Alamire Serenades Memphis

This past Sunday, the world renowned European a capella group Alamire gave a beautiful performance at St. Peter's Cathedral in downtown Memphis, TN. The Rhodes Singers and Women’s Chorus had a true honor in taking part in the concert. The majority of the concert was sung by Alamire but we joined them on a song or two which I thought was quite an honor. The focused a lot on music that was centuries old and dated way back to the medieval period. One example was Josquin Des Prez's song Ave Maria...Virgo Serena. Unfortunately I know this song a little bit too well having studied it intensely in one of my music classes. It was, however, rather exciting to hear a piece that I know so much about performed especially by such an incredibly talented a group. Another fantastic part of the performance was the venue which was chosen for it, St. Peter's Cathedral. St. Peter's Cathedral is not only an extremely beautiful church but the acoustics inside the building are beyond amazing. The echo that resonates off the walls is truly remarkable and made the concert all the more enjoyable. I am so glad that they decided to come and perform for us in Memphis as part of their first ever American tour. I really hope they come back again soon too. This summer when I go to LONDON (WHICH I AM RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED ABOUT) I am going to make it my business to find out if there is any possibility for me to go and see another concert of theirs because they are in a word AMAZING.

Arts Arts and more Arts

So this past week I participated in a lot of things involving the arts. It began on Thursday when i attended Juxtaparty. I think it is so interesting how this event has evolved through the years. It is difficult to say if something is better or worse but each year has had such a tremendously different feel to it. I enjoyed the chillax atmosphere of this year’s event. Friday I had my NATS audition and I thought it went pretty well but the judges had a different opinion. It was pretty tough for me to stomach not doing as well as I would have liked but I am getting over it. I believe strongly in the phrase if at first you don't succeed try try again and that is exactly what I will do next week at my Opera Memphis audition. I also on Friday had the great privilege of seeing Lysastrata being put on at the McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College. It is actually the first show I have gone to at the McCoy in my entire tenure here. I was truly blown away by the incredible acting I saw. Man we have some incredible actors and actresses at our school I honestly had no idea at all. I definitely am very motivated to make sure I go to the next production put on at the McCoy. I also got to see Cinderella put on by Opera Memphis this past weekend. I really hope I am able to become a member of their company when I audition. Til next week peace out!

People were Dying to See Us

So this past Friday was the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor by the Rhodes Singers, Master Singers Chorale, and Women's Chorus. Without a doubt in my mind I have to say that it was a huge success. The Immaculate Conception Church was beyond filled to its capacity and a lot of people had to stand in the back because there were no seats. I have to admit for a very long time I was quite worried about his performance especially because of the lack of interest in the work I saw in the Rhodes Singers. This is because of the extreme difficulty of the work and the virtuous skill and talent needed in order to sing it. The Master Singers were a huge help in bringing the work together for everyone. One of the most rare parts of the performance was the use of a countertenor. You could see everyones mouths drop in the audience as soon as a 20 something year old man began to sing as if he were Beverly Sills. But I must say I think his talent blew everyone away after the initial moments of shock. During this performance one of the strangest things I have ever had happen in a performance occurred. A woman got sick in the audience and fire trucks and ambulances came to her rescue but that did not stop us from continuing. Not for one moment did the performance take a rest (except for at intermission of course). I truly believe that Dr. Sharp's final conducting experience here at Rhodes College was a huge success and it truly saddens me that it will be his last. I am very excited to say that there are a lot of artsy things coming up this weekend and I am very much looking forward to participating in them!!

Bach and more...

So this Friday is finally the day we all have been waiting for the performance of the Bach B Minor Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church at 7:30. Despite all of the long and some trying rehearsals I am so excited to say that it is finally coming together. There is only one more dress rehearsal and that is today and then we all have to hope for the best. I truly believe that it will be something quite special so if you are free on Friday night you should definitely come! It will also be Dr. Sharp's last major concert at Rhodes which is quite a sad/ monumental event so it is definitely something that should not be missed.
I also have a few pretty exciting auditions coming up for myself. In less than two weeks I am auditioning for the regional NATS performance which I am very excited about and have hopes of doing well in the competition. Also coming up I am auditioning for the Cauthen Award to sing an aria with the Rhodes orchestra next year which is something I would be honored to do! I am working hard to perfect my performance. Another exciting audition I have coming up is for the chorus of Opera Memphis. I think it would be so amazing if I actually had the opportunity to sing for a professional company. I will keep you updated with hopefully some exciting news for at least one of these things! Until then I've got a lot of singing to do!

Kronos Quartet

This past Saturday, March 15th, the Germantown Performing Arts Center was privileged enough to have the world renowned Kronos Quartet performing on their stage. Because of incredible programs such CODA the tickets were only $5 for Rhodes College community members making it quite affordable to go to an otherwise expensive concert. The works that they performed fell under two different categories, either they were written for Kronos or they were arranged for Kronos this indicating the true uniqueness of the group. One of the pieces that was arranged for Kronos was “Death is the Road to Awe” from the movie The Fountain. I had previously heard this piece in the movie The Fountain which moved me quite a bit. It was quite special to hear the Kronos Quartet version of this piece as well especially to experience it live. The scoring for the work consisted of two violins, a viola, and a cello. The dynamics used throughout this piece call for areas of p followed by dramatic crescendos. The melody is also quite dramatic and powerful with the help of the variation of dynamics. This was my favorite piece they played and left for a great smash before intermission. It was also quite moving to watch and hear some of the pieces that were actually written for Kronos such as “The Order of Things” and the concluding piece “Particle 423.” It was quite a unique experience to actually hear works that were written for specific performers and listening to the virtuosity of the musicians and listening to the complex works put that into perspective. I hope to have the opportunity to hear them again sometime in the near future.

The PGA Tour Loves Art Too

Over my amazing Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, Fl I had the amazing experience of being able to go and see a PGA Tour Event. The tournament was The Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. No Tiger Woods was not playing that week but tons of other incredible golfers including my favorite golfer of all time Davis Love III. You might be asking yourself right now why in the world is he writing about a professional golf tournament in what is supposed to be an arts blog well this is the reason. As I wandered down the lush green grass of PGA National the nature surrounding me was not the beauty bestowed onto me. There were these enormous 10 feet wide by 20 feet tall murals surrounding every hole. I had no idea that I would ad the amazing opportunity to see such incredible works of art while watching my favorite sport in the world and my favorite golfer. It was truly wonderful for me to see so many people stop to see the incredible art before their eyes and see the utter amazement in their eyes. I had absolutely no idea why these murals were here but they added such a great experience to the day. In all there were 128 paintings by artist Kiril Jeliazkov who chose to bring his work to this specific event after its tremendous success over in Europe. Jeliazkov said, "My goal is to create a body of work that visually translates the way “Life” relates and expresses itself through the vast variety of cultures, communities, countries and attitudes." It was such a great treat to see the arts which is one of my passions incoporated with another one of my passions, golf. I hope that in the future more artists choose to do more things like this.

Sicko

This week I am going to take an opportunity to write about a genre in the arts which I have not written about in my blog previously and that is film. This past week for biology extra credit I rented the movie Sicko which was nominate for an Academy Award for best documentary last night. The movie was extremely disturbing!!! I always had an idea that the health care situation in this country was dire for people who do not have money, however, this movie truly brought the problem to life for me. The movie made me physically ill right from its inception when I has to watch someone sewing up their own leg. To hear the prices that some of these people who do no have health care would have to pay truly disturbed me. I come from a very comfortable middle class family and I know that if we did not have health care we would not be able to pay for many of these things seen in the movie so there is no way that people who do not have money could pay for them. It was also disturbing to see that so many people in need were being turned away and made me feel like the people working for the insurance companies in a way were playing G-d. If there is a way to help people live it would make sense for others to want to help. The current state of our healthcare therefore is awful. Healthcare should help anyone and everyone not just those who the insurance companies pick. I also had no idea of what Hillary Clinton was trying to do all those years ago. Although I am not a big fan of hers on many issues she truly has won my vote for healthcare. She knows how many people truly need help and she wants to help them. Maybe her ideas are the solution to our problems but to be honest I sadly do not see healthcare for profit going away anytime soon. I just cannot believe all of those painful stories of unnecessary death and pain because healthcare has turned into a game of profit.

The Wedding Singer

OMG OMG you guys as Elle Woods would say in Legally Blonde the musical. After flopping on Broadway I had absolutely no interest what so ever in seeing The Wedding Singer. All I ever heard was how awful it was. This past September I remember Ms. Katharine Gensch telling me how amazing the show was. I was practically laughing at her because of all the awful reviews I have heard. Despite my feelings I decided to give the show a chance this past weekend when it came to the Orpheum. This musical was so incredible I cannot even begin to tell you. It was just like the movie which I loved in the first place. I have been singing the music nonstop all day because the songs were just so much fun and enjoyable. There were no humungous show stoppers per say, however, I still cannot get any of the songs out of my head because they were so fun and exciting and a lot of them came of the actual movie. I am SO SO SO glad that Katharine talked me into giving this amazing show a chance because it made my week, my month, and maybe even my year! Something I also thought was awesome about the show was the price. It only cost $20, $100 less than I usually pay for a very similarly show in terms of quality in New York. However, for that show I would have paid $120. I also was quite amazed with the extreme talent I saw up on that stage considering all of the people were no names. This gives me hope that someday I will be up there entertaining people in such an incredible fashion.

Daytons Dancin it Up

This past Friday the Dayton Dance Company came to Memphis to perform for our wonderful Memphis audeince. I have seen lots of professional dancing before between movies, Broadway shows, and even going to live ballets but this was the first time I had ever done to a modern dance live performance. I have to say without a doubt it was pretty damn cool. I mean to see people able to make those incredible motions with their bodies is something that is very hgihly commendable. I am lucky to get back up whenever I bend over and that is harldy an exaggeration. I also had an epiphany about the story that dance is supposed to tell. It is not that dance is supposed to portray a certain story but more of an emotion. Unless you know the story coming into it or read the synopsis in the program there is no way to know exactly what is going on, however, the dancer's bodies allow for the audience to see and feel what the dancer is feeling and experinecing. Once the synopsis is read or te strory is already know it truly faciliates the audience member's ability to understand exactly what is going on right as it is happening. I also think is a very awesome thing that professional performing arts companies in general go on tour. By going on tour the incredible art that these people make it Dayton, Ohio can be seen all throughout the country and maybe even the world because it would be rather expensive for everyon to have to go to Dayton to see them. I am sos glad I got to experiences the art of these incredible dancers and I am looking forward to more art this week/ weekend.

My Turn to be on Stage

This past Saturday the Rhodes Singers had the opportunity to perform Carl Jenkins's "Armed Man Mass" for the second time. The first time it was performed was this past fall at Idlewild Presbyterian Church here in Midtown. The concert was such a tremendous success that we invited to perform it a second time this past weekend to culminate a conference they were having at Idlewild. This concert like the first one knocked out the audience. It was a combination of the mastery of Perkins' writing, the talent of the Rhodes Singers and the powerful sounds honked out by the professional musicians in the orchestra we had. The work is a full mass dedicated to the ideal of peace for everyone all around the world. The Rhodes Singers were supposed to have the opportunity of a life time this summer and perform this work in Russia but because of Dr. Sharp's incredible promotion (which makes us all very sad) our trip was cancelled. I am truly glad we were able to perform the piece for a second time. It was also quite awesome that hundreds and hundreds of people attended out concert. To see the expression those people had after we were able to show them our incredible art was priceless. The next big performance for the Rhodes Singers will be this coming March when we will be joined by the Master Singers as well as the Women's Chorus to perform the incredibly challenging Bach B minor mass. I am very much looking forward to this performance! And all I have to say is that if you did not get a chance to see our performance this past week you truly missed out on something magical!

Gotta love the Opera

This past Saturday, Opera Memphis put on a terrific performance of Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi. The opera was very similar to Shakespeare’s play with the addition of music, singing, and dancing. The scoring for most of the pieces consisted of a full orchestra, sometimes there would be a choir, and sometimes there would be an aria sung by one of the main characters such as Macbeth, Ophelia, or Mac Duff. The dynamics in most of the pieces was f. The melodies for the post part were quite dramatic. This complemented the dramatic plot very well in which at every turn something new and exciting would occur. The melodies used on these dramatic harmonies were quite complex. They insinuate a w lot of text painting at various different times as well. The opera went through a wide variety of key signatures throughout the different pieces. The form and texture also varied throughout. The texture varied between polyphonic and homophonic. The text was a story about power and how far one man will go when he hears that he is destined to ultimately become king and then later hears predictions of his downfall. One of the mains parts of the opera comes in the third act when the witches tell him of his downfall and what to beware of. At this time there is a huge dance being performed which I thought was quite fascinating. I for some moment forgot that I was at the opera and thought that I was at the ballet and then when someone started to sing again I was confused but quickly remembered where I was. That is how empowering that dance was for me. Now I am really looking forward to Rossini’s Cinderella.

My Dream My Passion My Destiny

I have had a passion about singing all of my life but in 9th grade I found my niche within singing and that is opera/ Broadway music. This past Saturday GPAC hosted the regional auditions to a competition which will ultimately allow one person to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in none other than my home town of New York. Unfortunately I did not find out about these auditions or the qualifier before hand because if I had known you can bet your bottom dollar I would have worked my ass off trying to be the next "Opera Idol" lol. Despite the fact I could not compete I decided to check out the auditions to size up my competition for years to come. There were definitely some people who could sing hands down, however, I truly believe in myself and I think that I could take them all. I do not mean to sound cocky its just that in order to be good you have to have confidence. In this blog I am fearless, however, when I am on stage I am more tense than I can even describe. I want to be up there competing one day fighting my way to the top. I believe in myself no matter what anyone says and nobody in all of oz no wizard that there is or was is ever gonna bring me down! I do not just want to dream it I want to be it. I want thousands of people staring at me as I belt a B-flat in an aria. So how am I going to do all this you might ask yourself. The answer is hard work and determination. I will stop at nothing until I find my way to the top. I know I can outsing those people, now its time to prove it.

A Lesson About A Lesson Before Dying

This past Friday I went to go see A Lesson Before Dying at Circuit Playhouse. I went into the theatre completely blind about what I was about to see. Based on the title I thought maybe it would be about an elderly man who is about to die who goes on a few adventures before he is kicks the bucket. Unfortunately I was completely wrong. The play was about an African American man sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. I truly could not stand being in the theatre. The acting and story on the whole were powerful and amazing but I just could not stand the truth that existed within the play. I am so sick and tired of listening to, hearing about, and experiencing issues of race. I just cannot take it anymore. We are all G-d's children and it makes me sick to my stomach that racial situations like this existed in our past and even more despicably still exist today. If there was no real life truth to that play than Ithink I would have been quite moved by it but unfortunately our society to a large extent is still living in that play and it is something that must be overcome. It makes me physically ill to think of all of the incredibly wonderful things that African Americans have done for our culture and to see them being violated in such a crude regard. I seriously wanted to get up and walk out somewhere in the middle of the second act. Why do we have to live in a world like this? Why can't people just look past color. Until I came to Memphis 3 years ago I had no idea racism still existed because race is not a big issue up north. I just wish that man lived and the people who put him there would have been put on the chair themselves.