- Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times

Opening night of the summer BSO season was one of the most exciting performances I’ve had to date. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas breathed life into Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony that brought about the folk-y, soulful and theatrical story from the separate first movement “Todtenfeier” (funeral celebration) to the languid vocal phrases in the “Urlicht” (primal light — evocative of the afterlife for the hero in Mahler’s first symphony). The chorus doesn’t sing except for the final movement “Die Auferstehung” (the resurrection) in collaboration with the soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, which allowed us most of the symphony to take in Tilson Thomas’ evocative directions from the podium — such a treat!

(photo by Michael Lutch of the New York Times)

As we sang only the final movement (with many seasoned performers in the chorus), our rehearsals were brief with most time devoted to independent study, so the performance delivered an unexpected and emotional momentum from our final collaboration. Our entrance with mezzo-soprano soloist Stephanie Blythe on “Aufersteh’n” (to resurrect) was hushed and blended — no small feat for 130 singers — and we grew through the fugue “mit Fluegeln werde ich entschweben” (with wings I will float to the heavens) and the final “Sterben werd’ ich um zu leben” (I will die in order to live) brought a forceful coda that almost doesn’t want to end.

Mahler, himself, recalled“The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.”

Two weeks later, I’m still breathless.

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Listen to more on Mahler’s life, death and his legacy on this fascinating episode of NPR’s Studio 360.

The Kinder Chor at the German International School sang with aplomb on their second-to-last day of school, and “auswendig” (memorized), nonetheless. In the German International School’s Sommerfest, children and their parents were serenaded with age-appropriate classical songs of Brahms and Schubert. In their performance of “Die Forelle” (the featured theme of Schubert’s Trout Quintet), the students acted out the futile story of fisherman and fish with such gleethat it made me want to repeat this technique in future songs!

On the left, students from Franklin’s Voice IV class, which is the last group level before they embark on private lessons. The ladies sang a fantastic array of Broadway and classical songs, among them a rousing rendition of the favorite “One Short Day” from Wicked and an artful performance of Faure’s French song “Beau Soir”.

To the right are the collected students of Franklin’s Voice I classes. These young singers presented a lively program of musical theatre songs and a group performance of Scarlatti’s “Le Violette” (in Italian and memorized!).  Congrats to the ladies and gentleman for a job well done, and I cannot wait to work with you more in September!

Additional photos from students’ solo recitals can be found here . Congratulations again to you for lively, effective and expressive performances!

King’s Chapel has a compelling history: Founded as an Anglican parish in 1686, its stone church building was finished in 1754 and  has a bell that was forged in England and recast by Paul Revere that rings to this day before services. Its Royalist congregation fled during the Revolutionary War and King’s Chapel closed in 1776, and throughout the war was known as the ‘Stone Chapel’. In 1783 a new Reverend brought Unitarian ideas in his sermons and, eventually, revised the Book of Common Prayer for use at King’s Chapel as a Unitarian congregation. To this day, King’s Chapel participates as a Unitarian Universalist church, but follows an Anglican liturgy with words and phrases changed according to doctrine.

Every opportunity to sing in this space brings me a sense of awe. The church’s plain white walls, moldings and its Fisk organ fits the lofty acoustics perfectly, and it pleases me to see that the pews once reserved for the governor or royalty are now occupied by members and interested parties alike each Sunday.

Presiding over the entire occasion was the generous spirit, intelligence and musicianship of Donald Teeters, one of Boston’s musical treasures. Because of him the music carried the evening, as indeed it always should. In this age of shallow glamor and glitzy personalities, it is a life-changing privilege to experience an evening so focused and full of integrity.

- Brian Jones’ review in The Boston Musical Intelligencer

It was, indeed, a privilege to participate in this concert. A result of months of rehearsals to achieve proper emphasis of the very different melodic lines of Haydn’s Missa brevis Sancti Joannes de Deo, Salve Regina and Britten’s Cantata Misericordium, this night truly was about the music. Haydn’s delicately simple harmonies and straightforward verse preluded to Britten’s haunting melodies and drama. The inclusion of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings gave us the link between the two, as it melded classical poetry with a haunting horn, set slightly out-of-tune as to mimic tenor Aaron Sheehan’s voice. Following intermission, Sheehan and our own Ron Williams returned to tell the tale of the Good Samaritan with the choir as the narrative chorus in the Cantata: written around the same time as one of my favorite Britten operas, Peter Grimes, I could feel the same anger, surprise, joy and remorse in this Biblical chorus as I could picture in the townspeople of that English fishing village.

In my two years singing in the Cecilia, I’d have to say this was by far my favorite concert. It was well curated, prepared, attended and sung! And it was such a pleasure to see the expressions of “wow, we did it!” in each other’s eyes as we left the stage that night.

That said, here’s a list of upcoming events!

APRIL 2010:
4.16.2010 Boston Cecilia’s Spring concert, “When Britten met Haydn”. Friday at 8 PM. All Saints Parish in Brookline, MA. Ticket information here.

MAY 2010
5.1.2010 Franklin School for the Performing Arts‘ Spring Gala at Luciano’s on Lake Pearl in Wrentham, MA. Featuring a few of my voice students in the school’s flagship ensemble, Electric Youth, and younger students in “Future Shock”. Tickets are still available!

JUNE 2010
6.5.2010 Franklin School for the Performing Arts Spring Voice Class Recitals, Saturday at 5 PM and 6:30 PM, FSPA in Franklin, MA

6.6.2010 Franklin School for the Performing Arts Spring Studio Recital, Sunday at 3 PM, FSPA in Franklin, MA

6.11.2010 German International School Fundraising Dinner, Friday at the Goethe Institut, Boston, MA and featuring a special performance by the GIS Kinder Chor

6.25.2010 German International School Summer assembly, featuring a special performance by the GIS Kinder Choir, 12 PM

The Cecilia director, Don Teeters, quotes of this pairing:

“In terms of both style and substance . . .I think Haydn and Britten share so much. How brilliant and often deceptively transparent are the polished, elegant surfaces of both. What lies inside reveals itself quickly to performers but sometimes audiences, at least on first exposure, need to dig a little deeper, to work a little harder to discover the depth and the passion that lie behind the sophisticated facades.”

When Britten met Haydn
Boston Cecilia
Donald Teeters, Artistic Director
Aaron Sheehan, Tenor

Friday, April 16, 2010 at 8 PM
All Saints Church
1773 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02445

Congratulations to everyone!!

More classical winners from tonight’s awards here.

As a teaching musician, my own beliefs stand in perpetuating and increasing access music education and appreciation for all, and my “co-curricular” activities reflect this. I’m currently volunteering  in programming and development for two music organizations in Boston. The Plain Song, in its inaugural season, is a song recital series started by classmates from New England Conservatory and ZUMIX is a well-established community music school in East Boston. Though these organizations have different missions and goals, I find challenges and opportunities to meet others interested in the arts through each position.

Tonight I will attend a Board prospect event at the new ZUMIX facility and am pretty excited to learn about this school’s expansion plans, program season and how the Board of Directors works to accomplish finance, program and development goals. At the same time, I’m also intrigued to hear about other Board members’ careers and how they became a part of this organization. If the arts are for everyone, then it’s crucial for those from all walks of life to become involved, right?

(photo by Michael J. Lutch of the Boston Globe. Copyright 2010)

The MacMillan St. John Passion has officially premiered in the United States and people are talking. As a musician, I’ve sung a lot of Passions and realize that these are by-definition meant to impact and inspire reflection. Mr. MacMillan’s, to me, is a powerful example of this.

Jeremy Eichler’s Boston Globe review is predictable enough. MacMillan’s Passion is a modern and varied piece — maybe even with elements of Schoenberg or Britten in its midst — but he seems to have missed the point of looking at the piece for what the composer intended rather than forming an opinion on what Eichler (and perhaps others) may have wanted it to be. 

My own thoughts about this work are that — like most Passions — MacMillan’s version isn’t for everyone: the 12-tone music, bombastic orchestral interludes and high drama make an already volatile text come alive. I was even taken aback at the difficulty of the score early in the rehearsal process and struggled to understand how the text corresponded with the music, with or without our BSO-issued study recording. However, over the course of a few months, I’ve come to understand and even appreciate MacMillan’s work.

What can be said about last night’s (and, I hope, tonight and tomorrow’s) performance is that it was energetic. From fourth row of the chorus I was able to get a pretty good picture of the efforts onstage and the audience’s reactions: At the end of the ninth movement I saw faces rapt in the silence, at attention with all of us onstage.

Our rehearsals  for the U.S. premiere of James MacMillan’s St. John Passion, to be presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus Jan 21-23 (that’s less than two weeks away!), have picked up after the holidays. This rehearsal process is a little different from the usual TFC goings-on.

First, as it’s a grand-scale modern work, we’ve been granted the privilege of performing with scores. Last week’s executive decision brought about a huge sigh of relief — at least on my behalf — to not have to wrack my brain memorizing this 12-tone behemoth. Although this practice is pretty rare in TFC, I’ll take it.

Second, we’ve been rehearsing a lot. Even before Sir Colin Davis makes his entrance, we’ll have logged about a month’s total worth of rehearsals. This is also a TFC rarity: usually we’re lucky to have 2-3 run-throughs before a performance. Again, I think the large-scale modern-ness grants us all extra time to get it right.

Third, I’m pretty excited to share this experience with you! Even though Easter is still a few months away, this U.S. premiere of MacMillan’s St. John Passion promises to leave a lasting impression. Join me, the TFC, BSO, conductor Sir Colin Davis and baritone soloist Christopher Maltman at Symphony Hall on January 21-23.

Tickets available at www.bso.org. This concert series is also part of the Boston Symphony’s  “$20 tickets for patrons under 40″  program.