I sing in a very talented Brooklyn community chorus (the Park Slope Singers, if you must know!) We work hard, rehearsing each Monday evening under the excellent direction of Dusty Francis and our amazing pianist, Travis Horton. They both try their best to teach us proper vocal technique and other intricacies of choral mastery. Dusty encourages us…
Category: Chorus
New York City Labor Chorus
The right song at the right moment can change history.” — Pete Seeger Just days after what has probably been the most contentious election in my lifetime, I was gifted with a ticket to go hear my friend’s mom sing in the New York City Labor Chorus. There was no place I would rather have…
the public domain, final rehearsal with Simon Halsey and Annie-B Parson
“Singing is the best example I can think of, of people who don’t necessarily know each other … form[ing] a community to create something.” — David Lang, quoted in the Wall Street Journal regarding the public domain. I absolutely agree. I belong to many civic and arts organizations, and I have created the most diverse,…
The Hubble Cantata
The stars were certainly out in Brooklyn last night. I mean gazillions of stars — more stars than I have ever seen here in our light-polluted city. In fact, I felt like I was floating through the cosmos. I could see infinite space in every direction. There were shooting stars, and I even watched the birth of a star in…
the public domain: rehearsal with Simon Halsey
Get ready to mark your calendars! Last Friday we began weekly rehearsals for an exciting choral event to be held later this summer in NYC in the plaza at Lincoln Center. This Wednesday evening we had a special rehearsal with the delightful Simon Halsey — Choral Director of the London Symphony Orchestra — who will conduct…
New York Philharmonic, Violent Femmes & Carnegie Hall
It’s all in a weekend, from the high to the low to the high again — in terms of culture, that is — and I guess, in terms of my mood, too. Confused? Sure you are. Bear with me. The weekend began with the first of three intensive rehearsals in Manhattan with visiting choral conductor, Alex…
Park Slope Singers Spring 2016 Concerts
I am a member of this chorus and we would be honored to have you attend our upcoming concerts the weekend of June 4th and June 5th! We are under the incredibly talented direction of Dusty Francis. You can find out more about us here!
A Season of Beautiful Music
April showers bring not only May flowers — or more showers, as the case has been this spring — but they also bring beautiful music. Actually, more music than I can keep up with. But until I have a cultural clone to help me with the wealth of performances I wish I could attend at any given time, I…
Winter/Spring 2016 Cultural Highlights
I try very hard to keep up with this blog, but sometimes life gets in the way. In my case, very often it’s a wealth of cultural outings crowding out my writing time. (Not a bad problem to have, I admit!) Before the spring turns to summer, I want to note some of the rich…
Hagoromo
What a week of BAM-tastic choral music, live music and dance! It is a privilege to attend such amazing Next Wave Festival performances. For as many shows as I attend, I miss so much (but until we have clones — heaven forbid — I will never be able to experience as many cultural events as…
Epiphany: The Cycle of Life
I am thrilled to say that I wish I could have spent an additional hour at BAM’s Fishman Space last night, listening to the fabulous Young People’s Chorus of New York City. They sang the work of several composers and librettists in a multi-media piece called Epiphany: The Cycle of Life (conducted by Francisco J. Núñez.)…
Community and Culture
As the days get longer and spring flowers turn to the lush green of early summer, my various cultural communities explode with outpourings of music and art. First there are all the wonderful spring concerts presented by the community choruses here in Brooklyn: the Brooklyn Community Chorus, Brooklyn Women’s Chorus, Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Contemporary…
victoriab:culture 