Back in the Saddle Again

I'm back to singing in the tenor section of the Portland Symphonic Choir again. I took a year off because of ongoing scheduling conflicts with some music critics conferences that I wanted to attend (they included a Ring Cycle in Toronto, Canada, and the Spoleto USA festival in Charleston, South Carolina).

After passing a rigorous audition, I'm delving into the nitty gritty of learning some difficult Jewish music. We will be presenting concerts on October 27 and 28 at Temple Beth Israel in NW Portland. The trickiest piece is Judith Lang Zaimont's Rememberance, which was commissioned by the PSC. Zaimont frames this work in four movements to poems by Shakespeare, Sir John Suckling, Christina Rossetti, and to texts from Reform Judaism's prayerbook for the High Holy Days.

This concert features other pieces, of course, and I'll mention them at a later date. In the meantime, I have to say that the choir is sounding better than ever. I am really impressed by the professionalism of my singing colleagues. The choir, in fact, has been invited to sing at the American Choral Directors Association conference in Vancouver BC in late February. I think that everyone is looking forward to that!