Choral

The 2009/2010 season comes to an end for OSSCS and SMCO

June 8, 2010

It’s that time of year again. Orchestras, professional and volunteer, are wrapping up their seasons. Two of Seattle’s many community orchestras finished their seasons this weekend. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra – University of Washington conducting student Geoffrey Larson’s creation – closed their inaugural season with a concert titled “Just Dance.” The next day, George [...]

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Haptadama comes to a close at Olympic Sculpture Park on Saturday night

May 9, 2010

With Haptadama: The Seven Creations of Ancient Persia, Eric Banks unexpectedly challenges audiences to reconsider how they think about opera. It’s not that Banks is dabbling in new forms or means of expression – although he does have a tremendous gift for contemporizing ancient languages and melodies in ways that observe texts, respect original ideas, [...]

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MOR commissions Vedem; receives world premiere next week

May 4, 2010

By Peter A. Klein The poetry of teenaged Jewish boys imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp will be given new life in the oratorio “Vedem,” by composer Lori Laitman and librettist David Mason. “Vedem” will receive its world premiere at Music of Remembrance’s spring concert on Monday evening, May 10 at 8:00 PM in Benaroya [...]

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O death where is thy sting?

April 27, 2010

The two pieces of sacred music I turn to most often are W.A. Mozart’s Requiem – the first piece of music I ever fell in love with – and J. Brahms’ German Requiem – the first Brahms piece I heard in its entirety. These two pieces shaped my formative listening years and instilled in me [...]

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Celebrating Seattle’s choral music community

April 5, 2010
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Seattle’s choral music community is routinely passed over in praise and attention in favor of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. Even Seattle’s healthy early music community often garners more attention. This deficit persists even as local choral music groups have celebrated the contributions of Frank Ferko, centuries of “French” composers including Frank Martin, and [...]

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St. James recreates Medieval service

April 2, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Of all the rituals of the Roman Catholic church, one of the most mysterious and profound, and perhaps less known, must be its Tenebrae service traditionally said the last three days of Holy Week. St. James Cathedral held it Wednesday night with all due solemnity and dark eloquence. With its recitations — [...]

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If you had to choose: which piece for chorus and orchestra would you like to hear?

March 29, 2010

The performance of “Daphnis et Chloe” at the Seattle Symphony put me in a hopeful mood. What other seldom heard, secular pieces for chorus and orchestra could the SSO perform next? By no means is the following poll an exhaustive list of the many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra. But, if you had to [...]

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Ferko discusses how he composed his Stabat Mater

March 20, 2010

Frank Ferko is in town for a performance of his Stabat Mater by Choral Arts. He participated in a Meet the Composer last night at Fare Start. I live blogged the Q&A (you can find the transcript by clicking on the Live Blog page) and at the beginning of the question period I took this [...]

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TODAY: TGN live blog’s Frank Ferko “Meet the Composer” reception

March 16, 2010

TGN is launching another live blog event. This time, I will be live blogging from the Choral Arts’ Meet the Composer reception with composer Frank Ferko starting at 6:30 pm this Friday at Fare Start.  Attending the Meet to Composer reception with Mr. Ferko is a good opportunity to meet and interact with one of [...]

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Cappella Romana devotes an evening to Serbian Orthodox music

February 15, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Puget Sound region has an abundance of choral groups, from very small ensembles to large masses of singers. While they vary in quality, most are more than respectable and some first-class. They cover the repertory in astonishing breadth and depth.

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A Choral Arts Christmas

December 27, 2009

On Saturday, December 19th, Choral Arts gave a wonderful Christmas Concert at the Trinity Parish Church in Seattle. Led by Robert Bode, and accompanied by Libby Watrous, the Choral Arts choir sang Christmas songs and carols from multiple cultures. The concert was divided up into four parts: Seeking Sanctuary, Inviting Mystery, Mother and Child, and Love Came [...]

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Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saens’s Christmas Oratorio: an unusual holiday pairing

December 23, 2009

Over the years, I have attended number of oddly programmed Orchestra Seattle concerts. Unique programs are George Shangrow (the long-time music director) staples. Before a concert once, Shangrow remarked that he likes variety, even if the pieces don’t naturally fit together. The December 20th Family Holiday concert at the First Free Methodist Church was probably [...]

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Snarky and the sublime: the Esoterics and the Seattle Men’s Chorus

December 16, 2009

Some ensembles pad their December concerts with traditional holiday music ranging from GF Handel’s Messiah (which the composer never intended as the holiday staple it has become) to tapestries of Christmas carols, often set in new or unfamiliar ways. A handful of ensembles in town buck these traditional formulas for programs that are different, but [...]

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Opus 7 celebrates Christmas at St. James

December 8, 2009

By: R.M. Campbell Opus 7, one of the most esteemed musical groups anywhere, has little interest in musical trinkets of the season, at least this year. At its annual Christmas concert Sunday night at St James Cathedral, the vocal ensemble looked to Mendelssohn as well as Einojuhani Rautavaara and Georg Schumann instead. All proved to [...]

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