Last rehearsal of the season!

Thank you everyone for a great rehearsal last night and a good, healthy meeting/discussion afterwards. I was glad to have this time with you to just chat - it doesn't happen often.  Our future, the next couple of seasons and Camerata life in general were some of the topics we touched on and I appreciated your comments and will try to help solve scheduling problems for 2012. 

But for now we  have one more concert to sing - at St. John's Anglican 4pm this Sunday in Lunenburg.  The call for the choir is 2:45 pm and we will wear standard concert dress. If you like, bring a change of clothes for the BBQ at Barbara Butler's after the concert.

The church's address is: 58 Townsend St. , Lunenburg and directions to the church can be found by clicking on the link below. Please allow yourselves pleanty of time as I need you there, ready to sing by 2:45pm.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Bayers+Road,+Halifax,+NS&daddr=St.+John%27s+Anglican+Church,+Townsend+Street,+Lunenburg,+NS&hl=en&ll=44.544484,-64.020081&spn=0.482521,1.352692&sll=44.544484,-64.021454&sspn=0.482521,1.352692&geocode=FfVWqQIdOz01_Cm5ciLWoSFaSzGhZI3DraYKVg%3BFbEnpQIdRa8q_CFcdPxzQZ9HQw&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

I also have updated the Camerata Calendar for the 2012 season. As far as I know, all rehearsals and concerts are now up on the calendar, and if you have questions or if there looks like there is an error, please bring it to my attention. Please organize your personal calendars now - I have given you the calendar this early so that there are no surprises for next season.

Thank you again for a great year.  As I said last night,  my passion is making choral music at the highest possible level and I am lucky to have such an instrument to do that each week.

See you in Lunenburg.

Thursday Thoughts

Thank you for a great rehearsal on Thursday. It was a lot of fun!

Next week I will be at Podium but Christina will review the scores with you in preparation for the fundraiser coming up in two weeks.  She will also rewiew portions of the Celtic Mass - take a look at the Second Reading and the Kyrie before coming on Tuesday.

Please remember the Xara concert on Friday nightat the Maratime Museum. The Xara folks have been working really hard on thie project 

I leave you with a wonderful Ted Talks video I recently watched. Michael Tilson Thomas, the celebrated conductor and educator talks about the wonder of music as it evolved through history. Well worth listening especially for the last 6 minutes.

 http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_tilson_thomas_music_and_emotion_through_time.html

Have a great week.

Thursday Thoughts (just a little earlier!)

I wanted to thank you all again for such great work on the Faure Requiem concert. But more importantly thank you for your commitment to Camerata - for all the rehearsals and balancing your time with your work, family and friends. It has been such a busy season and I know you must be getting weary!

I have carefully gone through the blog calendar and made sure all the details are correct - especially rehearsal dates, times and venues. I have done that as of this morning and have found a couple of venues which needed to be corrected. So the blog calendar is correct. In the meantime I have outlined the schedules for both Celtic Mass and the Fundraiser below in a list form:

Celtic Mass Rehearsals: 
Saturday, April 2: 10 am -12:30 pm  (Bethany)
Tuesday, May 1: 7-9:30 pm (Bethany - note venue change)
Saturday, May 5: 10 am -12:30 pm (Bethany)
Tuesday, May 29: 7-9:30 pm (Bethany)
Saturday, June 2: 10 am -12:30 pm (FBC - note venue change)
Tuesday, June 5: 7-9:30 pm (FBC - note venue change)

Fundraiser Rehearsals:
Tuesdays, April 24, May 8, 15, 22 (all at FBC)

Please note that next Tuesday, May 1, we will meet with the selected SNSC singers at Bethany to rehearse the Celtic Mass. We have a great start on the fundraiser rep last night and I want to leave it with you to work on your own for two weeks before looking at it again.

The other thing to note is that it is my intention to take the final 30 minutes of each Tuesday Celtic Mass rehearsal, and work the fundraiser rep so bring all your scores.  Next Tuesday, May 1 we will spend 30 minutes on the Liebeslieder, so for those who struggled last night, please do some work on the score.

Finally to reiterate our chat together last night, Camerata really needs your help to sell out this fundraiser. I am committing to sell tables and I would ask that each of you take this challenge on. this will be a fabulous party complete with champagne, great food, fabulous desserts, wonderful silent auction items not to mention your great singing and the piano stylings of our own Cynthia Davies. Let's contact choir alumnae,  friends, family, our concert patrons...anyone we can think of, and make this a fabulous party. What a way to celebrate our 25th birthday!

See you all next Tuesday at Bethany.

Thursday Thoughts

We are coming down to the wire for this concert. I am pleased at the way we were able to fit things together in the Monteverdi. That was a big improvement. I know we are coming into March break and there will be an absence or three. My concern is that if you miss for any reason, there will be changes given to the choir of which you will not be aware (eg in the Monteverdi bass line this week). Remember it needs to be your responsibility to note the changes from the Blog  (I will post them) and prepare accordingly for the rehearsal.

For this Tuesday
Chichester  Psalms - Mvt I & II - run through. Especially review Mvt. 1
Blazhen muzh (Rachmaninoff) - get used to longer, more sustained phrases. Feel the quarter note. Consonants in text need improvement.
Taaveti Laul (Kreek) - run through w Tristan. Review text w recording and have a real feel for it. 
Laudate Pueri (Monteverdi) - mark in your score  how we changes many phrase endings. Note basses: everyone sings B1 part in solo sections.
Exultate Deo (King) - good sectional work. Please review (men: especially 7/8 section!) - complete run through on Tuesday. 
Second- storey Sun - (Enns) complete run through
Sicut cervus (Palestrina) - complete run through from memory

Please remember to put up your concert posters and let's get active on FB and Twitter and promote this concert.. Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thoughts

There were a number of lovely musical moments on Tuesday: the Bernstein is coming along (way to go men!), the Glick is really coming along, and the two Renaissance motets are REALLY coming along. The Monteverdi, however, is not coming along....yet.  Please spend time getting these notes in your head, especially the the solo (tenor and baritone) passages. I would ask that everyone take a look at p. 9 to the end and make sure you have this ready to go on Tuesday. In addition, you are reminded to listen and review the texts to "Taaveti Laul" and "Blazen muzh,"  (These were all emailed to you and should be on the choir website)  Please  look at the rep list for Tuesday, and note the pieces which need individual work. We have four rehearsals until the concert so let's everyone buckle down and not waste a minute of the precious time we have together working on things which are more appropriately learned at home. Also remember to memorize the two Renaissance pieces. Have a great weekend!

For Tuesday:

Exultate Deo (King) - finish putting it all together
Chichester Psalms (Bernstein) mvts II & III
Tavetti Laul (Kreek)
Laudate pueri  (Monteverdi)
I Was Glad (Parry)
Second storey-Sun (Enns)
Blazen muzh  (Rachmaninoff)

Thursday Thoughts

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with Ted Talks but it is a series of web chats of various lengths by remarkable people who have something to contribute. They are often inspirational, always thoughtful, sometimes controversial, but undoubtedly interesting. I'd like you to take 6:20 of your day before I see you next and click on this link. It's about leadership - and I suspect that each of you are the catalyst of some "lollipop moments" in your life.  (You'll understand when you watch the video.) You will also hear a shout out to a certain Maritime University of which some of you are alumnae. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership.html 

Now on to business. First of all thanks to everyone for embracing the sectionals the last two weeks and to Michelle and Christina for leading the women. We got a lot accomplished and guys you are doing well getting the Hebrew under your belts.  We'll not do sectionals next week as you now have the tools to learn on your own.

But for this concert you need to have a fluent knowledge of texts in Latin, German, Estonian, French, and Hebrew. The success of your singing this concert brilliantly is directly proportional to how convincingly you can interpret these languages. Period. We have a great deal of expertise within the choir of people who have a working knowledge of many of these languages and a language diction coach (Christina) who is very generous with her time and has recorded text pronunciations. Now you need to get the sound of the languages in your ears texts sooner rather than later. I'll not revisit the Mendelssohn  Psalms for a while but when I come back to them,  they need to be fluent. Ditto for the two memorized a capella Renaissance motets. We don't have the time right now as other pieces need more reheasrsal. Practice intelligently at home - speak the text of the Exultate Deo out loud in rhythm, the same with the Bernstein. Listen to the recorded texts of the Kreek and the Rachmaninoff  (I emailed the Kreek to you last week and Christina will record the Rachmaninoff and it will be emailed to you by the weekend).  Listen to good recordings of the repertoire - search You Tube and iTunes. All of these resources will speed things along but only if you make use of them.


So for next Tuesday - everyone rehearses together at 7pm:
Exultate Deo - Robin King
Chichester Psalms - mvt 2 & 3
Taaveti Laul - (review the recorded pronounciation emailed to you on Tuesday)
Blazen muzh - trio (work on text of the verses - check divisi sections - S2, A, T. 
Laudate pueri - Monteverdi (go over text and notes)
Sing Unto The Lord - Glick  (review)

Good luck and have fun working this music out. It really is fantastic and  promises to be an exciting concert.  Finally...remember those lollipop monents!

Psalm 112: Latin-English

Please make sure you have this translation in your Monteverdi scores:
 
Psalm 112

{112:1} Laudate pueri Dominum: laudate nomen Domini.
{112:1} Praise the Lord, children. Praise the name of the Lord.

{112:2} Sit nomen Domini benedictum, ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
{112:2} Blessed is the name of the Lord, from this time forward and even forever.

{112:3} A solis ortu usque ad occasum, laudabile nomen Domini.
{112:3} From the rising of the sun, even to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord.

{112:4} Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super cælos gloria eius.
{112:4} The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is high above the heavens.

{112:5} Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat,
{112:5} Who is like the Lord, our God, who dwells on high,

{112:6} et humilia respicit in cælo et in terra?
{112:6} and who gazes upon the humble things in heaven and on earth?

{112:7} Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem:
{112:7} He lifts up the needy from the ground, and he urges the poor away from filth,

{112:8} Ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui.
{112:8} so that he may place him with the leaders, with the leaders of his people.

{112:9} Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo, matrem filiorum lætantem.
{112:9} He causes a barren woman to live in a house, as the joyful mother of sons.