Showing posts with label choral music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choral music. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

Singing the Berlioz Requiem at Davies Symphony Hall with 350 other musicians - a follow up

Robert Gurney conducts 250 singers - I'm right above his left hand. photo: Timothy Lee
I think it's safe to say that last Sunday, August 5th performing the Berlioz Requiem (and several other pieces) was one of the most exhilarating and exhausting musical experiences I've ever had. It's really special to pull off something so amazingly beautiful with 350 other people, with 1700 other people in attendance (check out the standing ovation).

Actually, I would have done it all just to hear the Richard Strauss Sprach Zarathustra, Fanfare (also known as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey), which we did, four times. THAT was one of the most thrilling things I've ever sat through.
You can only see twelve, but I promise there were thirteen timpanis. Photo by me.
Watch the video below. There were 13 timpani (kettledrums) and it was absolutely incredible to hear them all get pounded at once. And that major chord they hit at 1:06? Just goosebumps all over... from what wasn't all tingly already. What an absolutely thrill. I was so excited after the first run through at the dress rehearsal I literally raised the roof. I felt like such a huge dork, but I loved seeing all the smiles on everyone else's faces. 




350 people strong. Photo: Timothy Lee
Performing the Requiem was equally as thrilling, and totally exhausting. This piece is something like 80 minutes long, and the chorus sings for most of it. As an Alto 2, I got to sit down a couple times, but that's it. And I kept wondering how the folks twice my age were faring. I was physically sore to the core for the next couple of days.

The group of musicians we worked with are the Redwood Orchestra, also a group of volunteers, from the peninsula. They were fabulous and conductor Eric Kujawski was a pleasure to work with. We lovingly called him "The Dude" because of his likeness to Jeff Bridges in the Big Lebowski

From the first balcony. Photo: Elisabeth Wakcher
One blogger (one of the 80 choristers that joined us from New York) wrote about one of the funniest moments at the dress rehearsal, Kujawski called things to a halt, saying:
MORE! We need MORE! You, in the back row (of the percussion section), what are you doing standing there! Find something and hit it!!
 Awesome.

Eric "The Dude" Kujawski - check out his shirt... photo: Timothy Lee
There's talk about going to Carnegie Hall next year. I'm on the list.

Cute photo of some of the Alto 2s. photo: John Martin


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Jamie sings the Berlioz Requiem with 250 other people in Davies Symphony Hall

Next Sunday, August 5th at 3pm I will be performing one of the coolest pieces, the Berlioz Requiem, at Davies Symphony Hall with 250 other singers (San Francisco Lyric Chorus), the Redwood Symphony Orchestra and FOUR horn choirs.

The horn choirs are going to be placed in various corners of the hall, SURROUND SOUND.

I'm so excited about it.  It's going to be so kickass. Loud. Dramatic. So rock and roll.

Also on the program is that awesome Strauss piece appearing in 2001: A Space Odyssey, you know, the one with the monolith and the monkeys?

Read more about it here in my examiner.com article

Tickets are $20-45


Listen to the "Dies Irae" movement from the Requiem, this is one of the more dramatic movements.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Conspiracy of Venus makes a music video

My choir has made a music video! One of my choirs, Conspiracy of Venus, was super lucky to have participated in a music video race: 16 bands. 16 filmmakers. 16 music videos. 1 weekend.

While we didn't win (sad face) we had a blast and got to work with the video makers It Donned on Me and hey, WE HAVE A MUSIC VIDEO! The song is an original by our conductor Joyce McBride.

 

That lovely lady starting in the video, is Soprano 1, Maggie Andrews.

Made in one weekend, in the presidio, we are dressed in sheets. A pair of those hands at the beginning are mine.

This is the hilarious and gross video that won, "COBRA" by doppio.



One video that I liked quite a bit by Elle Niño, it was filmed on Bernal Hill, right by my house. And I hike up there every week or so.

 

Click to watch more videos from the First Annual Music Video Race

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Joy in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the only all-black orchestra in the world


Do yourself a favor and watch this 60-Minutes piece about a community orchestra and choir in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the capitol city of Kinshasa.

Some of the musicians have formal training, most do not. The founding musicians started off sharing donated and restored instruments. Since then they have been able to accumulate enough instruments, one gentleman taught himself to make violins. The conductor, Armand Diangienda, is an ex-pilot who taught himself to play music.

Two tenors walk 90 minutes each way to rehearsals. If I decided to walk to my rehearsals, it would probably take 35 minutes and I wouldn't have to traverse a river.


In this video, these folks perform bits of Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", and Verdi's Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Five Bay Area choirs to perform lost 40-part Renaissance Mass


It is no secret that the Bay Area loves its choirs. And it’s nice when we really get to flex our choral muscles.

This weekend, back in the Bay by popular demand, Cal Performances presents “The Polychoral Splendors of Renaissance Florence” Alessandro Striggio's Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno for 40 and 60 voices. The piece was last performed in 2008 at the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. This mass is the largest known contrapuntal choral work in Western music.

UC Berkeley Musicology Professor Davitt Moroney spent twenty years looking for the 16th century manuscript and finally found it in 2005; it was miscataloged, filed under the wrong composer name and the wrong title.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Watch and Listen to UC Berkeley musicologist and conductor Davitt Moroney as he discusses this work.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Why I sing in choirs: SF Lyric Chorus concerts this weekend and the 826 Valencia Project



Yep, it's that time again: choir concert time! I have a short, but kickass tenor solo in the spiritual "Daniel, Daniel Servant of the Lord". I'm so in love with spirituals, these songs are in my blood. I love the Copland piece as well and the Thompson is totally growing on me.

The San Francisco Lyric Chorus has a concert on Saturday at St. Marks in San Francisco and on Sunday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Orinda (East Bay). Let me know if you'd like to come.

The music is gorgeous and challenging. I thought it would be a breeze because we didn't have to learn any foreign languages, but because it's mostly 20th century music, and the harmonies are super difficult. The whole program is a capella as well, so at times I feel like we're picking entrance notes out of the air.

I love singing in choirs. Why? Yes, I love the sound, it's a very personally beautiful sonic texture I love. But I think it's more than that. I love that people can sing together with nothing else: no amplification, no mics, no instruments. Just voices. I also love that every person has a different voice, but when singing with other people, they all meld into one, creating a "choral" sound: a group of 20 people over here, might sound very similar to a group of 20 people over there.
I also love how one person (or more) can totally mess up, and it might be totally unnoticeable.

The choral community is HUGE in the Bay Area. I love what that communal idea of music making means about the area. It's very fitting.

Just last week I participated in the 826 Valencia project led by Camille Robles at One Red Delicious Press. The concept is to submit an audio recording of a story, any story, as long as it's personal. Camille is going to catalog the stories and create a book from them. I think there might even be music added to some of them.

This project will benefit San Francisco's 826 Valencia, a writing center dedicated to getting kids excited about the literary arts and fostering the writing skills of the youth. The classes they offer are free, and they inspire creativity, confidence, and a route to finding one's voice. Camille is still taking submissions if you want to get in involved. For more info, click here.

This is a story about the most personal, spiritual and emotional musical experience I've ever had. In a nutshell, I was moved to tears by the singing and acoustics of my high school choir while in France. I used this story for my college admissions essay and as soon as I heard about this project, it was the story that came to mind.

Here is the audio track, happy singing!

Grand chapel by Alwaysmoretohear


Saturday, April 30, 2011

San Francisco Lyric Chorus: Voices of Immigration, Jamie sings a solo and her own immigration story


My great-grandparents, Dorothea and Georg Boss in Italy around 1941 (I love how tan he is from the Italian sun)

Next Saturday and Sunday (May 7th and 8th), my choir the San Francisco Lyric Chorus has its Spring concerts. After almost a year of being a member, I can finally be part of a performance (for the first I was in a wedding and the second I was in Africa).

The pieces were chosen with the personal immigration stories of chorus members in mind. For instance, there is one tenor whose family is Cajun via French Canada, so we are singing a couple French Canadian tunes. There are songs specifically about leaving the Old Country and arriving to the New World. We'll also be performing the beautiful Shape Note tune, "How Can I Keep From Singing."

I have a solo in one of the Yiddish tunes. It's short, but very beautiful.

The mother/baby image is my grandmother and great-grandmother in Danzig, Germany around 1918

I submitted my family's story of immigration and it, along with a photo or two, will be featured in the program.

My grandmother was born in Danzig, Germany (now called Gdansk and part of Poland). She and her three younger brothers were able to get out of Germany before 1940. I now have family scattered across the globe from Brazil to Australia and Israel to England.

Peter, Georg, Walter, Lori (my grandma) and Hans in Danzig Germany, 1928

The Boss Family: (front) Georg, great-great-grandpa Louis, Peter & Dorothea. (back) Hans, Lori and Walter; 1939 Danzig, Germany.

When my great-grandparents could stay no longer, they left my great-great-grandpa Louis and got on a boat set for Palestine. Due to the British blockade, the boat was rerouted to Libya. Then a Jewish-Italian organization brought them to Southern Italy and shuttled them from refugee camp to refugee camp (including possibly a prison) until they settled in the small hill town of Cancellara near Naples. They lived there in relative hiding for three years, living among poor Italians.

In 1944 they were able to get on the ONLY U.S. Government sponsored refugee boat (it's so sad there weren't more). They were two passengers of one thousand Christian and Jewish refugees. Three thousand applied to be on this boat. There is a book about it called The Haven by Ruth Gruber. The boat docked in New York and my great-grandparents lived in Oswego, until their citizenship went through. Then they moved to Los Angeles to be near my grandmother and one of my great-uncles.

One of the most amazing things about this story (there are many) is that my grandmother did not know where her parents were or even if they were still alive. It's also amazing that poor Italians welcomed my great-grandparents into their community for several years. I'm thinking of going to Italy to collect aural histories if at all possible.

I have a box full of photos, they are such a trip. I also have some letters and military papers I'd like to get translated. Anyone know German well?

Anyway, if you're in town, come see me sing next weekend!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Family Crest plays "Note & Words," a fundraiser for The Oakland Children's Hospital with a 100 person secret choir

Matt, Ravenna, John, Owen, Liam & Lucas
Photos by Matt Washburn (to see more click here )

Last Friday night I had the pleasure to help organize and be part of a 100 person SECRET CHOIR for the Family Crest at Notes & Words, a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland in the beautiful Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. It was a little bit of a bummer because they put us way up in the top of the balcony where no one else really knew we were there, but it was really fun event, and it was awesome to get some my friends out to sing with and experience my new favorite band.

Other performers were musicians HYIM and Megan Slankard ("Notes"). Authors Michael Lewis, Kelly Corrigan and Beth Lisick ("Words") told hysterical stories about being children and their own children. Michael Lewis' story (author of The Blind Side) definitely including peeing in the pool...

Sarah, Owen, Lucas, Liam, Ravenna & Laura

This is also the first time The Family Crest has gotten to play in a large space like the Fox Theater, and they totally filled it up, sonically and visually. Even from the third row from the back, I could tell how much fun they were having up there. And even though I'm not a huge fan of the sound at the Fox, they sounded pretty darn good to me.

We sang on a couple songs, but most notably, a new song called “As We Move Forward." Check out some of these dynamic photos by Matthew Washburn and video. You can actually hear our singing at the end a little bit. There were about 90 of us up there in the balcony and I think there were more folks scattered around singing as well.

In the video below the other entertainers of the evening join the Family Crest on stage.



Thanks to everyone that came out! Hope you had fun.

Lucas and Matt. Lucas is wearing his cello harness, so cool.

Photos by Matt Washburn (to see more click here )


Liam and Owen

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Vienna Boys Choir (and why kids are awesome)


What do you do when someone in front of you farts? What if you're performing in front of hundreds of people? Do you try to ignore it until it passes? Or do you wrinkle up your nose in a super obvious way, and when the song is over elbow your neighbor and give the kid in front of you the stink eye?

Kids are awesome. They can be insanely smart and silly all at the same time.

I was reminded of this, this is evening when I saw the infamous Vienna Boys Choir perform at Grace Cathedral.

(I really don't want to get that kid in trouble, but OMIGOD it was so funny!!)

These guys were so great. My choir of full grown adults should be so lucky as to pull off a concert like this group of kids did tonight, as they probably do every night. I heard not one mistake. They had EVERYTHING memorized. They sang half a dozen languages perfectly. And, of course they sounded amazing. Grace Cathedral was built for this sound.

But watching these consummate professionals, you see that they really are only children between, I'm guessing, the ages of 8 and 13.

I found myself being totally distracted and entertained by their individual personalities. Who was the troublemaker? Who was the shy one? What can I say, I'm a people-watcher, and kids provide the ultimate people-watching experience.

This is what I saw, and some of these kids fit more than one of these descriptions:
  • the eye-wanderer - not looking at the conductor, but at everything else.
  • the yawner - by the second half there were several of these
  • the one with the Bieber haircut - yes, they are Austrian, but there still has to be one
  • the one who makes funny faces when he sings - all choirs have one
  • the one whose voice sticks out - not necessarily in a bad way
  • the one who keeps forgetting to bow with the rest of the group
  • the overly animated one - often the one who makes funny faces, often they dance in place
  • the one with Harry Potter glasses
  • the one with funny ears - they're kids, this is a given
  • the one who's WAY taller/shorter than everyone else - again, they're kids, it's a given
  • the one who just looks really Austrian - whatever that means
Oh, maybe I should mention some of the music: Palestrina, Bruckner (both my favs), Pergloesi, Zoltán Kodály (they sang in Hungarian!), Orff and yes folks some Michael Jackson. They sang "We Are the World" in Austrian accents and it was adorable.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Chanticleer sings of the earth and stars on "Out of This World" Bay Area Tour

The men of Chanticleer

On Sunday evening September 19th at 5pm, Chanticleer performed at the gorgeous San Francisco Conservatory of Music, about a block over from their Hayes Valley headquarter offices. It was the second concert in that space and the fourth concert on their “Out of This World” tour.

“Out of This World” features pieces across vocal musical history from Gregorian chant to Eric Clapton that speaks of the earth, stars, planets and the heavens. What is so brilliant about this programming is the variety of ways the celestial bodies are used in description and representation depending on the genre and era.

For example, the medieval compositions chosen sing of angels, Mary, Queen of the Heavens and the light of Jesus Christ while the Italian madrigals compare the “earthly” love of another human to that of the stars. Romantic poets describe inner heaven and modern compositions literally describe the earth from an orbiting spaceship, mechanical satellites and star clusters. Exploring how poets have perceived "outer space" in the last five hundred years is such a fun and interesting way to organize a concert of vocal music!

READ MORE OF MY REVIEW HERE

Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" was not on this programme, but it's purdy:

Monday, July 26, 2010

Why Mendelssohn is making me angry (and a plug for the San Francisco Lyric Chorus concert)


Bach's polyphony has always pissed me off, and now I'm starting to hate Mendelssohn's too.

(Watch out, this post is going to be a little more personally aggressive than usual.)

I just got home from a San Francisco Lyric Chorus rehearsal and I am so agitated I don't know what to do with myself other than rant. The chorus is performing Duruflé's Requiem and Mendelssohn's Te Deum at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco on August 21 and 22. (I will not be singing in this concert because I am in a friend's wedding.)

This is the movement "Sanctus" from Duruflé's Requiem. It's super purdy. I sang this movement in junior high and it just sparkles! (If that makes any sense..)


The Requiem is a commonly performed and beloved piece because of its absolute gorgeousness. Te Deum is not performed very often, and I think I have an idea why: IT'S HARD. Not only is it composed for double chorus (meaning there are eight parts: SATB times two) there are also soloists for each choir. On some pages there are 16 lines of music, so it's like reading a orchestral score. And the publisher of this particular score that we're using is very inconsistent and likes to change the organization of the score every two pages, so your part shows up in a different place every time you move to a different line.

But that's not even the worst part: the worst part is the chaos I feel while I'm singing the faster movements of Te Deum. The never ending lines of quarter and eighth notes make me crazy. Granted, we're still learning our parts, but today I just couldn't handle it. And I think I know why: this music is mirroring how I feel lately, CHAOS.

After this event for my friend Lissy is over (if you don't know, she has cancer and we're trying to find her a stem cell match) on Wednesday, I will hopefully feel better. But with all the other balls I have up in the air right now, the mental energy that I'm using trying to keep them all up there is making me a little nutty.

This is the last few movements of Te Deum. These people make it sound easy.


Back in 2000 when I was studying abroad in Sydney, I was lucky enough to get hooked into this performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor at the Sydney Opera House with a bunch of junior high kids and teachers. There must have been something like 400 people stumbling through Bach's polyphony. No one around me was singing the same thing, so I just sort of made my way through the notes trying to sight-sing and follow the conductor as best I could. I can't even imagine what that must have sounded like out there in the audience.

The experience made me insane and I've had a bad taste for that sort of composition since; and this Mendelssohn is hitting me a little too hard right now. Hopefully as we get more confident in our parts, it'll start to sound divine like those folks up in the video there.

Does anybody else feel this way about this kind of polyphony? I'm okay with Renaissance polyphony like Palestrina, in fact that is one of my favorite genres of choral music. Why do I feel this way about this specific kind of composition?

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Children's choirs sing Pomplamoose and Gaga

I was poking around Pomplamoose videos the other day on youtube and found this one of the The Gifford Children's Choir in Racine, Wisconsin. They are performing the Pomplamoose version of Lady Gaga's "Telephone". So. Awesome. Nataly and Jack are totally loving it. Nat said it made her cry. I love the choreography, so cute.



And an old favorite, the PS22 chorus (on Staten Island) singing Gaga's "Just Dance". This little lady Tirzah has a gorgeous voice. I hope she's still singing!



Hip Hip Hooray for kick ass music teachers like these who use contemporary music that children can get excited about! (My choir sang "We Didn't Start the Fire" when I was 11, and look how excited about music I am!) With the help of Glee, there is hope for our music programs yet!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Bobby McFerrin's VOCAbuLaries and the joy of improvisation

Who knows if Bobby even knows what's coming next? But we know it's going to be fun.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to see Bobby McFerrin twice now in my life. Once in the 90s at UCLA's Royce Hall and once last weekend with SFJAZZ. For a vocalist and performers in general, his performances are nothing short of amazing. The joy he exudes for music and his talent is so overwhelming that it's hard to not get sucked in for those two hours.

Read my review of the San Francisco show here. It was the world premiere of his VOCAbuLaries performances and the unveiling of his new album of the same title.

Skip to 2:10 to see how McFerrin performs Bach's "Ave Maria" with the audience.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

E-chat with Sam Strelkoff, San Francisco native member of Naval Academy Men's Glee Club: performance at Grace Cathedral in SF


I really enjoy conducting interviews with folks who might not do many interviews, or folks that are off the beaten path of popular music (and by that I mean ANYTHING that is popular, classical or rock related). I also really like doing interviews where the music has some higher purpose or a greater context.

This interview with Bay Area native Sam Strelkoff, member of the Naval Academy Men's Glee Club, is the second interview I've done with someone who is in the world of the military (read my interview with Marine Band Staff Sergent and friend clarinetist Harry Ong) and I find the perspectives of these individuals very inspiring.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Swedish Radio Choir: leading in adventurous programming - another cool choir

The Swedish Radio Choir does not play it safe. They go all out for the rare, hard-hitting, obscure and difficult. And when a musical ensemble takes risks, it is memorable. Even a week later, my ears are still buzzing from some of the repertoire performed by The Swedish Radio Choir by Cal Performances at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. It was also exciting to see Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director of the San Francisco Symphony as guest conductor. He has worked with the Radio Choir in the past and teamed up with them for their 2010 Spring tour.

Even though I have sung in choirs for over half of my life and have a deep love for this music, I would not consider myself a choral music specialist. However, I will usually be familiar with at least one or two selections on any given program. From this program, I only recognized the names of Gustav Mahler and Johann Sebastian Bach. It is always exciting to hear music that is completely new to the ears. The Radio Choir features Swedish compositions, rarely performed pieces of the great masters and relatively obscure composers from all over the world.

The piece that I can still hear buzzing in my ears and that I am most excited about is Anders Hillborg's "Mouyayoum," composed for 16-part-chorus without text [hear excerpts in video below].

TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Quick review: The King's Singers at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco


The "Seattle Times" wrote: "Listening to the King's Singers is just about as much fun as you can have in public with your clothes on! "

The King's Singers are SO English. And what I mean by that is that they are classy and silly all at the same time. And the silliness is so subtle with a look or a small movement. Some of these guys are so dignified as classical singers, but all they need to do is look at the audience and wink, or raise their eyebrows and send everyone into hysterics. Tenor, Paul Phoenix, is the most fun to watch as his whole body moves and bounces as he sings (see, look at him third from the left in the photo above). Dressed in dark velvet blue sports coats and light pink ties, even their wardrobe reflects this attitude.

The first half of the concert was full of classic madrigals including my fav by Monteverdi (see yesterday's post). They also performed a commission that was written by Bay Area composer Gabriela Lena Frank called "Tres Mitos de Mi Tierra , or Three Myths of My Land" which was full of insanely impressive and difficult rhythmic devices that made my jaw drop. When the piece was over Frank, who was sitting in the audience, hugged each and everyone of them. You could tell she was absolutely delighted and adored them personally.

goofballs: Timothy Wayne-Wright Paul Phoenix and David Hurley

In the second half, the King's Singers lightened up the vibe with Randy Newman's "Short People" (yes, we're looking at you David Hurley - so cute!), Billy Joel's "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" (listen below), and a Harry Connick Jr. tune.

I even spotted Jace Wattig from Chanticleer and chatted with him for a little bit during intermission. My friend and his friend bonded over their experience singing collegiate a cappella at Brown University. As always, it was a fabulous time.

I thought since my last week has been musically full of Billy Joel and the King's Singers that the signs are telling me to bring the two together and share this video with you: The King's Singers perform Billy Joel's "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" arrangement by Phillip Lawson.


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Other girls loved rock bands, I was a fangirl for The King's Singers


When I was in high school, I was not into Green Day, I was not into the Backstreet Boys, I was a fangirl for The King’s Singers. I was choir nerd. Maybe not so nerdy like Rachel in Glee, but I loved professional and amateur singing groups like Chanticleer and a cappella college choirs.

The King’s Singers have been the preeminent ensemble in the world for a cappella. Tomorrow night I get to see them live for the oh, maybe seventh time? I'm not kidding. I know for awhile there I was seeing them every time they came through Los Angeles in high school. I've also seen them in Ann Arbor, Michigan and in Washington, D.C. I've waited to meet them after shows and asked them sign books and CDs for me. I've also gotten to watch them teach master classes with community and high school groups.

Like I said, I'm a fan.

Wednesday night San Francisco Performances present The King’s Singers at the Herbst Theatre. The program is entitled Myths, featuring the premiere of a piece by Bay Area composer Gabriela Lena Frank [read an interview with her here], as well as works by Bennet, Schültz, Weelkes, Saint-Saëns and one of my favorite madrigals by Monteverdi called “Si Ch’io Vorrei Morire” [Watch it below]

Written in the 17th century, the text is sizzlingly sexy:

Si ch’io vorrei morire
(Yes, I wish to die!)

Hora ch’io bacio amore la bella bocca del mio amato core
(Now I lovingly kiss the beautiful lips of my heart’s desire)

Ahi car’ e dolce lingua datemi tant’ humore che di dolcezz’ in questo sen m’estingua
(Ah, dear and sweet tongue, give me such passion that your sweet breast might quench my desire)

Ahi vita mia, a questo bianco seno deh stringetemi fin ch’io venga meno
(Ah, my life! Press your ivory breast against me that my desire might be satisfied)

Ahi bocca, ahi bacci, ahi lingua, ahi lingua torn’a dire
(Ah, lips, ah, kisses, ah, tongue, give me your passion)

Si ch’io vorrei morire
(Yes, I wish to die!)

READ THE REST OF MY ARTICLE HERE

Friday, December 18, 2009

UC Berkeley men's a cappella group Noteworthy goes viral with Lady Gaga's "Poker Face"

Since we're all on this Glee/Lady Gaga/Sing Off kick, Bay Area folks will especially appreciate this video of the UC Berkeley men's a cappella group Noteworthy singing Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" with absolutely fabulous entertaining choreography. As of 11:50 PM on December 17, 2009 the video has received 1,072,697 views.

The song features Brian Wang sashaying and singing lead on the verses and Joey Goodknight singing the crap out of the chorus. The performance is from the 9th Annual West Coast A Cappella Showcase on November 13, 2009.

These men deserve some major kudos for dancing with such gusto and channeling their inner divas! GO FOR IT BOYS!

Read More



Sunday, December 13, 2009

Chanticleer performs in the Cathedral of Christ the Light: or how I spent my second night of Hannukah


Last night I had the absolute pleasure of attending the barely one-year-old Cathedral of Christ the Light right on Lake Merritt in Oakland for an evening with the Bay Area’s own "orchestra of voices" Chanticleer. The twelve guys are back from touring the country and have already begun their annual Bay Area Christmas concerts.


This is the first time I’ve seen Chanticleer, and what I really love about them (other than their music) is the air of the fun they have. There are jokes in the program bios and smiles all around. I spotted the signature insanely awesome handlebar mustache of eldest member Eric Alatorre and the faux mohawk of soprano Michael McNeil. I see this kind of artistic seriousness coupled with gleeful enjoyment a signature Bay Area attitude and I am reminded how much I love living in this part of the country. I am also proud that these guys (most of them from middle America) represent my little slice of the world when they go out on the road.

TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, SEE THEIR SCHEDULE AND WATCH A VIDEO THEY MADE FOR JAY LENO CLICK HERE

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Presenting The Cathedral of Christ the Light: a new stunning venue for choral and organ music


Today my parents and I stopped into The Cathedral of Christ the Light located about half-a-mile from my house. This cathedral was under construction when I moved to Oakland over two years ago and it opened a little over a year ago. I went inside soon after it opened and thought it would be a good place for music, but was disappointed by the lack of music on the calendar. Well, today, I found the schedule and I'm so excited about a venue like this being so close to my house!

For those of you that know me, you know that I'm a nice Jewish girl that LOVES music about Jesus. No apologies here! For those of you that are new to this blog, get used to it (I wrote my Master's report on the commercialization of gospel music).

Check out my examiner.com article and see what amazing concerts the Bay Area has in store: Bach, Rachmaninoff (The Vespers! Hear a selection down below) and choirs like Chanticleer and the Oakland Symphony Chorus as well as groups that I didn't know about like the Pacific Boys Choir and the California State University East Bay Singers.

READ MY EXAMINER.COM ARTICLE HERE