Blue Notes for August 2004
What a summer! And what a bummer for those of us who like hot-or even really
warm-temperatures. But mid-August means that September can't be far behind.
And that means the North Shore Choral Society will soon be heading into another
season-its 69th.
The program for this season begins with a Christmas concert, once again
at Saints Faith, Hope & Charity Church, featuring Rutter's Gloria,
Finzi's
Magnificat, Pinkham's Christmas Cantata, and Csonka's Concierto
de Navidad.
The March concert will be Haydn's Creation (in German) at St. Luke's.
And the final concert will be Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the
Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Read Donald's
comments about these
selections below in the Conductor's Corner.
By following the links below, you will find several other pages of information
that can start your year as a NSCS member as productively as possible.
NSCS Benefit Volunteer Information Form
NSCS Fund Raising Questionnaire
Please
take
time
to read each one carefully, and come prepared on Tuesday, September 7th,
ready to sing, to volunteer-and, of course, to pay.
And on that latter subject: Our music librarian, Gary Hendrickson, has received
the music for the first concert, which includes these works at these prices:
Rutter's Gloria $8.00
Finzi's Magnificat $5.50
Pinkham's Christmas Cantata $3.00
(Csonka's Concierto de Navidad will be sung by a women's chorus, with music
to be provided at a later date.)
And if you have need/want to purchase Beethoven's Ninth, add $5.00.
And don't forget your membership dues of $50.00 ($35.00 for students).
Please have a check or cash ready on September 7th to cover these costs.
If you have already received your season brochure, you know that-besides
this being "A Season of Joy!"-it is also a season of higher subscription
ticket prices ($75 regular and $70 seniors) due primarily to our concert
with the Chicago Philharmonic next May. Since only a limited number of tickets
for that concert are available for our season subscribers, you may want to
encourage your spouses, other family members, other friends, and whoever
else to subscribe early. That may be done (using a credit card, if one wishes)
by calling Len Barker at 847/272-2351.
If you have not seen Light Opera Work's version of Candide (with David Hunt
in the ensemble), you're missing a real treat. It runs through August 29;
call 847/869-6300 for tickets.
Wylie Crawford's carillon concert at the Chicago Botanic Garden on August
16 was another treat-in spite of the traffic noise. (Aren't the new wall
and berm supposed to take care of that problem?)
And a treat yet to come: L'Opera Piccola's production of The Marriage
of Figaro at the Athenaeum Theatre (with Mars Longden in the chorus) on August
21, 22, 27 and 28. Call 312/560-1072 for tickets. Mars says (without prejudice)
that it comes within a hair's breadth of being as good as Lyric's recent
production.
Read about the Berkshire Choral Festival. You may want to attend next summer.
Remember that Blue Notes is your opportunity to bring items of interest
to the NSCS membership. To do so, contact Len Barker at 847/272-2351 or lenpbarker@comcast.net.
FROM THE CONDUCTOR’S CORNER—
Hi Everyone,
Welcome back. I look forward to an exciting season. After the success of
last year’s “Christmas” concert, we have decided to repeat
it. This year’s program will include Pinkham’s Christmas
Cantata,
Csonka’s Concierto de Navidad (quite possibly the Chicago premiere),
Rutter’s Gloria, Finzi’s Magnificat, and carols and Chanukah
songs. We will have at least two Tuesday night rehearsals at Saints Faith,
Hope & Charity Church to solve logistical problems and get used to the
acoustics before we meet the orchestra. We will publicize the concert widely
and early in order to cultivate even greater interest.
Just as last year’s second concert gave us challenges and adventure
with the Rutter Requiem (a wonderful performance) and the Persichetti Winter
Cantata (a surprising audience favorite), this year’s second concert
will be an exciting challenge as well. We will perform the Haydn Creation,
sung in German. My reasons for choosing this work are 1) it’s a great
piece, both for singers and audience members, 2) it’s a good vehicle
to refine our ability to sing large, gutsy chorus numbers in German, and
3) it has the potential (together with the Beethoven Ninth) for recruiting
new singers. We will have “lived” with German for nearly six
months by the time we get to the Beethoven.
Karl Kroeger’s Pax Vobis and the Mozart’s Requiem stretched
us last year. Our third concert this season will do likewise, albeit in a
different dimension. For the first time in our history, we will be singing
with a well-established professional orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the baton of an outstanding conductor, Larry Rachleff. The
challenges to us are different if for no other reason than the fact that
CPO has quite a reputation in Chicago, and NSCS, its collaborator, will be
held to a higher standard. We have to measure up. My design of the season
builds up to this concert. We will, by then, have gained enough vocal stamina
and artistic polish to carry off the Ninth with aplomb. We will once again—very
much like last year—build a steady crescendo straight through the season.
I look forward to seeing you on September 7th.
Donald
