Poscimur

So, I joined a choir here in the UK. It's quite a unique choir in that they subsitute for cathedral choirs all over the country. Only a small group of people in London rehearse on a regular basis and the full choir only rehearses together at the venue on the day of the event. My "debut" was this past weekend (the bank holiday weekend) at Ely Cathedral. Magnus and I went together, but I'm afraid it was a bit of a bore for Magnus. The weather was dreadful (cold and rainy) and I was either in rehearsal or singing in a service most of Saturday and Sunday. But the cathedral is gorgeous and the singing was good. The town of Ely is also quite cute, but I didn't get to see much of it. We had a great meal at the Boathouse along the river but due to the weather we couldn't sit outside which would've been much nicer. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time outside of rehearsal and singing to get to know the other choristers. But that will come with time. The one exception was Paul, who sings alto, who was great fun and knows a ton about Early Music. In fact, he studied Medieval Latin with Peter Dronke at Cambridge, who was one of Sequentia's foremost consultants and translator.

The choir sang Evensong on Saturday, Eucharist and another Evensong on Sunday, so it was quite a marathon. Good for me though! We sang a number of things unfamiliar to me. Only the Gibbons Short service was something I had sung before.

My next gig with them will be in Tewkesbury (in Gloucestershire) and I'll be singing the duet from Mendelssohn's "I waited for the Lord" with one of the other sopranos and the choir.

Elysium in Berlin

Elysium just finished its second performance stint in Berlin. We sang the program "Know Thyself" to great success. We performed at the Domäne Dahlem, which is a farm/museum actually. We performed in the Herrenhaus, the museum part of the complex. We were surrounded by ancient coffee makers and portable cook sets and the like. We were able to use the furniture from the cafe to create a living room-like atmosphere next to a fireplace. it was really cute! On Sunday we sang in the Osterkirche (Easter Church) in Wedding. Also, an interesting atmosphere with the fabulous accoustics of a romanesque church. The Osterkirche had requested an intermission, which we weren't accustomed to doing in this program, so we rearranged the sets, added some material and generally tweaked the program. It turned out to be a blessing, as the program really benefitted from the changes. It gets better every time we do it! We made a recording and a video, so hopefully there will be some material from that we can use for promotions.

Ugh. I'm sick!

Well, actually, I'm getting over it already. After over a year of wellness, I've had the flu and now a weird cold cum sinus infection/laryngitis. All within just a few weeks. Couldn't happen at a worse time either. Just when I'm preparing for Elysium's concerts in Oregon and getting things going here in London. I'm sure everything will be OK, but it sure is aggravating now!

Members of my former church choir from Christ the King in Frankfurt, Germany met up here in London last Saturday and Sunday. Our former director, Kathy Bird was here to visit and was really the catalyst. It was great fun to see people again. We also attended the Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral and heard Christopher Sladdin sing with the choir. I hope we can do it again sometime!

Elysium in High Gear

As per usual, a month before our performance in Oregon, we are moving into high gear and I'm getting upwards of 20 emails a day sometimes!! We've had a slight hiccup, but a good one. After Anna and I both booked our flights, we found out that Medford wants us to perform there after all! Anna had given up on them last summer when they didn't reply again after she proposed our fee. But she got an email asking if we were still planning on coming! They've accepted our fees and terms and although it's a little tight with rehearsals, we're going perform in Medford, Oregon, on Friday, March 2 giving a Question and Answer session afterwards. Now we just have to figure out how we are going to get there in good time and maximize the time we have for rehearsal.

More on that later!

Drat! I *did* get ahead of myself!

I'm really disappointed about this, but I'm trying to stay positive! The gig in Scotland singing the premier of Paul Moxon's piece "Endurance" has fallen through. Apparently, one of the sponsors back out and now there are not enough funds to put it on. Sigh. The plight of classical music.

Paul is still confident that it will be performed some day. His agent is trying to place it and is also looking at getting it used for a television piece by the BBC on Shackleton's expedition on the Endurance. That would mean recording it. Paul has assured me that he will hire me to sing the soprano part if and when it is performed or recorded. So there's that.

On My Way!

This was a really good week for me! I saw Neil Mackie on Tuesday at the Royal College of Music. I was a little nervous, but not too bad, really! But none-the-less I don't think I really put my best foot forward. My mistake was wanting to see him sooner rather than later, and so I didn't really have much time to prepare. My voice has been a little cranky since I got home, so I was careful instead of just laying it on the line. Sigh. When will I learn? But I am happy I wasn't shaking - that helps! But Neil is a very vibrant, little Scotsman and we worked for a good hour after I sang him my first two pieces. It was fun, different than what I've gotten used to over the years, and certainly more aggressive than Paul (which is good!). He was pretty completmentary, saying that my voice is very fresh and has a beautiful, clear tone, which just needs a bit more depth. There are some things I felt like I had to translate into Cornelius terminology, but I think I can get past that. At any rate, I believe that he can really whip me into shape. He gave me several good tips and encouragement too. He said that getting an agent in London is very difficult. Agents generally show up at college concerts or other concerts, but don't hold auditions. He said I should just contact the directors of choral societies and ask if I could come and sing for them some time. He also said I should contact the BBC Singers and the Monteverdi Choir (John Elliot Gardiner, conductor) to find out when they hold auditions for vacancies. He said he thought I would have no problem getting a job in a school, with my experience teaching. I don't know if I really want to do that, but it's good to know that it's an option, especially since I have no certification.

He also told me about a concert by Andrew Lawrence King at Southwark Cathedral. Andrew was one of my teachers in Bremen and we had actually done the Play of Daniel, which is what he was doing here in London, while I was there! I decided it would be a very good idea to go to the concert and reintroduce myself to him afterwards. To my surprise there were some other people in the production that I knew - Susanne Ansorg on medieval Fiddle, Ian Harrison on Fiddle, shawm and tenor and Michael Metzler on percussion. I know them all from Germany, so it was nice to see them here. I hope that they will put in a good word for me, after all, Andrew only knows me as a student!

Susanne asked us if we would join them in the pub afterwards and so we followed some of the singers to a pub, had a lovely conversation with them only to discover that Susanne and the rest were at a different pub! So we went over there. I had a chance to chat with Andrew, catching up on what he's been up to over the past 10 years since I left Bremen (Omigod! has it been that long?!?).

So, the very next day, I wrote Andrew an email, and sent him the important bits of my CV. I also contacted the BBC Singers and the Monteverdi Choir about auditioning.

Today I have a cold. Ugh.

Post Christmas plans

I returned from 2+ weeks at home in Madison, Wisconsin and Bancroft, Iowa and am raring to go!

First off, I have a consultation/lesson next week with Niel Mackie who is the acting Chairman of the Voice Department at the Royal College of Music here in London. I'll sing 3 pieces for him and then we'll discuss what the best way forward is for me. Every singer should continue to work on their voice and have outside help to do it with. Neil Mackie was recommended to me by my colleague Margaret Peckham from Frankfurt. I also need advice and help regarding auditioning for and getting work here in England. And who knows? Perhaps I'll decide to go back to school and work on a Masters Degree (or whatever the equivalent is here!)!

Next, will be a performance by Elysium on March 4, 2007. We'll be performing in Salem, Oregon, USA at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. We'll begin with Evensong (encorporating lots of chant!) and continue with our program of medieval Italian songs, "Piety and Passion". For more information visit http://www.stpauloregon.org/music%20menu.htm . Have a look at Elysium's website: www.elysium-sings.net and our MySpace Music space: www.myspace.com/elysiumsings

After that will likely be a premier performance in Fort William, Scotland of the work "Endurance" by Paul Moxon. Have a little listen: www.myspace.com/pwmoxon

Elysium will be performing again in May, this time in Berlin. More details will be forth-coming so watch this space!