Others

Passionate Cecilia Bartoli took on a recording project that features some of the famous music of the castrati.  Her beautiful voice and powerful singing is wonderful to behold, especially Handel's Ombra Mai Fu.   The description of her DVD features some well chosen words: The ‘Sacrificium’ project tells the story of the castrati in all […]

This story reminded me of 1994, when an album called "Chant" took over the radio waves. That CD/album featured the monks of the Benedictine abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos; this one features composer Allessandro Striggio and English group I Fagiolini: (Reuters) – A sumptuous first recording of a long-lost 450-year-old Italian Renaissance mass written […]

Frank Albinder, pictured here with Eric Whitacre, pointed me to this story about how music and singing is helping Rep. Gabielle Giffords recover from the gunshot: Since Giffords was transferred to TIRR Jan. 21, reports of her singing "Happy Birthday" for husband Mark Kelly and Don McLean's "American Pie" have signaled what some have called […]

On the morning after the conclusion of our 2011 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association, I went to the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago to reflect, as well as decompress. The night before, I had completed the Conference by hearing Helmuth Rilling, the recently announced winner of the Herbert […]

Another great day to be in Chicago for ACDA 2011.   It is the end of a long day that included definite highlights:   University of St. Thomas and director Angela Broeker gave a refined and elegant concert today – their best work was on the Monteverdi Ecco and Le Pont Mirabeau by Lionel Daunais. […]

Brad Holmes and his Millikin University Choir did it again – another stunning performance involving incredible musicianship, humor, passion, creativity, and tonal variety.   This is what you hope to find at a national conference – a stellar choir performing at their very best.   They took the stage quickly and sang an energetic performance […]