Update (and final) Program

Hi folks,

The original document posted on Sept 7 with the program order for our upcoming concert had an error on it.  I've replaced the incorrect document on the Sept 7 posting but am also including it here.

If you find it too small to read, just click on it and a larger image will open in a new window.

Thursday Thoughts

Dear Friends,

Thank you for many inspired moments on Tuesday.  The level of the choir's musicianship was significantly improved and many of you had worked on your scores.  The result was we were making music even on the new material we were reading for the first time. 

Things to remember:

- Saturday morning meet at Dal Arts Centre, Room 409 by 8:50 am to find your place, get settled and meet the clinician and masterclass participants. We begin at 9 am sharp.  Wear your new choir t shirts. Those of you who do not yet have them, meet Christina and change in the washroom.  We are finished the masterclass by noon.

- Saturday afternoon, if you are free, you are invited to join us for clinics, the SSA masterclasses but most importantly SING OUT! event where participants will gather at 4:30 PM to share choral music with the general public on the lawn of the Spring Garden Road Public Library. Passersby and choral friends will be encouraged to join in with song sheets provided.  Please encourage anyone you know to attend this last part of our day!  Share in the Culture Days experience and encourage more people to lift their voices together. We want hundreds of people there as we want to show the public and our decisin makers what our art form means to us!

For Tuesday's rehearsal:

Requiem et Lux - Togni
Many Winters - Enns
Kyrie - Nickel
Song for Athene - Tavener
RVW - IV & VI

Soprano auditions for the solo at the end of the RVW movement VI will take place this Tuesday and next from 6:30 to 7pm and during the break. Please email me if you are interested and we will set up a time.

Best wishes to Tristan as he takes on the SNSC on Saturday morning in their rehearsal of Mozart Requiem. I'll see the rest of you at the Dal Arts Centre.

Thursday Thoughts

Good morning everyone,

I think we all can hear the potential in this year's choir sound as there were some really lovely moments on Tuesday. I want to thank those of you who are working so hard to realize the vision of Camerata. It is obvious to me that you are in the majority.

However in order for the choir's potential to be realized to its maximum, it is the responsibility for all singers to arrive prepared on Tuesdays.  Last Tuesday, a number of you were struggling.   I can only assume that there are three possible senarios: either you did not prepare, you did not prepare well enough, or the music is above you. Any of the three is unacceptable to me and we need to correct it right away.  My expectations were made clear last spring, articulated in writing during the summer and verbally at our first rehearsal so this is starting to sound like a broken record. 

I have excellent resources with Tristan, Christina and Cynthia who are helping me realize my vision for Camerata.  I sincerely thank them all and appreciate their work.  I expect there are few choirs in the country who are blessed with such resources. By now you are aware of the direction I am proceeding with all of us on the team working on the unimanity of vowel colour, blend and ultimately good vocal health.  However all the resources in the world will not do any good if I am reviewing notes and rhythms week after week.

So lets have a go at it again. For next Tuesday's rehearsal please look at the list below and prepare carefully:

Even When God Is Silent - Horvat
Kyrie - Nickel (the divisi bass line needs work.)
Many Winters - Enns  (review up to m 102.  Be familiar with the notes from m. 103 - end)
Song for Athene - Tavener ( I'll  sort out divisi on Tuesday)
RVW - mvts 4 & 6

Remember: you have until Tuesday, October 12th to memorize your vocal line for "Eternity" as outlined by Christina last Tuesday.   I would recommend that  you listen to one of the many You Tube recordings to get the piece in your ears.

Recommended recordings for other rep:

Vaughan Williams:

IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Jl4dqoESs
VI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zfHiloldtg&feature=related

Larry Nickel – Kyrie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZC_lyvq1Tc

John Tavener - Song for Athene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcYcjc0Ylp8

For the ACCC conductor's workshop on the 25th please know the three assigned pieces.  In addition, the choir is asked to please wear your new choir t shirts for the morning workshop.  For new singers I would ask Christina to bring you a t shirt on Tueaday - we have your sizes as per the form you submitted to me during the summer.

Have a great weekend.  Christina, Cynthia and I will be hanging out with my Girls' Choir at our annual "Fall Tune Up"  - lots of fun in store for us!  See you Tuesday.

Comments

Christina has enabled the comments feature on our blog.  Please feel free to ask questions here.  I will be notified whenever there is a comment so that I can provide a timely response.

Final Program Order

Hello all,

As an update to the program order that was in your music packages on Tuesday, here is the final, correct order of repertoire for the November 7th concert. There will be some brief spoken portions added to this but they will not be formal readings as in other concerts. More on this will follow.

If you find the type face below to be small, just click on the program and it will open in a new window in a larger format.

Rehearsal notes & other stuff

Dear Friends,

We're off to a great start. You were reading fast and furiously last night and we broke the back of a good many notes!

Here is some things you need to note:

Info for ACCC Workshop on Saturday, September 25:
Time: 9-am - noon
Place: Room 409 (upstairs), Dal Arts Centre
Rep list: (Pls learn/review on your own)

In Remembrance - Daley (either as separate copy or p. 21 in Requiem)
Even When God Is Silent - Horvat
Cantate Domino - Pitoni

Concert date correction:
On the program order given out last night, the date at the top for the November concert was incorrect. Please correct it to read Sunday, November 7th - 7:30 pm

IPA info:
Many thanks to Christina for beginning this process. Please make sure you have the IPA sheet always in your folder for quick reference. Begin to memorize the 5 vowels and their IPA symbols and your own "sounds like" examples. Begin using the symbpls to mark your scores.

Welcome:
I would once again like to welcome the new and returning singers to the choir and hope that you find a musical home in Camerata: Ann Bradley, Danielle Kain, Jill Wright, Stephanie Blanchard, Dave Jellicoe and Jeff Hennessy. Please introduce yourselves to these folks and welcome them personally.

For next Tuesday please prepare:
In Remembrance - Daley (quick 5 minute read through)
Even When God Is Silent - Horvat (review)
Kyrie - Nickel
Many Winters - Enns (review of m. 1 - 96)
RVW - Mvts IV & VI
Eternity - Bojesen (don't worry about divisi as it will be explained on Tuesday)

Please remember that we are at Bethany United on Saturday: 10 am - 12:30 pm to read through one of the great choral masterpieces of all time - Mozart Requiem. We will welcome our Youth Mentoring Program singers to this rehearsal and they will be with us for the rehearsals and performances of this concert. Please seek them out and make them feel welcome. Chances are they will feel a little lost!

Again thanks for your fine work last night. It is going to be a great year!

2010 Season Begins!

Hello Everyone,

In the middle of this heatwave it is difficult to believe that summer is once again coming to an end and fall schedules are ramping up. Camerata rehearsals begin next week: Tuesday, September 5, 7-9:30 pm at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts (MCPA) 6199 Chebucto Rd., near Windsor St. I am asking that everyone arrive at least 10 minutes early to meet the new singers, renew old friendships and collect your scores.

This is going to be a jammed packed season - schedule-wise you will be busy and musically you will be challenged. Everyone will be needing to work on scores in between rehearsals. We will be giving no less than three world premieres of new works this year and the repertoire will range from the Renaissance to music composed within the last month! This season, I want to welcome my new Assistant, Tristan Cleveland-Thompson and once again look forward to collaborating with our accompanist extraordinare, Cynthia Davies. I have also asked Christina Murray to continue her work as Diction/Language Coach. Each of these people will bring their own special gifts to help make Camerata a better choir and I am fortunate to have such a team of such capable musicians .

I recently read an article which interviewed some of the leading conductors of choirs from across the United States. The question posed to each conductor was "how can your singers be better prepared for their first rehearsal challenges? " In a number of the responses, the first suggestion was that the singers carefully review the choir's year long calendar and compare it to their personal calendar so that conflicts are avoided. Most importantly we eliminate the situation where a month before the proverbial May concert, where I get a call that something has suddenly "popped up" and prevents the singer from attending the dress rehearsal or (worse) - the concert. I thought "how obvious" however it occurred to me that not all singers do/have done this. Please make it your responsibility to check the year's calendar here on the blog.

The purpose of the blog is to be more effective in our communication, but in order for that to happen, you will have to check it each week. For the month of September I will email you reminders after rehearsal each week to let you know when the blog has been updated. After September, it will be your responsibility to check. For those of you who still are not able to access the blog, I have asked Christina to email you a set of simple instructions to let you to sign on and become a member - thus allowing you to see what has been posted each week. There will also be room to add your own comments - but remember, always be nice!

As you can see on your schedules, there has been an addition on Saturday, September 25. The Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC) is holding its quarterly meeting in Halifax and part of its mandate to reach the broader choral community, ACCC is holding conducting workshops on Saturday morning and afternoon. Camerata has been asked to be the lab choir for conducting students for Saturday morning from 9 am to noon. Xara has been asked to be the SSA lab choir on Saturday afternoon. Both choirs will receive honariums which will go into general revenue. On the choir calendar, Camerata already has a scheduled Mozart Requiem rehearsal, however I would ask that you plan to be at the conducting workshop (led by the fabulous I Choristi's conductor, Debra Carins) so that the conducting students have a good workshop choir to hone their skills. (I know that a couple of you already have committments which you have already spoken to me about.) The three repertoire selections for the workshop will be taken from last season's repertoire and will be easy pieces for the new singers to learn quickly. I will bring the copies for our first rehearsal. Please see this as an opportunity for Camerata to give back to a community which has been overwhelming in its support of us this past year.

So welcome to the new season! Welcome new singers and returning old friends! Everyone - get ready for an exciting, challenging, demanding year of extraordinary music making. I can't wait to begin!