everyone, I deliberately left the choristers to the end. You all the heart and soul of this organization and the raison d'etre we all are making music together.  Thank you for the light which was shining in your eyes last Saturday night. Dear People, indeed!

Congratulations Geoff and Jackie

Congratulations to Geoff and Jackie Gillespie on the birth of Lauren Pamela who arrived on Tuesday (rehearsal!) night. Weighing in just shy of 7 lbs, Geoff tells me it was a close call getting to the IWK on time as within 15 minutes of getting to the hospital, Lauren was born.  No doubt Geoff is already beginning vocal training and singing little Lauren to sleep.  Best wishes from all of us to the happy Gillespie family!

Thursday Thoughts

I hope you have all thawed out after Tuesday night's "chill fest!" Apologies for the lack of heat in the church however I was told that the church had the heat on! What I wasn't told was that it was apparently set at 15 degrees! Nonetheless, for the first rehearsal in the venue it went really well.  And on Saturday we get to sing these incredible texts through one more time before the concert. Remember that for the dress rehearsal  you are required to wear your formal attire for the entire rehearsal as the photographer will be shooting the choir while we are singing in order to get numerous poses. (Boys get up early, shave without cutting yourself to shreds and get that eye liner on straight!)  I'll see you at St. Pats and will do my damndest to get the heat up to above freezing!

Singing in a venue like St. Patrick's has unique challenges. It compells us to think about diction and text all of the time. You are not used to this and the temptation is to let the room do the work. The temptation to sit back and do what we do in Studio 4 is natural - it's what we practiced for that room in dynamics, phrasing, articulation of text...everything. However this doesn't work and the music comes off as "mezzo."  Dynamics have to be taken to the ends of the spectrum to be effective - from the softest ppp in the Tavener to the most demanding fff in the Togni and Vaughan Williams. You have to imagine the audience holding their breath, leaning forward to experience a focussed, well-supported pp in "Give rest or Lord to your handmaid..." and then have them absolutely blown away by the sheer dramatic power of "Come enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you."

Please understand that I can't teach you to sing with passion.  It has to come from within. I can't teach you to sing expressively, you have to do that because you believe in the music. At the end of the day what I can do is remind you of the details, remind you of the interpretation, remind you of what we have worked out together to bring these texts alive. But individually, in order for it all to work you have to be out of the score and this needs to be happening from everyone. (I so sound like a broken mp3 !)

Basses when you sing your opening solo of  "Even When God Is Silent" it needs to be more confident from the very first sound you make AND from memory! The same with p. 44 and 45 of movement IV of the RVW.  Memorize these solos gentlemen, every single one of you, and know them cold for the dress.  And lest you think I am picking on only the basses, first sopranos - the pickup to m. 81 of "Many Winters" was still problematic - not together and tentative. (It was fine last week so I know you can do it)  And I'm sure the altos and tenors had their places as well but my memory right now is not recalling them.

But in the end it is up to you. You have the tools and the skills to sing a brilliant concert.
Basic reminders include:
- sing to the exit signs - not to me.  Use every opportunity to fill the church with sound - some pp, some ff and all gradations in between.
- over emphasize diction, especially consonants at phrase endings.
- my tempi will be slightly broader - you felt that Tuesday night in the RVW.  Enjoy it!
- breaks in the music will be longer to allow chords to clear. You felt this in the Togni, and the Tavener on Tuesday. Use the space to prepare for the next chord. If there is a big break, it is for dramatic significance.  Go with it!
- careful not to spread the vowels in the ff pasages. Remember the diction coaching we have worked on so carefully. An excellent example of where this happened on Tuesday night was the last page of the Tavener. Look at this text before Saturday and think the IPA. It will be clear where and on what words this happened.

Finally, I cannot overemphasize the need for you to arrive at both the dress rehearsal and ultimately the concert, rested. If you do not, you are letting down your colleagues as you certainly will not be able to give your best. If you are not rested you will make mistakes, you will sound vocally tired and ultimately you will not sing with confidence.  I expect that as a member of this choir, you give your absolute best in concert.  I expect the same of myself  (without the singing part!).  But above all, remember to have fun on Sunday night and that together, we will create magic.