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.

On Christmas Eve around 7:45 PM, the director called asking if I was free to come a little earlier to rehearsal. The choir’s soprano soloist had fallen ill and a sub was needed post-haste to sing “Maria’s Wiegenlied” in the 10:30 PM service. Though I was fatigued from travel and worried if I’d make it to Brookline in time, I said “of course!” and hightailed it to the church.

After a brief run-through, I suited up and  took my place within the choir pews at the altar. When it came time to sing, I stepped out, shakily held my folder and prepared to face a large crowd gathered that chilly evening in the Sanctuary. When I’d finished, I saw a few tiny smiles in the faces of the congregation and thanked the powers that be for letting everything go so well.

This afternoon I finished my  Holiday Pops concerts with the “green team” of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. I think that, after a month of Santa hats and Christmas flair, surprise choreography from Keith Lockhart, score cuts, bad Santa jokes, guest artist changes and nearly shouting out the Hallelujah chorus multiple times I’ve come to consider myself a fully-baptized member of the TFC.

From this summer’s Die Meistersinger, through rehearsing (and trying to memorize!) the upcoming MacMillan St. John Passion and, finally, finishing out 2009 with the Boston Pops, I’ve come to really enjoy singing at Symphony Hall and out at Tanglewood with some wonderful people. TFC is really, truly one big happy family. There are members who have sung with the chorus for decades, and I can only dream to last that long.

Many, many thanks to Betsy, Laurie, Deb, Tracy and anyone else who has had the heart to “show me the ropes” in row four. My holiday favorites? They are the “Winter Weather Medley” and the “12 Days of Christmas,” of course!

A huge congratulations goes out to the German International School’s Kinder Chor for not just one, but two concerts at Boston’s Goethe Institut. Their performances of German and English holiday songs brought glad tidings and good cheer to audiences from both sides of the Atlantic! Many thanks to Kiki Xander, Ursula Hassmann, and Sarah Bellott for their help in coordinating these events!

Also, I have to extend further accolades to my voice  students at Franklin School for the Performing Arts for their ongoing efforts in giving their “all” in Humbug: A Holiday Revue, The Nutcracker, studio recitals and school musicals. Keep up the good work!

November’s performance of the Brahms Requiem and choral pieces by Schuetz and Whitacre presented similarities and contrasts between themes of calm and death. I was intrigued to rehearse these very different works throughout the fall months and contemplate the changing leaves to “selig sind die Toten” (blessed are the dead) and Whitacre’s idea of “surrendering unto Sleep”. Although these three works came from different eras — Baroque, Romantic and composed within the last decade — they all interpreted the calming effect that music can give to the human spirit.

We, the Boston Cecilia, sang this concert in collaboration with Belmont’s Musica Sacra under the baton of Mary Beekman and a splendid professional orchestra. The Brahms’ heavy orchestration and lush choral parts needs the number of voices our two groups provided, and the resulting performance was well-received.

Although this collaborative performance required more rehearsal time, commuting and score study than the norm, I think that it was well worth the effort. The Brahms Requiem is a stalwart in choral music and, for me, will be difficult to forget. I look forward to the opportunity to sing it again, soon!

Rehearsals have begun for the MacMillan St. John Passion with the Boston Symphony and Tanglewood Festival Chorus. With Sir Colin Davis conducting, it should be an incredible weekend. Our performances are January 21-23, 2010 at Symphony Hall.

Tickets: http://bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod3240102

This series is part of the BSO’s $20 tickets for patrons under 40 years of age.

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