Yesterday's biochem lecture had the most amazing beginning. Some minutes before class, Prof. Cox blasted "And he shall purify" from Händel's Messiah over the sound system. (We were to learn about protein purification that day.) Now, he makes a practice of playing music before the bell, but this in particular was so energizing--I was singing along ( Read more... )

There's isn't a huge amount to update about choir on Monday and Tuesday. We started Krzysztof Pendercki's "Agnus Dei" (by reading through it, of course). It splits into 20 for one chord (at fff, quasi un grido), and the lowest baritone note (which I sing) is lower than any bass note. Go figure. At least I'm not stuck singing a high F# or something ( Read more... )

RAIN ( Read more... )

I sang considerably more today than I planned to. Well, I guess hymns and the 10-minute choir rehearsal after church weren't that much, but when most of the choir members went to the Dullums after the Bible study, the singfest began ( Read more... )

My CDs came today. I'm still waiting for a couple textbooks, but at least I have my new tunes ( Read more... )

Not a whole lot to say today ( Read more... )

Well, yet another opera singer has left us. We've had Birgit Nilsson, Anna Moffo, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf pass within this year (Tebaldi and Rysanek not too long before), and now Astrid Varnay must be added to the list. She was 88 ( Read more... )

Well, here I am again. I stopped blogging once the pressures of not studying for o-chem became too great. I'm refocusing this journal, though. That's right: Your worst fears have been realized: I have become a music blogger. (Is that double colonation legal? Sorry ... ) I guess that isn't a gigantic change so much as a natural progression. And I' ( Read more... )

Now, I hope this doesn't turn out too long. I'll now get the musical things I've been meaning to write about out of the way. Then you can hear more mundane details about my life. Heh, heh.

I do have a tiny bit more to say about Die Zauberflöte. The directing seemed to move the drama along pretty well--it flowed and didn't drag a whole lot. ( Read more... )

I still want to talk about the Opera Workshop, my choir concert, and the recording session (among other miscellanies), but this post will be mostly about Sunday, as it's still fresh in my memory.

As most of you are no doubt aware, I saw Mozart's Die Zauberflöte ('The Magic Flute') at the Madison opera on Sunday. I organized the outing and ( Read more... )