Facing Front

Greetings, Readers! It is difficult for me to fully wrap my brain around the fact that March 7...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:09:00 -0400

Greetings, Readers!

It is difficult for me to fully wrap my brain around the fact that March 7 was almost a full month ago! So much has happened it such little time…

The NEC Concert Choir, in collaboration with the NEC Contemporary Improvisation Department, Hankus Netsky, the NEC Wind Ensemble, and soloists Adrienne Arditti, Erica Petrocelli, Julia Partyka, Joshua Quinn, led by Maestro Charles Peltz and narrated by President Tony Woodcock, presented a fantastic performance of Honegger’s King David at the Church of the Covenant in downtown Boston. Though Mother Nature attempted to weigh in and make a mess of the evening, she failed. Miserably! The performers had a lovely, appreciative audience, and they entertained them with the professionalism we faculty encourage them to embrace.

In fact, you can witness the performance yourself! Thanks to Andrew Hurlbut and members of the NEC Public Relations department, you can view the concert in its entirety. Click, turn up your volume, sit back, and enjoy!

No sooner had we successfully finished the Honegger King David Project the NEC Chamber Singers had three final tour preparation rehearsals, and we were at the Boston-Logan Airport by 5:00am on Friday, March 15 for our Mid-Atlantic Tour (see interior plane pic below!)!

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the level of professionalism, and humanism, these 28 students displayed over our 5 days together as we traveled from Boston, to Raleigh, to Greenville, to Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, and finally, home to Boston. Not only did the unspoken musical dialogue between each of them grow (in leaps and bounds!), but despite how tired they may have been, they performed each concert with a renewed spirit, magnificent sound and musical maturity well beyond their years. Think I’m biased in my opinion? I can’t blame you. Every conductor usually is! Take a listen to a few of the audio clips below. These were recorded during the March 17 afternoon performance at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Not only do they sound glorious, they also performed, at the last minute, under the leadership of my second year graduate choral conducting student Darrel Whidden (I, unfortunately, became quite ill the night before – but as we performers always say, “The show must go on!”).

Robert H. Young – Sing Me A Song

Diane Loomer, arr. – Frobisher Bay

(Joseph Anthony Smith & Timothy Ayres-Kerr, tenors)

And so, here we are in April. I am convinced that as we age, Time insists on going faster! The Concert Choir is in week two of rehearsals preparing for our final performance this season; A Tribute to Tamara Brooks, Monday, April 29 at 8:00pm in Jordan Hall. We hope that if you will be in the Boston area you might join us that evening. The Chamber Singers will also perform on the program and will share the opening portion of their tour program. We’re considering it their official “home coming.” Though I never had the opportunity to meet Tamara, from what I have learned of her, I believe she would approve of the gesture.

Keep checking in on our blog. We’ll keep you posted with the comings and goings of the lives of the students involved in the NEC Choral Department. And of course, we hope to see you on April 29!

Best wishes,

Erica J. Washburn

singitlikeitis: North Carolina, here we come!!!...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:11:34 -0400

singitlikeitis:

North Carolina, here we come!!! #chambersingerstour #music

lostasasnowflake: We’re so excited for tour!!! #flightbuddies...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:11:26 -0400

lostasasnowflake:

We’re so excited for tour!!! #flightbuddies #CStour

lostasasnowflake: The tour shenanigans will never end #CStour...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:11:18 -0400

lostasasnowflake:

The tour shenanigans will never end #CStour #pimpin

Rehearsing x a million

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:45:41 -0400

Rehearsing x a million

Meet the Singers: Tim Ayres-Kerr

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:30:56 -0400

I am a freshman voice major, and this is my first year in Chamber Singers.

“Exchanging Silence for Silence”: The Singer’s Mental Melting Pot

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:10:17 -0400

Naturally, at a conservatory, the first thing we think to talk about is the music itself: the sounds we make, the songs we sing, the basic structure of the pieces themselves, learning, training, practicing. But the one thing that sets my experience in the New England Conservatory Chamber Singers apart from that of all of the other choirs in which I have participated is not written into any score, nor is it something that can be fabricated, practiced, or reproduced. It is silence.

Chances are, you’re experiencing silence to some degree as you read this blog. But what’s so special about *our* silence, and why is Chamber Singers silence more meaningful than others?

In the moments before Ms. Washburn begins a piece, there is a perfect unity among the group, as each singer sheds themselves and gives their minds, bodies, and souls over to the rest of the choir. Like March’s snow in April, each singer melts into one another, soaking into the music, and contributes to the cadential crocuses and melodic marigolds that bud only when this harmony, so to speak, is reached.

It is in these little moments when the air itself seems to vibrate. Although you were simultaneously nervous, excited, and breathless twenty minutes earlier (or, if it is a rehearsal day, despite the fact that you just downed half your body weight in black coffee), there is a characteristic calm before the storm as each singer puts his or her ego and personal strife on a shelf and becomes one with the choir. You can almost see a fellow Chamber Singer’s heart rate slow as he or she realizes that they are in good hands and that the group will catch them if they falter. It is this supportive atmosphere and all-loving attitude that truly defines this particular group of individuals. You can’t find anything like it anywhere else in the world, and I consider myself blessed to count myself as one of their ranks.

Come and experience it first-hand. It is truly a sight to behold, and we are aching to share it with you.

-Alex Gilliam

Recent tour rehearsal…

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:39:47 -0500

Recent tour rehearsal…

From Zach

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:06:41 -0500

In my two years here at NEC, I’ve had my fair share of life changing experiences. This institution is filled with students who all intend to be the apex of their field, and do everything in their power to achieve as much as they physically can. It’s an incredibly inspiring environment, filled with people who let the excellence of their peers push them up instead of pulling them down. And from what I have seen, no where is this more obvious than the Chamber Singers.

As a singer, there is an associated stigma that follows you where you go. We allegedly have a penchant for the overly dramatic, a perceived lack of musicianship, or a short attention span. People think falsely that we’re ditzy and dumb, all glitter and no substance, and that we glide through life with false emotions and false faces to keep ourselves right with the right people and wrong with the wrong ones. It’s a shadow that follows the word “singer,” a smudge that brings us all down a bit. But if you were to sit into a rehearsal with the chamber singers, you’d see in a heartbeat that smudges and stigmas have no place with us.

Every singer we have is incredibly intelligent, beautifully genuine, and sublimely in tune (musically, mentally and emotionally) with everyone else. On our worse days, we’re better than any other musical group I’ve ever been in, and on our best, there’s magic, which is something that defies stigmatism. That magic is especially prominent with the repertoire we’re dealing with now. It’s a range between Brahms and Ligeti, if that helps your expectations at all, and it’s some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.

Of course, with Erica Washburn at the helm, how couldn’t it be? I have worked with Erica for six years now, and she is one of the most inspiring and talented musicians I’ve ever worked with. She took a group of singers and made a choir, filled with enthusiasm and a desire to share our voices. And I think that’s pretty extraordinary. And cool.

We’ve been working for months now, tackling this music and shaping it. I’ve gotten to know my choirmates even better, and some of them have become like family to me. Its gotten to the point where we just walk around Boston singing Ligeti and Frobisher Bay in harmony. We get some weird looks, but thats the price for music that bonds you so tightly to people that you want to carry it out of the rehearsal with you and onto the streets.

We’re going on tour soon. Beautiful music, sung by fantastic musicians, as interpreted and led by a conductor extraordinare. It’s gonna be a good time. You should come.

singitlikeitis: Conduct. Charles Peltz.

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:03:19 -0500

singitlikeitis:

Conduct. Charles Peltz.

singitlikeitis: In between performances! @wgbh

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:02:35 -0500

singitlikeitis:

In between performances! @wgbh

singitlikeitis: Charles Peltz and the @necmusic Concert Choir...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:58:00 -0500

singitlikeitis:

Charles Peltz and the @necmusic Concert Choir in rehearsal for next week’s concert! #music #concert #kingdavid

singitlikeitis: Sing Chamber Singers!!! @necmusic #music #tour

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:55:58 -0500

singitlikeitis:

Sing Chamber Singers!!! @necmusic #music #tour

Meet the Singers: Dylan Evans

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:41 -0500

1. From Delray Beach, FL

2. Apparently I am quite the “mysterious” character. The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets…

3. I am a triplet (2 sisters)

Meet the Singers: Riley Vogel

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:41 -0500

1. I am a Sophomore Vocal Performance Major at NEC
2. I began singing as a boy alto in the Phoenix Boys Choir…I am now a bass.
3. I am deaf in my right ear!

Meet the Singers: Nicholas Loh

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:54 -0500

1. 1st Year Graduate Student, major in Piano performance
2. First became involved in singing while being a repetiteur for a university opera production when the production ran out of men to sing.
3. Been playing ‘Magic: The Gathering’ since 13, and looking for other players from NEC to spellsling.

Hello readers!

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:54 -0500

My name is Darrel Whidden, and I am a second year graduate student in choral conducting. I have a unique place in the Chamber Singers, and in the New England Conservatory community in general. Over the past year and a half, I have found myself in the very awkward position of standing on the podium in front of many musicians for many hours every week. These are also the people that I sing with as an ensemble member. For many, these are the same students that I consider friends and colleagues. One of the biggest challenges for me at NEC is learning to have peers in this community, while at the same time instilling a confidence in the life and teaching experience that I can offer these very peers while in a rehearsal setting. It is a very delicate balance to stand in front of so many talented singers, and from a position of authority, lead a long (sometimes, tedious!) rehearsal, and then sit down and eat lunch with them as friends. It has been difficult journey of self-exploration, but the progress that these students, my peers and I have made together as musicians has been nothing short of outstanding. I am honored to be a part of the Chamber Singers, and to share in this tour experience with them!

Meet the Singers: Alec Smith

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:54 -0500

1. I am a classical vocalist at New England Conservatory

2. I enjoy hiking, camping and pretty much all other things outdoor related

3. I play mad video games! (Also pokemon is the bomb!)

Meet the Singers: Jessica Rost

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:58 -0500

1. I am a Freshman at New England Conservatory studying Vocal Performance.
2. I like to pretend I’m French.
3. I also like to pretend I’m similar to Zooey Deschanel’s character Jessica Day on Fox’s New Girl.

Chamber Singers and our weekly “state of Zen.”

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:57 -0500

Do you have a bucket list? I know I certainly do! One of the things on my extensive and adventurous list, other than climbing to Base Camp on Mount Everest, scuba diving, skydiving or finding time to watch the movie “The Bucket List”, is to join a classical choir.

During Orientation Week of Fall semester 2012, Erica Washburn put out an invite to join the NEC Chamber Singers. At that very moment, the bright light from heaven shone down on my head as the angels sang “Gloria.” This was the moment!! This was the time!! The red inky pen was getting ready to cross off item number #46 on the list.

Having come from an exclusively jazz background and having focused on my solo career for the past decade, the thought of singing in a new style with a team of operatic choristers was alluring.

Since that angelic intervention, so many wonderful things have come about. I never quite realized how empowering it is to make music with 27 other like-minded (and much louder) singers. We sing in a variety of languages - which poses a challenge for this little scat girl. Oh, but I love it anyway! My Hungarian singing had a full work out today, whilst last semester a little German and Russian made it into the mix.

Wednesday morning rehearsals are a great time to for me to refocus my week. Zoning into a state of Zen poses a problem with 28 divas excitedly pouring over Britten and Chesnokov, but the peacefulness and clarity is certainly there. There are those magical moments when we finish a song and you can sense a transaction between kindred spirits that has just taken place. Gee, this sounds so serious! I forgot to mention the great food that Ms. Washburn brings!!

Lastly, the best thing that the NEC Chamber Singers has to offer is the beautiful and genuine friendships of each member. We have a mixed bag of comedians, divas and a few off-centered weirdos, but I love them all in any case. I can certainly say that joining Chamber Singers is one of the classiest things I’ve done at NEC. Definitely worthy of a bucket list tick!

Liz Tobias

Jazz Vocalist and fellow diva