Good morning, everyone!
And thanks for your patience as we’ve been trying to launch several projects at the same time. (Yup – I know. That happens every year.)
Brace yourself. We’re about to raise the bar a couple notches for this semester. Working backwards, here’s what’s on tap for this semester:
- Our December 1st concert at Grace United Methodist Church called “DREAMWEAVERS,” built around Ola Gjeilo’s piece of the same name. All the music on that program is scored for piano and strings, including a STUNNING piece by Thomas Lavoy that did not have string accompaniment, but he’s writing one especially for us!
- We’ve also been invited to be a part of the Bent But Not Broken conference where we will join several other ensembles from the community to form a HUGE choir under the direction of Rollo Dilworth. (That’s a big deal!) Quite a bit of additional music for that gig, but it’s an extraordinary opportunity we dare not miss. That happens on Saturday, November 4th in Mitchell Hall.
- And finally, (or firstly) we have a combined program with Concert Choir and our new gospel choir, Resound, on Sunday, October 22nd at Newark First Presbyterian Church. Not to worry too much – All the repertoire for that concert will be drawn as sneak previews from repertoire for the other two concerts. I’m hoping a couple of those pieces will be combined with Concert Choir, and maybe Resound as well.
That’s a lot!
I’ve been holding off writing to you all as I wanted to make sure I had the rep list set with scores in hand, while bringing the new website up to date so we can better manage the choir with easier access to all the resources you need. To that end, here are some things you should know:
- All communication to Schola Cantorum will now be generated from this website with email notifications. Should you miss a message, you can always go back to the Updates page as once sent, past messages will live there.
- I should note that the Updates page as well as the rest of the Singer Resources lives behind a password protected page as we can’t have copyrighted music floating around for free access on the internet. The password is “schola2023” And if you can’t remember how to find the website, you can simply go to www.udscholacantorum.org and it’ll take you right to the main resources page – after you enter the password. Perhaps you would like to cut out this paragraph and post it on your fridge! 🙂
- I have posted YouTube clips of nearly ALL the repertoire for the fall. (I’m not sure we’ll do every movement of every piece, but it should be fun listening, regardless.) By the end of the day, I hope to have downloadable scores posted as well. Even if you plan to use hardcopies in rehearsal, I though you’d appreciate having the ability to see them online as well as you’re listening to recordings. Please note that the very first clip is the entire UD CHORALE Spring Concert as we’ll be doing two movements from the new commissioned work premiered on that concert. You’ll see that I noted specific times for both the Forrest and the Mealor so you can skip right to those performances. (Many of you already sang the Mealor at the concert. That’s a freebie!)
- Finally, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, you can help expedite the first rehearsal process by COMPLETING THIS PRE-REGISTRATION FORM. We’ll provide more detailed information about sheet music and outfit fees in the first rehearsal, but as you know, the first week it’s simply a matter of getting everyone in the door to get things started. So… three things…
- Please complete the pre-registration form
- Tell at least 15 of your friends to do the same and bring them along to rehearsal next week, and
- Please try to arrive at least 15 minutes early (by 7:15 pm) next Tuesday (Sept 12) so we can get music in your hands, seated and ready to go for rehearsal by 7:30 pm. I’m quite confident we’ll run the entire rehearsal time until 9:30 pm.
- As was the case with email in the past, there will be a weekly Update blast with an outline of rehearsal content and other pertinent information. We hope to have all the registration, music, and outfit payment links live by next Tuesday.
I think that’s it for now.
Once again, please tell your friends and have them SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER, (even if they can’t participate this semester.
Looking forward to an amazingly dreamy semester.
See you next week.
pdh