Cantus Tales

Cantus 2009-10 Season Wrapup

2010-07-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings, Cantus fans!

Time to offer thanks to all the fans we’ve seen this year across the country, and in Cantus’ hometowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Thanks are also due to our Board of Directors and close friends of the organization, who helped to shepherd the company through organizational restructuring, and a fantastic success with our annual fundraiser, which exponentially grew this year.

For next year, we look forward to presenting a lot of music a little closer to home, fulfilling grants, and as Minnesota Public Radio’s Artists in Residence for the 2010-11 season! http://minnesota.publicradio.org/about/press/releases/release.php?ftrv_ident=2010/06/07/cantus.

Listen for Cantus throughout the year on MPR, and across the state of Minnesota, often in underserved and varied communities. Our Artist in Residence program will see us regularly masterclassing students in three Minnesota high schools, culminating in a combined concert in the spring.

Our touring program is called Before Us, and in it perform songs and stories of the immigrant journey to America, with music from Leonard Bernstein, the French Voyageurs, William Billings, Lee Hoiby, and Simon and Garfunkel to name a few.

If you missed them, here’s a chance to see a video clip of our recent pop shows!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xze-JmgiZoA

If you haven’t yet done so yet, please visit with us on Facebook, where we have a thriving community of friends, fans, families, and of course, the Cantus artists.

http://www.facebook.com/CantusSings

Here's some scenes from the past season for you!

See you next season (we kick off new performances in September)!

All work and no play? Not this tour...

2010-07-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after performing at the beautiful Hotchkiss School Summer Portals program in Lakeville, CT, four rabidly passionate soccer fans in Cantus ventured out early in search of the perfect place to watch the World Cup semifinal #2: Germany v. Spain. Paul, Chris, Gary and myself (Adam) left early and drove up to the Massachusetts shore. Cantus will be performing on Thursday night in Rockport, MA, a lovely little sea town with a very grown-up Performing Arts Center. As we arrived at our accommodations for the next two nights, The Linden Tree Inn, we were told that no pub or restaurant in Rockport would be showing the match. Aaarrrggghh, thought we. We were told to head down to nearby Gloucester (which some folks might remember as the setting for this George Clooney-Mark Walberg vehicle). In downtown Gloucester, we found a superb little pub, called the Topside, and plunked ourselves down for lunch and football (I mean soccer). One lobster, two bowls of clam chowder, and a host of other local nubbins, not to mention the soccer beverage of choice, we were ready for the match. Gary, sporting his 1998 Germany WC shirt, and Chris threw their support cleanly behind Die Mannschaft (German for 'The Team'). Adam, a Spanish soccer fan since the early '90s, would have worn the Spanish national team shirt he received as a gift in 2000, if it had fit. Paul was decidedly neutral. The match was a joy: skillful soccer played without cheating or feigning injury (long a complaint of U.S. soccer semi-fans) and on the few threatening occasions in the first half, each side encouraged a bit of volume out of cheering supporters. In the 73rd minute, off a wonderfully struck corner, Spain took the lead, much to Adam's enjoyment. In fact, that sequence at the pub went very much like this:

(Spain scores, after many close efforts)

Adam: YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

Chris: Dude, quiet down.

Adam: YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! Sorry...YEAH! YEAH!

Bartender: No, really, quiet down a bit.

Adam: Sorry. Yeah! Yeah!

Gary: Rub it in, much?

Adam: Yes. Sorry.

Following the glorious Spanish victory (sorry Gary and Chris), we then trotted out to sit by the sea on the little patch of beach in downtown Rockport. Watching the tide come in, and the sun set, we were reminded of how great it was to have a job that allowed us to make music full-time and paid us to travel to these exquisite locales. Paul and Chris decided to swim out to a landing about 200 yards from shore, while Gary and Adam talked about the concert the night before. When it was time for some dinner, Paul and Chris back-stroked to shore. We left Chris lying on the beach, mostly in recovery, to return to the Linden Tree Inn for supper. After some time, the rest of the Cantus gang arrived and said that they had passed a sleeping man on the beach, realized it was Chris, and promptly harassed him into joining them for dinner.

It was a slow, beautiful, and relaxing day. Got the blood pumping with some swimming and cheering on the best soccer nations in the world, sampled some local cuisine (and about 80 oz. of local beverages), took in the breath-taking shoreline, and enjoyed the company of colleagues I'm lucky enough to call friends. All in all, a good day. Check our Facebook page to see more pictures of our tour 0ff-day. Ta ta, friends!

2010-06-10T20:09:00.001-07:00

Speaking of Covers...

Check out our great review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/95781119.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUnOiP3UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Covers3 kicks off tonight.

2010-06-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Normally I'd wait to do a blog post after an event has happened, but just was getting so excited to kick off this year's pop shows that I decided to write anyway.

It's Covers time again, and it looks like we might sell out every show! Cantus is very happy to bring back our friends Lee Blaske (commercial musician extraordinaire and husband to Twin Cities soprano Maria Jette), Dave Hagedorn (probably the best vibes player I've ever heard), percussionist Rikki Davenport (the cool guy playing tabla, congas, and djembe), and Mark Ilaug (playing sitar, guitars, and funky hair). Foss is back on guitar, I'm playing bass again, and we're presenting thirteen (!) new arrangements this year, done by nearly every member of Cantus, with music by Beck, America, Fleetwood Mac, Steven Stills, and the Beatles. By popular request, we have more a cappella in store for the evening, but the band is providing new colors and styles to the mix.

Tickets are available @ticketworks.

Cantus with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

2010-05-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

Here you go, Chris!

Cantus with the SPCO and the incredible Kelley O'Connor.

Cantus Idol 2010

2010-05-26T09:31:00.001-07:00

Just thought it would be a good idea to post at least ONE picture from Idol this year. Courtesy of our awesome photographer for this year's event, Jen Smith!

Terrible Pauls-y

2010-05-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Cantus fans:

Well, it's been a pretty crazy last couple of weeks for us. May has been the month of Pauls - Not only did Paul Rudoi (Cantus Idol 2010) fend off some stiff competition, but Cantus sang alongside some pretty talented musicians you may have heard of: The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Well, not really alongside, but rather in front of, as you can see here:

Wait, no... that's the Boston Pops. Ah, here it is:

Um, whoops. That's actually Cantus with Bobby McFerrin. Hmmm... how about:

NO!!!! What is the National Lutheran Choir featuring Cantus members doing here?!?! What happened? Why can't we find the picture of Cantus with the SPCO? Oh, maybe it's because THERE ISN'T ONE!!!

Does anyone out there happen to have a photo of Cantus with the SPCO? Send it our way.

As far as the concert goes, it was pretty neat. Not only did we share the stage with the world-class musicians of the SPCO, but the concert also featured mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Conner for Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins. You can find out more about her here. SPOILER ALERT!! - she has an amazing voice.

The Great Title Debate

2010-05-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

For Cantus, marketing our product is everything. What is the Cantus product? Well, we hope it is wonderfully performed men's vocal music over a wide variety of genres and themes. But, like big for-profit companies, the question becomes How do we begin to market that product? When it comes to products like Recordings, the packaging helps to illuminate the themes present on the album. But what is really meant to grab the imagination is the Title! Recently, Cantus conducted a very informal survey of friends and family, gauging thoughts and interest in two different titles for an album we are recording this summer. We asked which of the two was most intriguing...and received equal votes for both. So, one time only on the Cantus blog, I'll pose the same question to you, faithful readers. The album is a collection of American Sacred music. Which of the two titles below is more representative of the American Sacred music theme, and which one 'intrigues you more':

1) That Eternal Day

2) A Love That Never Dies

Cantus is excited to see your responses. After all, our readers are our market! Please post responses below.

Artist In Residence and Cantus Idol!

2010-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had our second annual Artist In Residence concert at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Bloomington. It was a blast in so many ways! Earlier this season we had a Festival Day where, for a morning and an afternoon, the students in the program worked with Cantus and their teachers on several "mass choir" pieces that were programmed for the concert. The idea was to bring the students together and give them a chance to meet each other before the actual performance. It made the concert that much more exciting, almost like a reunion of sorts! This year our three schools were Robbinsdale Armstrong High School, Cambridge-Isanti High School, and South High School. Each of them had a set to sing, and they all did wonderfully. This is a special shout out to those schools... Thank you, and we loved working with you!

Now we are preparing for the remainder of the season, working with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra on Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins and our awesome collaborators for our 3rd annual Cantus Covers Concert. But before we get there, we have some time to unleash our inner pop or rock personalities.

It's CANTUS IDOL 2010, coming up on May 10th (two Mondays from now!), and it shaping up to be a really fun event, with emcee Erin Schwab, a new pack of judges, a live auction to benefit Cantus' educational outreach efforts, and a new location at The Dakota in downtown Minneapolis. Each of us has been trying to figure out, under the radar of course, what the others are performing, but it looks like most of these songs will be heavily guarded secrets until that evening. That being said, the show itself isn't much of a secret anymore, with over three quarters of our tickets already gone! If you want to get in on the action, follow this LINK to secure your seats.

Just in case you're curious, the descriptions for the items in the live auction can be found below. If I were bidding on something, I'd definitely put my money on "Own It All". Remember, along with the collection of music found on our regular CDs, there are tracks that have NEVER been released on that DVD!

Hope all of you can make it, and thanks for reading!

STEP IT UP!
Say “happy birthday” with true style or arrange a serenade under your true love’s balcony. A quartet of Cantus singers will punctuate a special occasion or event with a song. Like a singing telegram… but way cooler.

SING IT OUT!
If you have ever found yourself sitting in the audience at a Cantus concert and had to stop yourself from standing up and joining in, tonight’s the night! Join Cantus on stage later this evening for "It’s Alright" by Curtis Mayfield. While you sing your heart out, Cantus will make you sound like a pro. Don’t worry, we’ll all clap…no matter what.

DRINK IT UP!
Have you ever stood in front of shelves of wine and picked your bottle based on the label? Let Cantus do the picking for you! The singers and Board of Cantus have selected twenty bottles of red and white wine to enhance any occasion. Each bottle comes with an explanation of why we chose it for you. Cheers!

OWN IT ALL!
Be the envy of the Cantus fan world! The guys raided the archives and created a one-of-kind audio DVD with every piece Cantus has released… and several they have not. It’s a collection sure to put your sound system through its paces. They have also included a framed and signed photo of their smiling mugs to beautify your home.

SHOW IT OFF!
Treat your friends and family to a Cantus concert in your home or backyard! You provide the home and up to ten guests and we provide the rest. The singers will entertain with a 45-minute set. Board members Amanda Davisson and Tom Northenscold will serve as your personal chef and sommelier.

Questions for Cantus!

2010-04-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

As we are near the culmination of our touring season, we recently asked members of the group some questions about their interests, pastimes, and favorite activities. TIme to find out vital information from some singers this week: get to know what makes Cantus singers tick!

Most Recent Book You Read:

Tim Takach: I read The Colorado Kid by Stephen King over Christmas, and surprisingly I didn't like it. It was a short, pulp fiction paperback, and I get what he was did with the story, but it left me needy.

Aaron Humble: The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. by Bill Bishop

Matt Tintes: Pure Drivel by Steve Martin

Toughest Thing You Sing this Season:

Matt Tintes: Mountain Nights. Seriously! It's hard for me to be that quiet.

Gary Ruschman: There's one section of the Schubert that just goes too fast to breathe!

Aaron Humble: I'm guessing it will be something in the Weill!

Motto:

Aaron Humble: Work smarter not harder.

Gary Ruschman: Fearful people do stupid things.

Matt Tintes: It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Tim Takach: Work hard. Play harder. Eat plenty of bacon.

Guilty Pleasure TV:

Tim Takach: I only watch two shows, Lost and Heroes, both about a season and a half behind on DVD, and neither are guilty pleasures. I enjoy being a geek. My favorite goes to Battlestar Galactica.

Matt Tintes: Oh God, too many to count. Let's say..."Smallville".

Gary Ruschman: Police Chases!

Peace after Easter

2010-04-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Cantus sang as part of the Artists for Peace event put on by the Nonviolent Peaceforce at the O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul. We were performing alongside some notable Twin Cities artists: Butch Thompson, Pat Donohue, Noah Brandow, Prudence Johnson, Sabine Perrin, Peter Johnson, and T. Mychael Rambo. Each of these artists have a different sound and different audience, and to bring everyone together was very moving and impactful. Cantus sang a 10 minute set of There Is A Meetin' Here Tonight, Wanting Memories, and Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi wo, then led the audience in a sing-a-long of the great folk song 'Let There Be Peace on Earth'. The entire evening closed with a rousing group-sing of 'Down By the Riverside', complete with wonderfully peace-laden lyrics and Cantus gentlemen singing with exuberant enthusiasm. We enjoy having a chance to really rip into a big-time sing-a-long like that and with everyone on stage, it sounded great!

Yesterday's event followed a very nice Easter weekend for me. After working quite a bit throughout the week, my wife and I took a much-needed trip up to the MN/Canada border to visit her father in the tiny little town of Birchdale, MN. Usually at this time of year, the snow is still on the ground up in Birchdale. But this year, the balmy weather of the Twin Cities carried up to the border, making the entire weekend a snow-free affair, even if there was a bit of rain. Birchdale is about 45 mins slightly NW of International Falls, MN--the coldest place in the lower 48. It was a great Easter weekend, with great food and a wonderfully relaxing atmosphere. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go fishing on the Rainy River, due to the rain, but the day that we returned to St. Paul, my father in-law Kit did catch a 32-inch walleye.

Lunch in St. Louis

2010-03-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

Driving from Springfield, MO to Muncie, IN yesterday, we found ourselves in St. Louis at lunchtime. We decided to stop at a place called Frazer's in the Benton Park neighborhood, which proved to satisfy everyone's appetites. The weather was beautiful, so we even sat outside! A luxury virtually unheard of for March in Minnesota.

The sweet potato bread was the perfect amuse-bouche, whether one awaited the horseradish/pecan/breadcrumb-encrusted salmon over mustard sauce or the hearty, flavor-rich slice of chorizo/ground beef meatloaf, wrapped in bacon.

When you view their website, be sure to scroll through the daily-updated "specials" list... If you're not about to sit in a mini-van for five more hours, do yourself a favor and order from the daily-updated "desserts" list.

Oh, and sitting in front of the restaurant, one has a clear view of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. You might want to schedule a walking tour after your meal. The health benefits of the walk notwithstanding (it's a big place, so you might actually get some exercise!), some would suggest that the end of the tour would also provide a satisfying finish to your gastronomic enjoyment that afternoon.

His Old Kentucky Home

2010-03-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we certainly experienced some wonderful hospitality this weekend in Erlanger, Kentucky. Tenor Gary Ruschman brought us down to his alma mater, Northern Kentucky University, to perform at Greaves Hall.

There was a little time for sightseeing and experiencing some local flavor, so a few of the guys made a trip to Skyline Chili and another group visited St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington to view the famous stained glass windows.

On beautiful days like we had this weekend, though, and in anticipation of long driving days, most of our off hours are spent relaxing, enjoying some sunshine and fresh air and catching up on work.

No matter what, it's always fun to perform in one of the artists' hometown and meet family/friends while we're there. Many thanks to Gary's family for making us feel so welcome this weekend. We hope to be back again soon.

Happy Birthday Shaz!

2010-03-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

In honor of Shahzore's birthday today, I thought I would post a fun birthday video. We are from the Sesame Street generation, so this is very appropriate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGyFG4QFWOs

Watch and enjoy.

Happy Birthday Shaz!

Drumming at Red Lake

2010-03-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

On March 1st, Cantus visited the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota. It was an amazing experience...one that none of us will ever forget! We sang for over 600 elementary school students in the afternoon, and in the evening we held a concert for the general community.

In between these two events we were blessed to see several performance by the elementary school's dance troupe, accompanied by an authentic drumming circle. We decided it would be great to post one of the videos we recorded that day. You could feel the gymnasium's bleachers shaking with each beat of the drum, and the dancers' intricate clothing chimed away with other fascinating sounds.

We hope you enjoy!

2010-02-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

“The stars at night are big and bright (clap, clap, clap, clap), deep in the heart of…” well, somewhere. I forget how that song goes. Anyway, Cantus was just in Texas! It was a great week, and I’m sure you want to read all about our shenanigans. Well, alright, I’ll tell ya, but I have to say, I don’t appreciate the condescending tone. “Shenanigans”? More like “Adventures” thank you very much.

This is Matt Tintes (baritone) and I just wanted you all to know that Cantus just spent an awesome week in Texas, touring to the cities of Corpus Christi, Houston and San Antonio. We sang in some wonderful spaces and met a lot of wonderful people. People who fed us a LOT of great Mexican food! They say everything’s bigger in Texas. Well, as our waist lines can now attest, they weren’t kidding!

When we’re on tour we stop to eat at all kinds of places, but usually when we’re traveling we just go the places closest to the Interstate. Well in our endeavor to find a, let’s say “Panera”, one day, we came upon an eatery called…are ya ready... “Cantus’”! We sat down and a nice young girl came to wait on us and was wearing a t-shirt that read Cantus’. We asked her if we could get that shirt, and her look of confusion conveyed a sense of “Either y’all have girlie tastes in t-shirts, or that’s the most to-the-point pick up line I’ve heard in a while.” After some hasty explanation we met the owner, Mark Cantu, and he gave us all Cantus’ drink holders, and we gave him a CD. We almost sang for him, but we didn’t want to compete with the Kid Rock album that had been playing…for nearly an HOUR…not that I’m complaining.

When we arrived at our hotel in San Antonio we were greeted by the hotel’s official mascot, Luke the Dog. Luke was a welcome sight for those of us who were missing our pets back in MN, and he was a good dog. A good, good dog. Yes you are! Yes you ARE! You’re a good doggie…

After our matinee performance in San Antonio, myself, Shahzore, Eric, Gary and Paul walked over to look at the Alamo, which was only a few blocks from our hotel. I took a photo of the group in front of the “Shrine to Texas Liberty”, but unfortunately my camera isn’t letting me upload that photo, so here’s one of the façade that I took with my phone. I also took a picture of the interior of the Alamo…which I wasn’t supposed to. Do you SEE what I’m willing to risk for you loyal blog readers?!?

All in all, our Texas trip was a ton of fun! It was great to sing for the people of Texas, and to enjoy the weather. However, regarding the weather, since they started recording weather patterns (125 years ago) it had only snowed in San Antonio 31 times. On our second day, it became 32 times. I SWEAR we didn’t mean to bring it with us!

Cantus Gets Schooled!

2010-02-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

As I was sitting at my desk today, catching up on my email, I was thinking back to the concert we performed last night for all the students participating in the Minnesota Music Education Association All-State Choir. Every year they have rehearsals for their big concert at the same church where we practice every day: Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. There was this buzz of musical energy radiating through the hallways and rooms of Westminster yesterday as we were preparing to start our own rehearsal. You could hear the different choirs rehearsing in all the different rooms around the church. It brought me back to my high school days, singing with the All-State choir in Peoria, Illinois. I recently transferred my All-State cassette tapes onto CD's in order to sync them to my iPod. Luckily I got a little help from my father-in-law and the CD-recorder in his choir classroom. (Yeah, we didn't get our recordings on fancy discs or download cards back then!)

This year's All-State was special because we offered to sing a concert for the students after their last rehearsal. All 300 young singers, directors and section leaders crowded into the Great Hall and gave us a thunderous applause as a representative from MMEA welcomed us onto the stage. It made me remember why I love my job so much: not just as a singer in Cantus, but also as the Education Outreach Coordinator.

Throughout the year, we as Cantus travel around America and sing about 70-80 concerts per season. What many people don't know is that we also visit about 40 different schools while on those tours of the country, reaching out to over 10,000 students per year. Cantus is a mission-driven organization striving to keep the art of singing alive, especially in young men. We show kids and adults of all ages how to love singing and how to sing better by visiting their schools and performing for them and with them.

Cantus offers all types of outreach opportunities for students: in-school concerts (great for elementary students), choir master classes, lecture/demonstrations, collaborations and day-long workshops for your choir, and "Get Your Guys Singing": a special workshop where Cantus works with all the men of your choirs in order create camaraderie and pride in your men that will enrich the rest of their musical lives. A full menu and description of all our types of outreach are available on our website. We even have an Artist in Residence program where we choose three Minnesota high schools every year who receive four or five visits from Cantus, and a grand concert with all the schools at the end of the year. ALL FOR FREE! We have generous donors and grant-funding which help us implement this great program. Applications for the Cantus AIR program are also available on our website on the Artist in Residence page.

The best part of a Cantus outreach is how all the members of Cantus work collaboratively with your organization. Collaboration is evident in every aspect of Cantus. It's how we choose music, it's how we run a rehearsal, and it's even how we choose where to eat when we are on the road. All the guys work together during every outreach to bring their individual vocal specialties to your choir to achieve the best sound possible. Whether Adam is talking about breathing, or Gary is talking about phrasing, we all "team-teach" to provide a well-rounded education experience for your students.

For more specific information, or to contract Cantus for your school, please email us at: education@cantusonline.org.

How Cantus chooses the music we sing

2010-02-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday of this week, the artists of Cantus will be doing a little programming...choosing the music we will perform. In this case it will involve choosing music for our 2010-2011 Touring Program 'Before Us'. With this program, we will be using American music to show how people that have come before us have found their 'American Identity'. In this program, William Billings' (1746-1800) 'Lamentation over Boston' will be paired with 'Gravedigger' from Dave Matthews (of the Dave Matthews Band). But how does Cantus get those two pieces into the same program?

First, the Cantus artists brainstorm themes and stories that we want to explore: along with 'Before Us' for 2010-11, we've also selected the theme of 'On the Shoulders of Giants' for our 2011-12 Touring Program. That title is derived from Sir Isaac Newton's quotation 'If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants', an obvious homage to the great thinkers that came before him. To Cantus' end, that means masterworks for men's voices by master composers: Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and more. But that's only a first half; the second half will speak of a different type of 'giants'--larger-than-life personalities and folk heroes like Frankenstein, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and Goliath, just to name a few.

But I digress. After a theme has been chosen, we then bring our favorite music, old or new, classical or more popular, to a meeting. For a Cantus program, good music is good music, and if it fits our theme and better tells the story, it goes on the program, even if that means pairing William Billings with Dave Matthews. Typically, we begin with about 100 pieces for each theme, submitted by all the singers. All pieces are listened to or sung through by the whole ensemble, and then fun really begins: discussing, eliminating, re-arranging, choosing, and finally, selecting a suitable program order for the chosen pieces. I would estimate it takes us 4-5 hours of meeting time to put together a program we all love and are excited to sing. It is a time-consuming process, and might look a lot like how the U.S. Congress works, but it is an extremely important process. Inevitably, every single artist in the ensemble has a piece they suggested on the program, and as we sing a program every night, we see that person's tastes and artistic sensibilities on stage. It also gives each artist a greater 'buy-in' into the musical process and overall product, invaluable for an artist-led ensemble.

By the way, Cantus loves suggestions from fans and audience members, so if you have a favorite piece or poem that fits our program themes, let us know. Comment on this blog post with your suggestions.

Cantus goes to Shakertown

2010-01-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts of touring with Cantus is the opportunity to experience new places. As part of our Southern Tour, I got to visit a place I've always wanted to go. I'm talking about the Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. An Active Shaker Community until 1910, restoration began in the 1960s. Today it's on the register of historic places and it's an incredibly cool place to visit. Walking to breakfast the morning after sleeping incredibly soundly, I couldn't believe how active and cheerful the birds sounded. In the West Family Dwelling, I was greeted by a friendly cat lounging on a couch in the first floor living area. I've always been intrigued by Shaker life. But after spending a night in this beautiful village, I decided to share my enthusiasm on the Cantus blog!

There are many things about the Shakers that I find intriguing and admirable.

They live in community
They value hard work
They value quality and aesthetics
They prefer natural beauty over decoration
They value vocal music
They believe that men and women should be equal in the church
The highest ranking member of the church was held by a woman (Mother Ann)

Like the Quakers, the Shakers fled Europe because of religious persecution. Living in community, the Shakers lived celibate lives and grew only through recruitment or adoption (until laws changed forbidding religious communities from adopting children). As the industrial revolution opened up more opportunities for urban careers and dwellings, the Shaker communities began to decline. Even though the Shaker Church only claimed 6000 members at it's largest, the dedication to craftsmanship and music allow them to enjoy an important part in the annals of American history.

I'm sure you've heard of Shaker furniture or Shaker design. The simplicity

of their lives is tangibly represented in their handiwork. Shaker furniture is beautifully designed with clean lines and made for function. The wood is treated to enhance the natural beauty of the wood but also to preserve it for decades to come. Likewise, the Shakers poured an incredible amount of time into writing and singing music. Since they sang unaccompanied in worship, the human voice was incredibly important to them. Not only did they sing in worship they also danced. The dances often followed a pattern as the worshippers sang and marched in a single-file line through the meeting room. Although they wrote volumes of beautiful unison melodies and harmonized hymns,

"Simple Gifts" is, by far, their greatest hit.

There is one Shaker Community left in the United States. They open their services to the public and are still accepting new members.

For more information about a lovely retreat to Shakertown in Pleasantville, KY click here.

For more information about the Shakers, click here.

2010-01-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Cantus friends and frienemies! This is Chris Foss, here to tell you all that after a restful holiday break, Cantus is back in the touring saddle again. Last weekend found us down in the great metropolis of Omaha, NE.

Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Omaha? Isn't that where nice, friendly, well-educated people frequent one of the best-sounding performance halls in the country?" Well, I am here to tell that is completely correct! Cantus performed at the Holland Center, a newly built hall that opened in 2005, where the Omaha Symphony has been known to carry a tune. It is absolutely one of the most gorgeous-sounding halls Cantus has ever sung in. From the first time we set foot through the doors, to the last chord of the show, we were blown away by the friendly acoustics.

The show also featured a guest choir made up of high school men from the Omaha public schools. Although the original plan was to spend most of the day before the show in a festival format, it had to be cancelled because the wind chill in Omaha was around -40 degrees (which is cold

even for us Minnesotans). Instead, Cantus spent a couple hours before the show working with the kids in a masterclass format, answering their questions, and sharing a few of our rehearsal tips with them. Then during the show, we had the choir up on stage with us, singing a beautiful rendition of Franz Beibl's Ave Maria. All in all, it was an experience that Cantus (and I'm sure everyone else who was there) will not soon forget!

Oh, and did I mention that Omaha is my hometown? I didn't?! That's probably because I'm too humble to mention that singing a concert in my hometown in an amazing hall with one of the greatest ensembles in the country was absolutely a dream come true. What can I say? It must be my modest midwestern up-bringing.

Christmas Truce of 1914 Offers Lessons Today

2009-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

Roger Barr, a St. Paul writer, came to our performance of "All is Calm" last night and this morning sent us this essay he wrote several years ago. He has given us permission to post it for you to enjoy. Cantus finishes its run of "All is Calm" at the Pantages in Minneapolis today.

Christmas Truce of 1914 offers Lessons Today

This Christmas marks the 95^th anniversary of the Christmas truce of 1914. This remarkable event in the opening months of the “war to end all wars” offers a valuable lesson to us today.

War between the Great Powers broke out in August of 1914. By Christmas the two sides were already at stalemate, squared off in opposing trenches that comprised the Western Front. The trench network consisted of a main trench from which soldiers waged war. Behind the main trench were rows of parallel trenches where soldiers slept, stored supplies and cared for their wounded. Between the opposing trenches lay a small strip of unclaimed land called “No Man’s Land.” No Man’s Land ranged in width from as little as a hundred yards to a half mile.

Life in the trenches was cold, muddy and miserable. As Christmas approached in the Ypres region of Belgium, British and German soldiers began to think of home and to recognize the grim fact that what was originally thought to be a short war was about to stretch into a new year.

There are scores of accounts about that remarkable Christmas on the Western Front written or retold by soldiers on both sides. Many of these accounts were collected in Stanley Weintraub’s eloquent book “Silent Night, The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce.”

As Christmas Eve dawned, on the German side small Christmas trees appeared on the edge of the trenches, their glowing candles visible from the British side. The truce began informally with soldiers making catcalls and jeers across No Man’s Land. Soldiers began singing Christmas carols, which were answered with songs from the other side. In some places, enemy soldiers sang carols in unison. To the dismay of officers on both sides, soldiers ventured from their trenches into No Man’s Land where they exchanged cigarettes, liquor and other gifts. There was even a soccer game. The informal truce continued as burial contingents worked side by side to identify and bury fallen comrades. The truce lasted through Christmas Day in some places, longer in others. Then by mutual agreement it ended and the fighting and killing resumed.

The Christmas Truce is all the more remarkable when one understands that on both sides, soldiers (as well as their fellow citizens back home) had been subjected to intense propaganda from their own governments, designed to demonize and dehumanize the enemy. That soldiers were able for even a few hours or days to look past the propaganda and see the enemy as human beings is a rare and exquisite moment in history.

The real lesson of the Christmas Truce of 1914 is for ourselves as citizens. The truce showed us all a place to go, a place unclaimed by politics or ideology, a place where humanity shines in simple acts of kindness. In this holiday season and beyond, we citizens of all cultures have the opportunity—dare I say—the responsibility, to look beyond the propaganda disseminated by our respective leaders, beyond the breastworks and concertina wire of our own prejudices at the humanity of our opponents. As the soldiers did in 1914, we can venture into No Man’s Land and claim it as our own. We can make No Man’s Land “Everyman’s Land” and push its boundaries in both directions, filling in the trenches of ideology, hatred and bigotry.

No Man’s Land is a beautiful place, but it can be a dangerous place for those who venture there. To understand just how dangerous this narrow strip of humanity can be, we need only to look forward from the Christmas Truce of 1914 to the holiday season of 1915. Both the British and German war machines took no chances that another informal truce would break out along the Western Front and foster a premature peace before political goals were achieved. As Christmas approached, both sides pounded No Man’s Land with artillery fire to keep soldiers in their trenches. The war dragged on until 1918.

Writer Roger Barr lives in St. Paul. His short story "Looking Forward to Christmas" appeared in the December 2 Villager, a newspaper serving communities in St. Paul, South Minneapolis and Mendota Heights. It is his 12th annual Christmas story for that publication.

Composing for the Cherry Creek Meistersingers

2009-12-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hello readers, its Tim here. Paul and I were talking about my day last Wednesday, and he thought it would make a good blog post. So here goes.

Last spring, Sarah Harrison, who directs the Meistersingers at Cherry Creek High School in Colorado, asked me to write a piece for her choir this year. She said that the subject matter (text, poem, story, etc.) for the piece was wide open, and wanted me to give her a couple options. I think I gave her three. I can’t remember two of those, which is fine, because it’s the one we picked that counts, right? She ran the ideas by her singers, and they really liked the idea of setting Pliny the Younger’s description of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 82 AD. I had been excited about this idea for a while and was thrilled that I’d finally get a chance to write a piece about it. They would premiere the piece in the fall and also sing it on their program at the Colorado Music Educators’ Association in January.

The premier went well in October, and Sarah was able to provide me with a recording of the performance. Now usually, I would have had a chance to go in before the premier and work with the choir and make sure that tempos are correct, check that the interpretation is similar to what I had in mind, and get the singers excited about the piece. Between the Cantus fall touring schedule and me being a fairly new Dad and wanting to be home, I really couldn’t find the time. So we did most of that via email and rehearsal recordings.

Normally at this point in the story I’d be done. Once the premier is over, that’s usually the composer’s cue to walk away and start promoting the piece to other groups. But with the CMEA performance still ahead, we still wanted to try and do some of the face-to-face time even after the choir already had the piece under their belts. Last Wednesday, Cantus had a day and a half off in Denver, and I was able to use the time to visit Cherry Creek High School and work with the choir. Notes down, words pronounced correctly and rhythms tight, we could dig a bit deeper during my time with them.

To prepare for my visit, I sat down with the recording of the Meistersingers’ premier performance and thought about some small revisions and changes to the score. Also, with a recording, I’m never sure if what I’m hearing just happened that one night, or if it was consistent in how they sing the piece. For instance if I had a hard time hearing the tenors in two bars, does it always sound like that? Were they nervous that night? Did three singers decide to take a breath at the same time? In the room with them last Wednesday, I was able to hear them work live. We worked on balance between sections, bringing out important note changes, and following an important line as it moves from the sopranos to the tenors, down to the basses for a half measure, and then back to the sopranos and altos as a duet.

We also talked a little about technical aspects of singing. I worked with the tenors on mixing the lower chest part of their register with the lighter color of their upper register. I worked with the sopranos on starting a phrase at the top of their range but not letting it sound like it’s hard work (this is something Cantus works on too).

At the end of the day some of the new ideas I had when I walked into the room were good changes to the score, and some of them didn’t work as well. But what a pleasure it was to work with a talented group of young musicians who are so responsive to ideas and suggestions. They made me an honorary Meistersinger and gave me a Cherry Creek shirt. What a great day!

Nubes Oriebatur: the eruption of Vesuvius

A cloud was ascending. (There had been noticed for many days before a trembling of the earth.)

A cloud was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine tree. For it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into branches of a sort; Because, I believe, it was occasioned by a sudden gust of air that impelled it.

A black and dreadful cloud, broken with rapid, zigzag flashes, revealed behind it variously shaped masses of flame: these last were like sheet-lightning, but much larger. It was sometimes clear and bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according to whether it had picked up earth or cinders.

Soon afterwards, the cloud began to descend, and cover the sea; The ashes now began to fall upon us, though it was still sparse.

Soon the real day returned, and even the sun shone out. Every object that presented itself to our faltering eyes seemed changed, being covered deep with ashes as if with snow.

- Pliny the Younger, Letters to Tacitus, 61-112 AD

- Adapted by Timothy C. Takach.

- Translated by William Melmoth, with revisions by Anne Groton

Cantus everywhere you are!

2009-12-08T22:40:00.000-08:00

Did you know that you can buy Cantus recordings from our website at 25% off through December 17th? Shipping is always free, and purchases made through December 17th are guaranteed to be delivered by Christmas!

When we record, Cantus strives to find the same chamber music magic that you experience at a performance. We usually stand in our traditional arc so we can communicate with each other facially. We offer each other critical feedback as well as encouragement and always have fun, so that the recording process is as similar as possible to our rehearsal and live performance.

We also have a special on Christmas music if you're looking for sounds to go with the smell of gingerbread and the taste of eggnog.

Comfort and Joy Volumes I and II - $25 package price

Since you asked, All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, though not included in the sale, is definitely available. As posted previously, All Is Calm performances have resumed. Audiences around the nation are moved to tears every time we present this incredible story. Especially if you cannot join us for a performance this year, make sure you have All Is Calm in your collection of Cantus recordings.

All Is Calm: beginnings!

2009-12-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

After a week off for Thanksgiving, it's exciting to get back to blogging after the GiveMN.org push. Remember though, even if you didn't have a chance to donate on November 17th, GiveMN.org's "Give to the Max" day, you can STILL donate to Cantus. Just visit Cantus' GiveMN page and go from there!

We started our major December tour several days ago, performing "All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914" for a sold-out audience at Texas A & M University in College Station. This marks our third year working on "All Is Calm", and the great thing about this production is that it never gets old. Here's a fan of Cantus on what she thought of the show:

"It was one of the best Christmas shows I've ever seen! I loved the history and the music, especially the way in which the show shared a true story I've never heard before. It combines Christmas spirit with a greater appreciation for the individual soldiers in WWI." - Jennifer

We, as the performers, seem to enjoy working on this show more and more each year. Despite it only being around an hour long, it is so effective. We've constantly had people talk about why they love it, whether at home or from our national tours...here another quote from Facebook:

"I saw it in Sioux Falls last December and it was wonderful. It really brought back the hope that is supposed to be what Christmas is representative of. The idea that in time of war the opposing sides could be at peace with each other provides a wonderful demonstration of peace which is what Christmas is all about. Can't wait to see it again this Christmas!" - Kylie

We're going to be performing "All Is Calm" again today, at California State University in Fullerton. They have a wonderful concert hall on campus there, where we performed last year's "While You Are Alive" tour program this past spring!

But blogging, in my opinion, wouldn't be complete without some sort of Cantus humor...so here's a video we took on our most recent "Elemental" tour of a chair in our hotel. The chair just "spoke" to Aaron...

Flight!

2009-11-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

Cantus would like to thank all who donated on GiveMN.org's "Give to the Max" day by making this video available:

This is "Flight", a piece by Tim Takach for boomwhacker ensemble. If you'd like to find out about boomwhackers, go to http://www.boomwhackers.com/.

Enjoy!

Give to the Max!

2009-11-17T00:42:00.000-08:00

Orchestra Hero?

2009-11-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

I was reading the New York Times this morning and came across a pretty cool opinion by a composer, Michael Gordon. Why not have Orchestra Hero? There are two video games out there that are captivating people and working their musical minds in various ways: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. So why not have a game that connects with one of the most influential ensembles of the past 4 centuries? Well, it sounds like something I would love to get my hands on, but I'm not sure if it's got the amount of influence needed to involve game developers. Here's the article I was reading: Orchestra Hero.

And here's the thing. I felt that, after reading the article in its entirety, it was advertised somewhat falsely, since about 3/4 of it was about the history of the orchestra and Michael Gordon's compositions. But then I listened to the sound bite of Gordon's "Rewriting Beethoven's Seventh Symphony" and was captivated with it. First off, that's the actual title of the piece. Second, I COULD hear the connection between Beethoven and "Rewriting"...and I don't even know Beethoven's Seventh that well. I've heard it a couple times, but for some reason I understood where Gordon had wanted to go with it, and it made sense to me.

That doesn't excuse the fact that the article was SUPPOSED to focus on the concept of Orchestra Hero...I sort of wished he had been able to make a great case for it, because you'd probably be right with your money if you bet on the fact that certain members of Cantus, if not the whole ensemble, would pick it up. But even if he didn't make a great case, the concept was mentioned. And it will probably continue to be for a long time.

Tim Takach's and Matt Tintes' reasons to support Cantus on the Give to the Max day, November 17.

2009-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

It's Easy Bein' Green!

2009-10-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

As we prepare to bring our Elemental program to the Twin Cities, we wanted to let everyone know the ways that Cantus strives to stay green as we tour, rehearse, and even create our CDs!

Biking or bussing to rehearsal is my usual M.O., along with refilling water bottles I acquire many times. My wife and I decided to remain a one-car family, choosing to live near a transit station when we relocated here from San Francisco (a very green town). Reusing is better than recycling, so if I can repurpose anything, I will: medicine bottles can become a flight-friendly hair gel container, and I haven't taken notes on a new sheet of paper in 5 years! -Gary

Here are testimonials from some of the other artists:

Aaron:

I ride my bicycle to the rehearsal and to the office as much as possible. We often use public transit to get downtown and always use public transit (Shahzore and I) to get the the airport for tour. I also volunteer for Transit for Livable Communities.

Shahzore and I also have a "Nature Mill" composting machine on the balcony of our condo. This machine can take up to 5 pounds of food and paper waste a day to make compost. Up to 25 pounds a week! It turns it into compost that we use in our herb garden in the spring and give to friends to fertilize their gardens.

We switched to GPS to avoid printing huge packets of paper directions.

On tour I carry my own water bottle and we've discussed getting "Cantus" bottles with our logo to use on stage.

You could also talk about gas mileage per person. We have 4 or 5 people in a minivan (usually) that gets about 21 MPG. So that's a pretty good per person mileage. It's taking 1 gallon of gas to transport 4 or 5 of us 21 miles-. Most commuters are getting that kind of mileage for one person.

Chris:

Sometimes I ride my bike when the weather is nice. And I use a stainless steel water bottle instead of plastic ones.

Tim:

Whenever I print off scores of my own pieces for the singers, I print them on the reverse side of used printing paper. When we get our scores, none of the pages looks the same! Some of them have holes punched in the wrong side, some will have one sheet of random resume paper, and some have copied magazine articles on the back. Furthermore, if we ever are done with a one-sided copied score (public domain, of course), meeting agenda, or board report, a
couple of us will collect the pages and just stick them on our personal printer trays at home.

Whenever we travel somewhere in the metro area, we carpool to the fullest extent. If you see two four-door sedans caravanning around with nine guys in them, you can bet it's Cantus!

"While You Are Alive," our latest studio album, used recycled packaging. The cardboard sleeve was post consumer content, we used soy-based inks, and the plastic tray for the disc was made out of 100% recycled pop bottles.

Last tour (Allied) Aaron insisted that we use the stow-n-go part of the minivans (under the floor) for recycling. We would throw cans, bottles, and other recyclables down there until we found an official collection bin at a performance site. Then we'd empty the van and start all over again.

Paul:

I do ride my bike to rehearsal when I can, but I guess the greenest thing I did when I moved here was start to live in a place near downtown so I could just walk to work. I've lived for over a year near Loring Park, which has allowed me to basically walk everywhere, and use public transportation for whenever I needed to get outside of my immediate vicinity.

We invite our audiences to join us in conserving, reusing, and recycling, both at the office and at home. Please also join us next Friday night at St. Olaf Catholic Church, downtown Minneapolis, or Sunday afternoon at St. Bartholomew's in Wayzata. Visit http://cantusonline.org/ for times and tickets.

See you there!

Alaska!!

2009-10-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

So all of you folks probably wonder if we actually made it to Alaska. Of course you know the answer if you've been on our Facebook page--but we haven't said much on the blog!

Alaska has been absolutely incredible. We started the tour with educational outreach in Anchorage followed by a sold out show. Here's a shot of the view from our hotel in downtown Anchorage.

Then, we headed over to Fairbanks for a concert in the lovely Davis Concert Hall. Great acoustics and a terrific crowd. It really felt like the audience was right with us for the entire show. After the show--they wiped us out of CDs!!

We also had the incredible opportunity to take the show "on the road" to Delta Junction and Healy, small towns on opposite sides of Fairbanks. The 2 hour drive in either direction was just stunning. Here's a shot from our drive to Healy, AK.

Now, we're in the city Kodiak on Kodiak Island. Kodiak is sometimes called the "Emerald Isle" because of it's lush vegetation and beautiful vistas. We have our final show tonight in Kodiak--we're looking forward to meeting some of the folks here. I'm sure they will be as receptive as the everybody else we've met in Alaska.

Just in case you're wondering what it looks like in Kodiak. Here's one last shot. Enjoy!

On to Alaska!

2009-10-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

Cantus heads to Alaska later this week (Oct. 8th) and for yours truly it will be the 50th State visited...an 'accomplishment' I attribute almost exclusively to my wonderful job as a Cantus singer. I also luckily had a chance to do a good bit of travel as a member of the St. Olaf Choir, a premier college choral ensemble that tours every February. In fact travel has been a big part of my life, as I first jumped (crawled) on a plane as a toddler, and later undertook some significant trips as a pre-adult, including visiting a number of countries as a Spanish immersion student in elementary and middle school.

I'm sure that is enough of a travel biography of me, but truly we are excited to see the beautiful landscapes of Alaska, and very hyped to sing for the classical music fans of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Kodiak. It will be wonderful to finally delve into our 'Elemental' program, and feel how the pieces we've chosen to represent the Earthly elements interact with the audience. Programming can be such a chore, but, at the same time, it can illustrate your true artistic self. The pieces you choose, as an individual or as an ensemble, offer a small window into your psyche/personality/intelligence/research/etc. A favorite college professor of mine once said that programming is truly an artform. I'm excited to see how our new program hits audiences in Alaska.

Well, off we go to the 49th state. See y'all soon!

Gary's Official Tour Endorsements (Fall 2009)

2009-09-30T13:45:00.001-07:00

So, as we travel throughout the country and world, we come across places, people, food, and services that just rock. We'll try to keep a running tab on these types of things throughout the season.

All these get a five star rating from the last tour:

Health/Wellness

Glenwood Springs, CO

Glenwood Hot Springs

http://www.hotspringspool.com/

Sheboygan, WI

Ginger Miller - Massage Therapist

http://www.therapybythelake.com/

Restaurants

Bozeman, MT

Montana Ale Works (fish and bison recommended)

http://montanaaleworks.com

Sheboygan, WI

Nine 21 Bar & Grill (Get the Maple Bacon Mozzarella Wontons!!!!)

1501 S 8th St

Sheboygan, WI 53081-5830

Quick change on tour!

2009-09-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Shahzore suggested I show the obvious differences between where we woke up this morning (Glenwood Springs, Colorado), and where we ended up (Joplin, Missouri) through a couple of pictures.

But it's more than that. This is priceless.

This was hour 1 through 2 of our drive today:

...This was hour 3 through 13:

What a difference!!

Some pictures of tour

2009-09-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

We've traveled a long way from Minocqua, and there have been many pictures taken since then! After Minocqua was Antigo and Sheboygan in Wisconsin(on Gary's birthday!). In Sheboygan, the theater looked very small from the outside, but it turned out to be one of the most beautiful theaters on the tour (and some of the best acoustics too).

Then we went on to Sioux City, IA, and then to Norfolk, Nebraska, where we had ANOTHER little mistake having to do with our press. Remember "Sanctus"? It turns out our press photo was used twice on their posters for the Allied Concert Series, once for Cantus, and the other for...The Harry James Orchestra?

After Norfolk was Rapid City, IA, and while traveling from Rapid City to Butte, Montana, we stopped by Mount Rushmore. It was really great to get some pictures of the whole of Cantus in front of the monument. We also stopped by the always in progress Crazy Horse Monument, which was amazing (and HUGE!).

Most recently, we've been in Glenwood Springs, where we took advantage of the world's largest hot spring pool. The sulfur may have made us smell, but we were more relaxed (by far) than at any other point of the tour thusfar!

Today we're driving to Joplin, MO (A long, long drive), so send us good vibes, and we'll write again soon!

Victims of Spellcheck?!

2009-09-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

After enjoying a good show in Willmar MN the night before, and making an emergency stop back in the Twin Cities for some percussion and clothes we'd forgotten to pack, we pulled into our Wisconsin concert venue to find that perhaps we shouldn't have made the trip! It appeared that unfortunately another ensemble was scheduled to perform:

We never got to the bottom of it, but at least the programs had the right information (and the correct group name) printed, with only minor confusion from the audience (eek).

So, Minocqua was a pretty little lake town, and we are enjoying the start of Autumn, surrounded by trees that are just beginning to change into pretty reds, yellows, and oranges. A few of us took an opportunity to take walks around town, or exercise across the road by lakeside. After Antigo tonight, we head for two days to Sheboygan, where will have a night off to rest.

Touring begins for the 2009-10 season!

2009-09-12T19:28:00.001-07:00

Welcome, Cantus fans, to the 2009-10 season!

After singing a very successful show last week at the Minnesota State Fair, as guests of Minnesota Public Radio, we're kicking off a three-week tour of the midwest tomorrow--Please check out our concert page to see when we'll be near you this season. This first tour is for Allied Concerts Series, and takes us to smaller communities, performing a bit lighter fare, before we begin touring our full, more classical-oriented Elemental program.

We get asked often about the touring lifestyle, and how it affects our relationships. It affects each member differently, but I have a special case, because my wife is also a professional singer, who also travels from time to time for performing. The quick and dirty answer to "is that difficult?", is "YES! It's difficult". Sometimes we have to contend with international calling rates, time zone issues, and even daily schedules can be problematic. But thank goodness for the web and Skype!

Here's an example of the kind of thing that goes on:

So, my wife was recently in Germany singing for a month. I went with her for a week (had a great time, btw), while Cantus still had a little vacation, but had to rush home for the start of rehearsals.

We only just got ourselves webcams for our last-generation PowerPC macs, so we were able to connect some mornings for free with video chat--fantastic. Except that she was 7 hours ahead, making her afternoon break my 7 am. I actually managed to stay up till 2 a.m. a few times to catch her at her 9 a.m.!

As it turned out, she needed some sheet music for an audition that she didn't bring, so I needed to scan in some scores and post them for her to download. All pretty simple, if a little tedious, but we accomplished it without spending a fortune in postage and time. Gotta love scanning technology!

Now, the crummy part of this is compounded because when she arrives home, a few days later Cantus goes out on tour. (acute failure on so many levels!) At least we'll both be in the same country, so we'll be able to talk every day.

All this aside, we all hope to see you on our travels this year, and we'll have numerous updates throughout the season to connect with you, which is one of our favorite things to do!

Take care, everybody: we'll see you on the road.

Irony

2009-08-21T08:28:00.001-07:00

So most folks know by now that a Tornado hit the south side of Downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday. Cantus was rehearsing at Westminster only a few blocks away from "the action." We rehearse in a children's choir room with no windows and a very dry acoustic. This helps us hear all of the mistakes and doesn't allow for much distraction. Unfortunately it also didn't allow us to hear the Tornado sirens. Lucky for us, one of the Westminster folks came to get us. We went down to the basement, sat on the floor in the hallway and continued rehearsing. Not until one of the Westminster staff joked that this event was "our fault" did we even acknowledge that we were rehearsing They Call the Wind Maria from Lerner and Loewe's Paint Your Wagon. Pretty hilarious. Thankfully Westminster and the surrounding buildings were not harmed by the extreme weather.

Nonetheless, it's great to be back in rehearsal making music again. We'll be on stage before we know it--and I, for one, can't wait!

Back to Work!!

2009-08-16T21:21:00.001-07:00

Cantus jumps back to work with the start of rehearsals tomorrow, Aug. 17th. After a very eventful summer, and a little break, we are working on putting together 3 different programs in the next 3-4 weeks: our normal Touring Program (this year it is called 'Elemental'), a special program for a tour with Allied Productions in September, and some early work on our Christmas shows: All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914; and 'Away in a Manger', our annual holiday show at Harriet Island in St. Paul, MN.

'Elemental' is a program about the four Aristotelean elements: Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. When these four elements are in perfect balance, Aristotle writes that a Fifth Element emerges: the Spirit. That is what Cantus hopes to achieve with this program. Some highlights from the 'Elemental' touring program include: music from 20th Century masters Zoltan Kodaly and Veljo Tormis; a wonderful part song by Franz Schubert that uniquely interprets a poem by Goethe about a sea-going apparition; a feisty setting of Greek palindrome by Twin Cities composer Abbie Betinis called 'Yhinx' that actually puts a hex on a former lover; and a host of other pieces from Japan, Sweden, Scotland, the Republic of Georgia, Venezuela, and the U.S.

We are in rehearsal weekdays from 1-6pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN. Rehearsals are open: if you want to see how the music is made, schedule a drop-in to rehearsal by emailing reinwald@cantusonline.org! Happy Singing!

A Rain Song

2009-07-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

So I'm not one for much surfing the internet anymore. For some reason I've just gotten out of the habit and tend to get stuff done and head out, but today was certainly an exception. I've been working on painting my future apartment with my future roommates all weekend, and needed to just relax and not do much of anything this afternoon (not to mention the long programming meeting with Cantus)!

Not to steer people in other directions or anything, but there are plenty of music blogs that one could get lost in if one has an afternoon to waste. Blogs like Alex Ross' The Rest Is Noise or Jeremy Denk's think denk are great places to start, but there are plenty more, ranging from marketing within the performing arts to just plain funny or interesting music.

What's funny about this particular post is that its title, "A Rain Song", stems from a video that I want to share which I found NOT on some other music blog. A friend of mine just happened to keep me on a listserve for an old men's group in which I used to sing (The Sons of Orpheus, in case you're wondering), and passed along this really interesting video while I was reading about the new Hamburg Philharmonic Hall, which will be finished in 2012 and is located in the middle of Sandtor harbour!

The video sort of cuts the song short, and the effects sound ALMOST perfect, but my favorite is the heavy downpour section...and the imitation of cracking thunder. Very cool, very interesting, and above all, I'm a little sad that Cantus is just 9 men. How cool would it be to prepare some sort of soundscape design like this in our regular "Surprise" slot for a touring program?

Anyways, enjoy this video. Will be writing again soon!

Rain

Cantus Season Wrapup

2009-06-23T09:31:00.001-07:00

Hello gang,

Cantus finished its home concert season with two exciting weekends at The Ritz Theater performing "Covers II". Got two great reviews of the show. Star Tribune and Twin Cities.com. The boys are all on hiatus now, but we'll be back in the Fall to bring you more music. Here's a video clip from one of the shows:

We also have two bits of very exciting news for Cantus, with a prestigious award and a new musician-led structure! Cantus this month received Chorus America's Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, and is the first collaborative ensemble to do so! It includes a $5000 cash prize.

Cantus' Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to move the group to an artist-led artistic structure, more in line with our chamber music process. This very important decision shows a great commitment to the method that Cantus uses to make its music, and the performers who have always been making the musical decisions. Now, the performers will be leading the company's artistic vision in a much more collaborative way. The recent pop shows were executed under the new structure, and every future show will be programmed by the singers you see on stage.

We hope everyone has a great summer. Its been a very eventful season, and we will be preparing for the next one all summer. We'll have a preview of next season coming up very soon. Until then, we have just two more cities, Chautauqua, NY and New London, NH. See you on the road!

John Luther Adams

2009-06-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

Adam Reinwald and I were working in the Cantus office yesterday, sorting through and filing music while geeking out to some music from his infamous iPhone. We came across some interesting scores, including a small art song entitled "up into the silence" by John Luther Adams (the poem is by e.e. cummings...a GREAT poem that you should google!). I brought this art song home to sift through. At first I couldn't figure out if I liked it or not... It was repetitive, with the same sorts of figures in the accompaniment, and the right hand of the piano almost always played what the solo line was singing (which wasn't much other than arpeggios already used in the piano part). But by the end of the bleak-sounding piece, I was completely entranced. It wasn't boring like I'd thought: It was very, very slow progress, with a lot of measured silences.

So I looked up this John Luther Adams, and it turns out he's pretty famous. He's got a discography of around 10 CDs, a quote from Lou Harrison mentioning that he's "one of the few important young American composers", and it seems like he's a semi-continuation of Morton Feldman's ideas about slow moving processes. But these slow moving processes and possible minimalist gestures are a direct result of his love for Alaska, where he's lived since the late 1970s, which he mentions in almost every interview I could find.

I then searched for him elsewhere, and came upon this article in the New Yorker about a sound and light installation that Adams placed in the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. It's called "The Place Where You Go to Listen", and it's based on natural events that occur in real time. By that I mean it's completely controlled by input data collected from its surroundings: seismic waves, overcast/clear skies, etc. I know...I freaked out a little too.

So check the New Yorker article out...it's quite interesting. And who knows. Maybe John Luther Adams might sit in on one of our concerts in October, when we're scheduled to have our very first Alaska tour!

This is what we do

2009-06-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hello, folks. Since it's my first post on this here blog, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Tim Takach, and I've been singing in Cantus forever. Seriously. This is the end of my 13th year singing bass, and I love it. I'm also the graphic designer for the group, and I'm a professional composer on the side. Here's a bit more about me.

When we go on the road, there' a lot of work to be done. First of all, there are the concerts, which on an average concert day keep us scheduled from about 3:00pm until 10:00pm. We also do educational outreach programs, which happen about 4-5 times per tour, and those usually keep us busy for 2-3 hours per day. And then there's the driving. Oh yes, the driving. Sometimes we fly, but usually, we pile into sweet, sweet minivans and "roam around the world" (yes, it's a lyric from the b52s. We're in the middle of our Covers concerts...).

So that begs the question, what do we do when we don't have to be around each other all the time? The answer, surprisingly, is that we spend even more time with each other. Movies (either on the theater or on DVD), board games, frisbee games, work outs, hotel swimming pools, dinner outings, and many other things beckon to us as we travel. Once, eight of us went bargain hunting at Kohl's. I know. Please don't tell anyone.

However, having fun and playing games rule our off hours, and we take any chance we get to try a new game. Paul introduced us to a game he had played called Telephone Pictionary. He bugged us for months to try it, and we finally got around to playing during our March tour.

Here's the scoop:

Everyone sits in a circle, with a stack of paper in front of them.

Everyone write a phrase or on their page, and then passes it to the left.

That person reads the phrase, and then tries to capture it in a drawing on another sheet, and then passes their drawing to the left.

The next person looks at the drawing, and writes down what they think the original phrase was, then passes that to their left.

The next person looks at the new interpreted phrase and tries to capture it in a drawing.

See where this is going?

By the time you get your own original back, it is supported by slowly degrading versions of what you wrote down. Then you so a bit of show and tell, so everyone can see how the original answer got skewed. So, I'm posting a couple of examples from our recent game. See what you think they are. Comment if you like.

Example #1:

You know, I think I might even need a refresher as to what this was. Hey Cactus guys, want to weigh in?

Example #2:

This had something to do with shoefly pie, and ended up with Tom Selleck, apparantly.

Example #3:

Anyone want to guess?

Thanks for your time, and as always, thanks for your support of Cantus. See you next time!

Tim

Check out the pop podcast

2009-06-03T22:39:00.001-07:00

Hi, Cantus fans:

just wanted to make sure you knew about this and next weekend's pop shows. Here's a new podcast featuring Tenor Paul Rudoi, bass Chris Foss, and Podcast host Aaron Humble:

Pop Podcast 2009

See you at the Ritz!

Cantus Covers!

2009-05-31T19:02:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

We've been busy at work getting ready for our Covers Concerts, June 5-6, and June 12-14 (tickets), and it's just been a blast. We always enjoy being rockers for a day (or two weekends in this case). And Gary doesn't even have to turn on his PlayStation 2 (a failed attempt at humor suggesting that he plays way too much Guitar Hero).

Nay, the guitars are real, and so are the awesome collaborators we are working with. Here's a little impromptu sampling that I created entirely with my computer! Do forgive the poor sound, video quality, and/or nauseating cinematography, I hope it's just a fun peek into what we do in rehearsal. Don't forgive my hair's cameo. Go Mac!

Summer Songs

2009-05-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help thinking about summer as I enjoyed a perfectly sunny, breezy day. Here are links/lyrics to performances of two of my favorite summer songs for ensembles.

Sumer is icumen in (performed by the Hilliard Ensemble)

Sumer is i-cumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed,
And bloweth med,
And springeth the wde nu:
Sing cuccu! cuccu!

Awe bleteth after lamb,
Lhouth after calve cu;
Bulluc sterteth,
Bucke verteth,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu!
Wel singes thu cuccu,
Ne swik thou nauer nu!
Sing cuccu nu!
Sing cuccu!

Wild Mountain Thyme (performed by The Corries)

O the summer time has come
And the trees are sweetly bloomin'
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the bloomin' heather
Will ye go lassie go?

Chorus:
And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather
Will ye go lassie go?

I will build my love a bower (summerhouse)
By yon cool crystal fountain
And round it I will pile
All the wild flowers o' the mountain
Will ye go lassie go?

(chorus)

I will range through the wilds
And the deep glen sae dreamy
And return wi' their spoils
Tae the bower o' my dearie
Will ye go lassie go?

(chorus)

If my true love she'll not come
Then I'll surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather
Will ye go lassie go?

(chorus)

Snow in May

2009-05-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, I do remember a May with an amazing snowfall back in college. The event served as the basis of a friend's stance against living in the Upper Midwest..."No way I'm staying here! We literally had nine months of winter this year. It snowed at the end of September, throughout the fall, winter and spring, and here it is again in May!"

One of our collective favorites on the upcoming series Covers II: A Pop Concert takes advantage of the nostalgia surrounding snowy images and ties them beautifully to summer. If you haven't yet heard White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes, you ought to do so. Then come hear our performance, including collaborators Dave Hagedorn, Lee Blaske, Mark Ilaug and Rikki Davenport.

Cantus Idol!!!

2009-05-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

Well it's been a while since The Big Event, but Cantus Idol was a huge success! For those who don't know what Cantus Idol is, Cantus has hosted a fundraising event, a "competitive karaoke" competition, entitled Cantus Idol for the past two years. This year the event was held at Hell's Kitchen, a fantastic restaurant in the middle of downtown Minneapolis. It's a competition a la "American Idol", so it wouldn't be complete without a panel of three judges with fantastic, and unique, personalities. This year our judges included John DeHaan, professor on the faculty of the Vocal Department at the University of Minnesota, Brian Newhouse, broadcast host for Minnesota Public Radio, and Laura Anderson, who is working as the Assistant Director of the University of Minnesota's opera program. Without this panel, the evening would have only been half as entertaining!

In Cantus Idol, each member of Cantus gets up and performs a song they chose. Before, during, or after each of the songs, people can "vote" for their favorite (or favorites) by placing donations in the jar with that singer's picture on it. That's why you see a man's head in the picture with Elvis...I mean...Adam, below. He must have liked that performance, and put some money in! After the first round, five singers are eliminated. After the second round, it's just the top two. Last year Tim won (and I keep hearing about his legendary choice of "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid), but this year Gary took home the trophy. You can see him above, singing out to the audience in his last number.

Speaking of pictures, I was able to capture some great ones with my new camera! I've been toying around with my new digital SLR for a couple months now, and thought Cantus Idol would be perfect practice. The best part was, I had no idea what I was getting into. From Dashon's white jacket, which became famous by the end of the night it was referred to so much, to Tim singing "A Whole New World" with Jocelyn, his wife...In German..., to Adam singing an Elvis tune while looking the part. The night was just way too much fun, and we all knew it. Below is a picture of Eric Hopkins with his husband Andrew and a bunch of friends. They had fun right up to the very end!

With over 150 people in attendance, we were able to raise TWICE the amount generated from last year's efforts. So thanks so much to everyone who attended. For those who didn't attend, there's always next year. And if you are seriously into popular music, come see our pops concerts coming up in the beginning of June.

Posting again soon,

Paul

Quick Thoughts

2009-04-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks for Cantus. We had a wonderful time in Kirkland, WA (at a very posh resort/spa/hotel), and Fullerton, CA (100+ degrees!). Eric and I (shown below trying to be super chillaxed since we're near a rock 'n roll museum) averted disaster when we decided to not go to the star-in-your-own-rock-band part of the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Just imagine us trying to sing and drum "Purple Haze." No.

We're looking forward to the National Lutheran Choir collaboration this weekend, and we'll also be welcoming James Frazier on the organ for an incredibly exciting movement from Duruflé's wonderful Messe Cum Jubilo.

Today, we went to St. Peter also, in our never-ending quest to seem cool to high schoolers across the country. We're in the thick of our Artist-In-Residence program, and we've been having a blast with the students. Thank you also to Como Park and Minnetonka for putting up with us sleepy heads that are usually still dreaming when they are warmed up for choir, and have taken several chemistry, social studies, and trigonometry quizzes by the time we are still groggily choosing between a half-grapefruit or Pop-Tarts. You all are doing great work, and we're looking forward to working with you more!

"geeking out" in concert

2009-04-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, Gang! Returned but a few short hours ago from the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds symphonic concert, which kicked off a world tour in Minneapolis last night at the Orpheum. For those of you who have read my fuller bio on the Cantus website, you may not be surprised that I am a bit of a gamer, and a huge fan of Final Fantasy soundtrack composer Nobuo Uematsu.

While the majority of the music on these epic games has been synth-oriented, the more recent Final Fantasy soundtracks have included full orchestral and choral arrangements that rival Orff, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and other classical greats. As a genre, the game soundtrack has certainly gained more respect over the past few years, graduating from the chintzy 8-bit days of Atari and Nintendo. Game soundtracks are now being recorded by groups like the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and London Symphony. The gaming public demands sound design comparable to a Hollywood picture, and Uematsu has been known for composing masterful songs and themes for twenty five years.

At home, we know a lot of this music by heart because my collection of game soundtracks actually far exceeds my collection of games--there are often multiple albums released with arrangements varying from fully orchestral to celtic-inspired, pop, and solo piano versions, and I have acquired quite a few of them.

The show

I was happy to run into some Cantus fans in the audience, beginning not more than three minutes after I walked into the theater lobby! Met four students over the course of the evening that we had taught: one from Iowa State glee club, and three from Sartell and Como Park, where Cantus has worked as clinicians and artists-in-residence. (I think the kids were very surprised to see me as excited about the show as they were).

The orchestra featured a lot of players I recognized from gigs around town, including a bunch of SPCO members. Macalester College provided the chorus, and at one point some colleagues of mine got up on stage to perform a tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Maria and Draco" an opera that takes place in one of the games. Of course I am completely jealous--not begrudging anyone, I just wish I could have found out who was contracting the darn show! A local classical guitarist made a technically sound and very musical appearance on two pieces.

Here's some footage from the show provided by another fan from last night's show:

It really was a festive atmosphere, with fans young and old (like me) cheering throughout the show. New arrangements of some old favorites were fantastic, and the stage-mounted video screen displayed cut-scenes and gameplay throughout, often with comedic or heartfelt effect.

One down-side to the show, however, was the decision to blast the band through speakers on each side of the stage. It made it seem as though the music was piped in, rather than being performed right there on stage. It was disappointing to have the acoustic sound of players obliterated from only ten feet away. Also, it highlighted a few loose seams in under-rehearsed parts (you can't get anything past the gamers--they know every note). The concert would have been a better fit at Orchestra Hall, though a similar concert was cancelled there a couple of years ago because of lack of ticket sales. The Orpheum's size and advertising push did help in that regard, even if the acoustics there are poorer. the tour will soon be visiting the Baltimore and Dallas Symphonies, so I imagine the aural experience will be nicer at those venues.

After the show

Uematsu made a few appearances on stage during the show (he's a very funny guy), and sat in the audience watching throughout. After the show (because I had splurged on the good tickets!), we got to visit with both composer Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth backstage. The receiving line was long, but eventually we talked with them for a few minutes.

We got autographs and a picture, and passed on some Cantus CDs to them as gifts, expressing a wish that if Nobuo-San ever wants to write music for men's voices, that he please consider Cantus! Both men were gracious, and patient sitting for photographs with all the fans coming through the line--a few hundred people for sure. Audience members ask for Cantus autographs after shows pretty often, but it was neat to be seeking one myself.

Hopefully the continuing tour of Distant Worlds will pick up steam (they actually encouraged recording and non-flash photography during the show--maybe we should take a clue here...), and bring some kids over who wouldn't normally attend an orchestral concert, and vice versa--bring a few classical concert-goers over to the genre of video game music.

Bad Babbitt

2009-04-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

OK. This youtube video is sick. It has great dancing, great modern classical music, and a great jazz combo. What more can one ask for within the span of about a minute and a half?

Bad Plus' arrangement of Semi -Simple Variations by Milton Babbitt

Three P's

2009-03-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, two posts in one night, watch out.

I thought I would upload a few of my favorite photos from the last two tours. I call this post the Three P's (and yes, I know that this is technically an incorrect use of an apostrophe. Call it, "folksy.")

The first P stands for Pretzels. I love soft pretzels and in Amherst, MA I had the biggest soft pretzel ever. It was covered with melted, smoked cheddar cheese and served with spicy mustard. Mmmm.

The second P stands for Puppets (technically marionettes) . We stopped at a truck stop in Illinois that has this glass case full of dancing marionettes. The restaurant at the truck stop had amazing baked goods, including french pastries. I'm sure most truck drivers appreciate an eclair, Napoleon and a quick puppet show before hitting the road for another 15 hour shift. . .

The last but not least P stands for People. We've spent the last couple of days in Cedar Falls, IA. It's a cute, little river town that is also home to the University of Northern Iowa. The folks here have been very hospitable and we've had some great restaurant experiences. While in charming downtown Cedar Falls I happened upon a travel agency that bears my last name! I've never met anybody outside of my family with the last name, "Humble" so I was pretty excited!

We head home tomorrow to put together our collaboration with the James Sewell Ballet. Peace!

Aaron

Hello Everyone

2009-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. I have never created a blog entry, so I hope this goes OK. Paul, one of our younger and more tech-savvy singers suggested we upload videos. I would have probably uploaded a video of the wall with just my ear and no sound. So for now, I'm sticking to basics.

Here is your introduction to, yours truly, Aaron Humble

1. General: Aaron David Humble, I'm a Tenor and I've sung with Cantus for Four Seasons

2. Past: I was born in Ravenna, Ohio and grew up in a tiny town called Diamond, OH. Actually, it was the township of Palmyra but out mailing address was Diamond. When I was in college my parents moved to Kent, Ohio. I usually just say Kent because some people actually know where Kent is--or at least that it exists. BUT, Dashon doesn't like it when I say Kent so now the truth is out--I'm from Palmyra/Diamond, Ohio.

3. I grew up in a house where music was part of life. Whether it was Peter, Paul and Mary on the radio in the car of singing hymns around the piano. I really started focusing on music in High School and, of course, in college. I attended Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois for undergraduate and continued on at Indiana University where I earned my Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees. I have majors in vocal performance and literature and minors in theater, musicology, and choral conducting (across all of my studies).

4. Cantus: I decided to audition for Cantus after seeing an audition notice. What I like the most about singing with Cantus is the high level of artistry. Peformers rarely have the opportunity to sing a program as many times are we do. Over this number of repetitions, we have the opportunity to refine the product over and over again. It's a really gratifying experience.

5. Personal: When I'm not busy with Cantus there are a variety of things I like to do. I pick up extra gigs here and there and study and prepare solo repertoire as well. I enjoy cooking, baking, film and movies and enjoying the Twin Cities. One thing that is very cool about Minneapolis is that there are lakes and of course a bunch of parks right in the city! I love enjoying all of the natural beauty Minnesota has to offer while also enjoying the great urban lifestyle Minneapolis has to offer. It's a great place to live.

Well that's more than you probably ever wanted to know about me. Now that I've cut my teeth on all of this blogging business, hopefully I can get back on here more regularly. Take care and thanks for reading!

Peace,

Aaron

Changing Spaces

2009-03-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

We have ended our long New England tour successfully, and as usual, we have been met with unfailing kindness at every turn. We are so grateful to our fans and supporters, and will continue to bring you the highest level of music that we can, as our way of saying thanks for believing in us.
This has been a very interesting tour in terms of singing in different spaces. As many of you may know, the physical setting in which a group sings brings all sorts of benefits and challenges. The greatest challenge of all is adapting to each new room! A marble cathedral obviously sounds different than a conference room with padded walls and carpet, but it even goes beyond that. The size and shape of the room, instrumentation, ambient noise, size of the stage, and number of people in attendance, among other things all affect the sound that the audience and performers hear. For example, we just performed at the Northeastern Music Educators’ National Conference at the Providence Convention Center. They had to pack about 1,000 (rather enthusiastic) fans into the Grand Ballroom, which was the widest space that we’ve performed in recent memory. There were three sections, one directly in front of the stage that was flanked by two sections that had to watch us on live telecast in the same room! And on the very same tour, we sang in an intimate recital hall built especially for chamber music and smaller recitals, which was great for hearing, but since we don’t get to sing in spaces like that often, we had to adjust for the new sounds of different musical lines, or even different voices that we don’t hear every concert.
So, how do we deal with the ever changing scenery? One of the most important things for us is having a flexible and adaptable plan for performance that we’re able to implement during the rehearsal before the show. On an average concert day, we will have a two hour rehearsal before each show to figure out all sorts of technical elements of the night’s show. The other purpose of the rehearsal is to listen to the sound of the hall as our voices (individually and collectively) figure out how to fit into the space. We’ll make sure that we listen from stage as well as a few guys individually in the hall (when they’re not singing an important part on stage, of course) just to get a sense of what an audience member would hear.
Some important things that we try to remember as we are figuring out the acoustic: we try to sing with how our body tells us, not necessarily what we hear. The spaces can give weird feedback, so it’s not always to our benefit to “give ourselves voice lessons” as we sing. If something is not going well, we also try to stop often so we are not tiring ourselves out with things that aren’t working. On the flip side, we also try not to stop too often for every little strange thing that we hear, it’s important for us to try to simulate the experience trying to sing through clicks in the hall, or funny noises from our own voices during the show, when we can’t stop!
Once we’ve gotten through all of that stuff for the rehearsal, we just try to be as flexible during the performance as possible. Until you start the concert, it’s not possible to know how the sound is affected by the number of people in the audience, what you might feel like under stage lights after an hour, or even how your voice responds to a triple thick strawberry milkshake right before you go on stage (well, I suppose there are some things you can guess at).
The trust that we cultivate, and the amount of time that we spend together gives us the ability to know a lot about the voices of the other eight guys in the arc. We’re very lucky to be able to spend this much time together, but the amount of listening and connecting can start immediately in any group of musicians, if you work at it.
If you have any questions about the way we work, please don’t hesitate to ask us. You’ll find our contact information at the “Connect” heading of our website.

Cantus at Trinity Wall Street

2009-03-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

This should have been put up a while back, but here is a link to the Trinity Wall Street concert in NYC a couple of weeks ago. It's only an hour long show, but it still has the eclectic mix of our touring program, and all (or most) of your favorites on it! We had a great time in both the educational outreach prior as well as the actual concert. Enjoy!

Trinity Wall Street Concert

Why Music?

2009-03-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

This speech, written for the incoming freshmen of the Boston Conservatory, explains clearly and vividly why music is so important to culture and to humanity. It is not just entertainment: It's a necessity. Thanks to my friend Katherine Griswold for posting this link on facebook. It reminded me of the reasons I continue to pursue what many people believe to be a "dying art".

Please read...you won't regret it.

Karl Paulnack's Speech to incoming freshmen

Eric Hopkins meets Eric Hopkins

2009-03-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in Amherst, MA, in our hotel room resting up after our drive from Maine. We are currently in residence with the University of Massachusetts (aka: UMass) for the rest of this week before we wrap up our NE tour in Providence and Boston. Since this is my first blog post for Cantus Tales (and my first blog EVER!) I should introduce myself...My name is Eric N. Hopkins and I am in my second year singing Tenor with Cantus. I grew up on a hobby farm with sheep outside of Oregon, Illinois, a small town 100 miles west of Chicago. I think I came out of the womb singing (or maybe I was just fighting with my twin sister Edie for room!). I attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, receiving my Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Music in 1999. Being at Luther you would always hear about St. Olaf College, the "birthplace" of Cantus. They are both great music schools of the Lutheran tradition, and only two and a half hours apart from each other. After college I moved to Minneapolis and sang with many part-time choral groups including the Dale Warland Singers and then The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists. Cantus was alive and well in the Twin Cities, but I never thought I would ever be a part of them. It always seemed like such a fraternity and was off my radar. I heard of an opening for Cantus through a friend. I auditioned and was offered the position in January 2008. Since then I have been immersed into the Cantus lifestyle: rehearsing full-time, touring across the country, and memorizing music--AAARRGH! It was hard at first to get back into the routine of memorizing music, but it has become second-nature now.

A few years ago I started "googling" my own name to see what would come up. Actually not much...But the one person who did appear in every search was a watercolor artist in Maine. Once I knew we were going to Maine on a tour this spring, I did some research and found out that the artist Eric Hopkins lived just a few miles from where we were performing! I emailed Eric and he was excited. He brought his mother to the concert and we met afterward. The first thing his mother said to me is that I look just like her other son David. I responded by saying the "other" Eric looks just like Gary from Cantus! After much conversation we discovered that we are in fact distant cousins having the same relative Stephen Hopkins, who came to America on the Mayflower. Eric invited us to his gallery in Rockland, the next town south of Camden. A group of us from Cantus drove down Highway 1 to Rockland and visited the gallery. Eric's watercolors are fabulous. He uses huge canvases and bold colors to display the rocky and pine tree-laden coast and islands of Maine, where he has lived his whole life. We met his son Ian, and saw his expansive work space where he is currently experimenting with silk scarves and ties. It was great to be able to share my art and have Eric share his art with us. I can't wait to visit Maine again and hopefully spend more time with my new cousin!

Brand New Alice Tully Hall

2009-03-03T06:07:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

My name is Dashon Burton, and I am the Junior Senator of the Baritone Commonwealth of Cantus, and wish to have the floor to speak...

Cantus just arrived in NYC yesterday afternoon after some shady navigating (which way do we go, Dashon?). This is sort of a hometown for me, as I spent much of my childhood here, so it's always wonderful to see the sights, have some lovely food, take in the wonderful civil engineering that can fit 400 million people into 17 square feet (numbers are approximate).

After visiting with some friends, I met up with Cantus tenor Paul Rudoi at the brand new Alice Tully Hall (photo by Iwan Baan) at Lincoln Center. First, I have to echo Paul's sentiments: "50% of why I am here is for the orchestra, and the other 50% is for the architecture." It's an absolutely stunning building to see, and just to walk in is amazing too.

The celebrated orchestra was playing for the Opening Nights Festival which is ongoing until March 8. Last night, Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen renewed my sense of some very familiar works to me. Beethoven's First and Seventh symphonies were served with great vigor, and it's obvious that their continued dedication to this monumental cycle will produce more wonderful concerts and recordings. The camaraderie of the musicians was evident, and their structure is very similar to the way that Cantus started, which is always amazing to see. From their program bio: "Founded in 1980, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen initially consisted of a group of outstanding music students who drew up a grassroots constitution in order to optimally motivate the individual members both personally and musically ... The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is organized as a company in which the musicians are sole partners. Thus they assume full responsibility not only for artistic but financial matters as well." As a chamber musician it is always wonderful to share in the successes of other chamber ensembles as well as be inspired by them.

This virtuosic set of players truly dug into the music. Every bar was infused with life, and rarely have I heard such supreme musical nuance. The musicians played with a sense of clarity that made each line that they wanted you to focus on at the forefront. Mr. Järvi was clearly pleased with the results of his and the rest of the musicians' hard work, and I would say had the best "seat" in the house! Combine the musicians and the wonderful acoustics of the new hall, and you get quite a show. It was a technically, emotionally, and visually wonderful journey through two of my personal favorite Beethoven symphonies, and I couldn't really ask for an artistically better way to start a visit to NYC.

Also, for all of our connected audience across the country who can't make it to the concert at Trinity Wall Street on March 5 at 1PM (EST), just a reminder, they'll be broadcasting it LIVE on the internet, so do tune in!

Welcome new Cantus bloggers

2009-02-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

Hi, gang:

wanted to take a moment to welcome the new bloggers and readers out there at Cantus Tales. If you didn't know, I have been the voice of Cantus' Tales From the Road and other blogs since 2004. I will continue to post under my own name, but the mantle is finally being passed to the group at large, which will mean many more stories, lots more information about life in Cantus, and hopefully a lot more fun for you as well.

I look forward to reading about the adventures and lives of my compatriots, and I hope you will too.

Oneonta

2009-02-28T05:17:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I'm posting from Oneonta, New York, where we, just earlier today, had some educational outreach with various groups around town. We also had a great first concert of the tour there, with an estimated 800 people in attendance, and an encore request to boot (we sang one of our favorites, Biebl's Ave Maria). Above is a picture of the church, and in the distance you can see Tim tuning his autoharp for the concert. The acoustic of the First United Methodist Church was certainly a lot of fun to work in, considering we sing pieces like Lux Aurumque or Deep River. And it was nearby some great places to eat, like the Autumn Cafe or a diner called "Corfu". Here we are preparing for the concert...and our large meal...at Corfu yesterday evening!

Speaking of food, we definitely won't forget our choice of restaurant for dinner on our way to Oneonta! It had been a long first day of tour, between a layover in Milwaukee (or Atlanta for Chris) to the three hour drive from La Guardia. We had difficulties in choosing where to eat, but by the time we really NEEDED to eat there was nothing around! So we decided to stop at a Chinese Restaurant in the middle of nowhere...we took some pictures and ate huge plates of food...

Now we're moving on to Poughkeepsie, where we'll have a masterclass and a concert tomorrow at Vassar College. Check back soon for updates!

Mission Week

2009-02-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Cantus is in the middle of our Mission Week: a chance to get out to Twin Cities area schools to sing for, and inspire, choral music students. Thursday was spent at Robbinsdale Cooper High School with 5 great choirs full of students who asked great questions and laughed along with Cantus for 90 minutes. Thanks again, Cooper students, you were great!

Wednesday saw Cantus at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School, singing for, and working with, the concert choir there. We heard two great pieces and the students responded so well to all of our coaching. Way to go Armstrong!

Friday we'll be in River Falls, WI and next week Cantus heads to the East Coast for a 2 week concert tour, including stops in NYC and Vassar College. Check back for more updates.

Blog Updates!

2009-02-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

So we updated our blog a little bit recently! Our blog is going to focus not only on our fantastical adventures on tour, but many other things, including happenings at home, information about new and veteran singers, our musical process, and each member's current musical interests. If you want to see any one type of post, just check out the labels to the right.

We'll be writing in this blog regularly, so check back often. Or, if you're really into Cantus, subscribe to updates or become a follower of Cantus Tales via the bar on the right!

That about covers it. Talk to you all later!

Hurdy Gurdy!

2009-02-18T20:59:00.001-08:00

I thought a lot about what I would put into my first music post, so I decided to focus on a new CD I heard last week! I love to go to Minneapolis' Central Library down at the bottom of Nicollet Avenue and search for new and interesting albums. While I was looking at the instrumental music, I came across a very interesting looking CD cover with the words "Hurdy-Gurdy" and "Prototyp" on the front. Usually when I can't tell which is the band name and which is the name of the CD I put it back, but it looked interesting, and I couldn't remember the last time I heard a hurdy gurdy. The hurdy gurdy is more or less a mechanical violin, where the strings are "played" by a wheel underneath them while a keyboard on the side changes the strings' pitches. Here's a picture explaining the different parts:

When I got home, I slid it into my macbook and listened. It seemed completely electronic underneath the almost bagpipe-ish sound of the melodies! But when I read the CD jacket, the group (whose name IS Hurdy-Gurdy it turns out) said all the sounds on the CD were made organically from the sounds their hurdy gurdies made. If you get a chance, you have to check it out. Here's a youtube video of Stefan Brisland-Ferner from Hurdy-Gurdy playing "Delirium" from the Prototyp album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alnVExbQYCw

Have fun, and check in again soon!

End of 2008, Happy New Year, 2009!

2009-01-18T12:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Cantus fans!

Well, the year ended on a high note with a fantastic national tour of All is Calm, followed by a run at the Pantages Theater, in downtown Minneapolis--this time with a full theatrical production. We garnered more great reviews: All is right with 'All Is Calm', 'All is Calm' delivers joy -- pure and simple, and 'All is Calm' celebrates peace ... in wartime
. It was a real treat to reunite with our actors from last year's premiere of the piece, John Catron, David Roberts, and Alan Sorenson, as well as director Peter Rothstein. The guys all broke off to visit family and friends during the holidays, but now we are all back on the clock, and doing travelling for the group.

We just returned from New York, where we performed a few showcases for the American Performing Arts Presenters conference (trying to drum up some business at some new venues around the country, and finished the week with beautiful performance of Edie Hill's A Sound Like This at the 31st national convention of Chamber Music America. CMA provided the funds for Cantus to commission the piece from Edie--6 ruminations of texts by Kabir, the 15th century Indian mystic, on translation by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Robert Bly. A fantastic multi-movement work, it really captures the sound of music of the spheres. It's such a thrill to sing in New York City, too. We'll be back there again on March 5th to sing at Trinity Church, on Wall Street.

All is Calm touring and xmas update

2008-12-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Gang.

Posting late after our show in Sioux Falls, SD. Just returned from Monk's public house, where some of us were enjoying a nice Belgian beverage to warm up our chilled bodies after the show. Had a nice time hanging out with our good friend Audra, who works for the Washington Pavilion, recoding venue for a few of our albums. We head to Algona Iowa in the morning. We had a great time last week doing our annual Away in a Manger concerts, with cider, cocoa, and hay rides!

We departed soon after to tour All is Calm, first to Irvine California, then two Arizona Shows (way to go 80 degrees!), then New Hampshire, and back to Minnesota for a show at St. Bens. (here's a nice scene...Adam and Paulie on the beach!)

We headed to Wasau, Wisconsin, and now we are in the familiar territory of Sioux Falls. I guess it sounds like a revolving door of cities and venues, but we do get sometimes to hang out in a town long enough to enjoy it. We've spent enough time in Sioux Falls to have favorite joints to eat at, or candy shops to visit.

We look forward to bring ing All is Calm to our home audience in the Cities. Hope to see you there. The shows have been going great, and CD sales have been very good too--don't forget to stuff your stockings with Cantus CDs!!

Driving blues

2008-11-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

Safe and sound in Athens GA, we just had a nice dinner and drinks at a great Mexican place next door to the motel. The trip here, though, was a little bit of an adventure. Extremely windy up in the West Virginia hills, but low temperatures wreaked a little havoc on the windshield washers on our van. We figure some other renter must have put some water in with the windshield fluid, because when we opened the hood (this was after trying to keep our van on the road looking through either a haze of white or at the most a tiny clean gap on the windshield), the wiper fluid was basically a big blue ice cube! After a comedy of bad choices for interstate exit ramps we stopped at a Kmart for some new fluid, which we topped off, but it was only 75 miles south of there that the temperature got warm enough for the lines to thaw. Ridiculous.

The actors and director just showed up at the motel, after their own drive from Charlotte this evening, and we are anxious to perform the show tomorrow night. Some of us have relatives that are coming to the show, which always makes the trip a little more special than when we perform only for strangers.

Almost Heaven...West Virginia

2008-11-21T06:35:00.000-08:00

Thursday Nov. 20

After a flight to Charlotte NC, our day of travel ended on wooded, windy roads in the mountains of West Virginia. I brought along a new (old) board game based on the crime sprees of Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger, and other gangs. Pretty fun, and we got a lot of the guys to play. I think we were having board game withdrawal. Our show at Concord University in Athens, WV was intimate. We stayed at the beautiful Pipestem State Park lodge (out in the sticks, though), with a homey atmosphere, mountain vistas, and deer--lots of deer!

Tomorrow we meet up with the actors and head to Athens Georgia for our first touring performance of All is Calm at the Univesity of GA. Looking forward to touring that show, and bringing it to other audiences around the country.

Cantus in the South Pt. deux, and Musings of a Touring Tenor.

2008-11-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

More pics and news from our Southern Tour:

If you see a familiar face in this picture, you aren't crazy--we want to thank Tom McNichols for stepping in for this tour to cover the paternity leave of tim Takach who, with his wife, welcomed a bouncing baby boy while we were away. Cantus prides itself on being as family-friendly as a touring organization can be, and we were fortunate that Tom (who left the group last season to pursue a solo career in New York) was available and knew a lot of the repertoire already!

We finished our tour in Louisiana--two shows at LSU. The weather was mostly beautiful, so you could find a few of us throwing a frisbee on campus, and later some of the guys headed to the Louisiana State capitol. Here they are in front of the Huey Long statue--Adam riddled us with Louisiana political trivia (appropriate for the week in question, it would seem) for the rest of the trip!

We followed all of this with an afternoon in New Orleans before we headed to the airport in the evening. Bourbon Street was quiet, but blues bands and drinkers were about starting about 2pm. Gumbo, beans and rice, and jambalaya were on the lunch menu, and then we were off to the aeropuerto.

(Nov 11) Just finished a great show at Concordia up at Fargo/Moorhead, and sitting here in this nicer Courtyard Mariott, marveling at the irony that the nicest places to stay (room refrigerators, microwaves, comfortable beds, and friendly staff--that these are invariable the places we only get to stay in one night while we are on tour...

And by nicer, I don't mean frou-frou. The frou-frou joints that cater to business travelers on the high end look nice, but are often lame (expensive daily internet fee, people won't leave you alone)--kind of like a bathroom with an attendant. You know you're going to get stuck paying for being handed something you didn't want in the first place. Anyway, this hotel had the right combination of quiet and service. Breakfast buffet wasn't exorbitant, either. Oh, but don't get me wrong--boutique hotels can be fantastic--those tend to have the big fluffy beds, and niceties. We'd stay at those anytime.

Also, this could be time to mention that Cantus usually doubles up on the rooms. This actually makes us a little more competitive in the market. So you've got a roommate most of the time--and on an intermittent basis, you get the single room (since we have an odd number of singers). Everyone has different sleeping/waking habits, and we mix up the roommates pretty often. You know, this reminds me...we've been very DVD-oriented so far this season, but the board games have yet to be brought along. Guys--hey, let's get it together!!

-gary

Cactus heads south!

2008-10-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

Kicked off this two week tour in Tyler TX. Nice crowd, which included our friend Anna Rose Bain, a fantastic young portrait artist who did this lovely drawing of us a couple of years ago.

Cantus returned to Ft. Smith, Arkansas next, where we performed our first show with the Boston Pops last November. It's neat to come back to a venue again, and the turnout was very high--many people who saw us last year.

We headed out to Little Rock next, staying down by the River Market, and the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, which a few of us visited. PIC A perfect venue to visit in this most political of seasons!

The collection details life in the White House and in international politics during the Clinton years, and also featured a special exhibit of amazing Choppers.

By the end of the stop there, we had been treated to fantastic weather, good restaurants, and a post-show tour of the Diamond Bear Brewery! It was a late night, but we got to (heavily) sample all the current production in the front bar, and enjoy the company of the concert presenter's board members and friends of water scientist/brewery part-owner John Czarnecki.

More to come!

Welcome to the 2008-09 Season

2008-10-03T17:37:00.001-07:00

The men of Cantus hope that your summers were all fantastic, and that you are all ready to enjoy some great music with us this year! We welcome two new members: bass Chris Foss and tenor Paul Rudoi to the roster. We had a short run-out last week to Ames and Storm Lake, Iowa to kick of the touring season, and this weekend we present our touring program in the Twin Cities, entitled"While You are Alive".

We've had a great time off this summer--the guys have done some traveling, some music-making of their own, but after reconvening, our rehearsal period has come to an end, and we will be out for the next nine months going at it with a vengeance. Be sure to check our concert listings to be sure you see us in your town this season.

2007-08 season wrap-up

2008-08-11T08:23:00.001-07:00

We've spent a season traveling the world. Beginning with an African tour, three weeks with the Boston Pops, a hit Christmas show, recording two albums' worth of new music, and finishing the season with a collaboration with Trio Mediaeval at our Kennedy Center debut, Cantus got a well-earned rest at the end of the trail.

After our quick stop in Cleveland with the ladies of Trio Mediaeval, we moved on to the Kennedy Center, performing to a sold-out house (great review here).

The season ended on a high note, though we feel some sadness as we say goodbye to two of our members, Tom McNichols and Michael Jones, who are moving on to other opportunities. Tom's wins of the District and Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions were a big turning point, and we wish him luck as he begins his solo career. Michael Jones' path has taken him to a tour of Les Miserables and to some charity work.

We are looking forward to next season: rehearsals start on the 18th of August, and we have exciting things to share with you as the men of Cantus tour the country again, and sing more locally than ever before. We also welcome two new members of the ensemble for 08-09, bass Chris Foss, and tenor Paul Rudoi. More news about them later.see you during the 2008-09 season!

Pop shows a rousing success!

2008-05-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

The chilly weather may not be gone from Minnesota evenings yet, but the air was afire during our sellout weekend of pop shows/recording dates at the Southern Theater. Joined by percussionist extraordinaire Dave Hagedorn, multi-instrumentalist/composer Lee Blaske, and longtime recording engineer and editor-in-chief of Stereophile Magazine John Atkinson, Cantus presented its first-ever all-pop concerts. True to most Cantus shows, we threw lots of interesting sounds into the mix of vocal harmonies, including mandolin, accordion, spoons, washboard, latin percussion, acoustic guitar, bowed and mallet struck vibraphone, glockenspiel, and bass guitar. The songs ranged from classics by the Beach Boys, Curtis Mayfield, and Roy Orbison to dance and avant-pop songs by Deeelite and Bjork, and most everything in between. Tim's new arrangement of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah received a great reception, as did our Aretha Franklin-inspired arrangement of Eleanor Rigby and faux-bluegrass imagining of the White Stripes' Got Her in Your Pocket.

We received a solid review (available here), and sang to packed houses all three nights of the run. Thanks to Luther College's alumni association for hosting an opening night reception at the next-door Town Hall Brewery after the show--guess it pays that we now have a Luther grad (Eric Hopkins) in the group.

We flew immediately the next morning (don't ask how early, please :( ) to Norfolk to sing that evening, kicking off a four-day engagement at the Virginia Arts Festival. We taught at two high schools, and sang in two more venues over the next three days, but also managed to get back to Colonial Williamsburg (we were just there at Xmastime with the Boston Pops) and Jamestown Settlement before our show in Williamsburg on our last night there.

Next time: Trio Mediaeval and our return to Washington DC!

Fun in Milwaukee

2008-05-12T22:32:00.001-07:00

After teaching a day-long festival in Muskego, WI, we were surprised to pull into our hotel in another Milwaukee suburb and find a waterpark attached to the place! Also of note were the non-stop wedding receptions and proms that were going on all weekend long. Adam, our Viceroy of Fun (very official title), saw that the Brewers were playing the St. Louis Cardinals Friday, so a few of us headed into town, had dinner with some locals at a great sports bar--the fish and chips was half an entire walleye--and walked to the amazing Miller Park for what turned out to be a captivating bottom of the ninth-bases loaded skin of teeth victory for the Brewers! Jones had a birthday, and during the trip some of us managed to go see Iron Man, too. We always try to have fun on tour.

Tim Takach wins Cantus Idol 2008!

2008-05-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Tim Takach was crowned the first ever Cantus Idol winner on Tuesday night.

Trattoria Da Vinci's was packed to capacity, the audience had stomachs filled with food and ears filled with singing. The initial round featured 8 Cantus singers delighting the crowd with a wide array of songs. The voting was tight, but Dashon, Aaron, Eric and Tim moved on to the second round.

The second round featured songs as diverse as "The Way We Were" by Barbra Striesand to "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. The audience chose Dashon and Tim to move to the finals.

Being friends, neither Tim nor Dashon wanted to have either lose, but in a competition setting, there could be only one winner - Tim took the prize with an inspired performance of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain."

The evening was full of fun, laughter, tasty food and outstanding music. One audience member proclaimed: "Cantus Idol puts the 'fun' back in fundraiser!" Amid all the festivities was a great result - over $2800 was raised for Cantus!

This event will definitely be repeated next year, only getting bigger and better! Watch next spring for Cantus Idol 2009! Special thanks to our celebrity judges: John DeHaan, Brian Newhouse, and Mindy Ratner.

Spring mega-tour 08 update

2008-04-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

A couple more stops on our mega-tour of the South (and Pennsylvania?!) during March and April: Really great to sing a couple of shows in my home state of Kentucky, too. My gramma and some other family made it to the WKU show, and brought along some homemade fudge and other goodies! One of our stops was Corbin, a small town which happens to be the site of Colonel Sanders' Cafe and Museum--home of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken!. No excuse to miss this stop...

We gave tight shows across the tour, with warm audiences (review here), talented kids to clinic in three states, and some great audience-captured performances:

On our two-day drive home, our van decided to give Eric a chance to see the St. Louis arch, as we travelled north through Missouri. We couldn't wait to get home from this twenty-two day tour, but we've had a good time. Nice to arrive back in the Twin Cities with nice weather: all of our significant others have been stuck with snow, cold, and sleet for the past couple of weeks, while we were outside playing Speedminton and wiffleball...

Take care everybody--we'll see you in your town, or at the pop shows in May! -G

Grueling Questions pt. Deux!

2008-04-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

Earlier this season, we presented some answers to pressing questions posed to the Cantus guys about life, music, and fun. Here's part two of those interviews.

Working as a team is lots of fun, but what are your personal goals?

Shahzore Shah: "As a performer, I aim to stretch my vocal and general artistic potential far
beyond perceived limits."

Eric Hopkins "to someday get my Master's degree and teach at the college level.

Gary Ruschman: Sing better. Write more music. Get some sleep. Do a graphic novel.

Tom McNichols: To make a career out of performing while maintaining some semblence of "normal" life

Dashon Burton: I hope to be able to sing in multiple touring ensembles that span a wide range of genres.

Do you have any rituals or things you do before you go out to perform?

Michael Jones: "I never wear shoes untill just before walking out on stage. They make me tense."

Eric Hopkins: " Jump up and down about three or four times"

Aaron humble: "Not really. If I have to sing something big for a matinee I usually have a good greasy breakfast (omelet, turkey sausage, buttery toast, mmmm)"

Finally, If you couldn’t sing, which talent would you most like to have?

Gary Ruschman: "Either creative writing, conducting, or being a fierce bass player."

Dashon Burton: "I would like to have a great memory for detail for use in things like trivia, research, and general academia. I would also love to be able to play Bossa Nova guitar and speak many languages."

Adam Reinwald: "I wish I could run very fast and, most importantly, jump really high. I have always wanted to play professional basketball."

Tom: "I do have it, woodworking. Otherwise I would say, extreme skiier."

Fun stops on tour

2008-03-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Given a coveted rare day off in the schedule, we always head to nearby attractions or cities to see the sights, try new restaurants, or spend a day in a park. This tour is no exception, so a few of the guys went to spend time with former Cantus member Mani, and a couple of us headed down to Philadelphia to catch the new touring Star Wars science exhibit.

Philadelphia must really put a lot of effort into community art, because we found incredibly photorealistic murals all over the city, like this one. Gorgeous!

The science museum was inundated with spectators, all there to view the vintage costumes and models, do some hands-on building of robotics and vehicles with magnetic propulsion, and learn about examples of real-life future-engineering for extended space travel. Of course, there was a cadre of actors in costume there to pose with all the kids, big and small!

This tour is pretty immense--more than three weeks, so it's good we get to have a little fun between shows. After tomorrow night's show in Pennsylvania, we head south to the Carolinas, Alabama, my home state of Kentucky, Georgia, then back to Alabama again. Lots of miles, but hopefully some fun times, good shows, and lots of new people to meet.

Another treat came at our late arrival to our first Pennsylvania hotel, when the members of Inpulse (http://www.inpmusic.com/) walked through the door, having just performed a show at the other university in town that evening. Very very strange to have two Minnesota vocal groups booked in the same town on the east coast at the same time!

Recording. Then more recording. Followed by some recording.

2008-03-19T09:05:00.001-07:00

As promised, here's a quick rundown of what happened in the past two weeks with Cantus. The short answer: lots of media!

We had such a resounding success with our All is Calm theatre project that we wanted to record it for distribution by the Fall. So we decided to take two days right away in March to record All is Calm (here's a video montage sneak preview):

As for our annual recording project, rather than head to a remote concert hall for a week in June, we decided to record our upcoming pop shows at the Southern Theater to create a live album instead. It saves us some resources, but gives a whole new experience to us and the audience alike. So if you make it to those shows, you might just get captured in the audience! We welcome two collaborators for the shows, multi-instrumentalist Lee Blaske and our favorite artistic partner, percussionist Dave Hagedorn.

To further our media saturation last week, MPR and American Public Media captured a lot of material, including interviews and our collaborative work with the St. Olaf Choir for broadcast. One song was just featured on Tuesday's Performance Today, and our combined session with the Ole Choir will be featured on another broadcast.

Listen here (we're near the end): Performance Today, 3/18/08

To round out the week, we spent an afternoon being filmed in HD by a local filmmaker who is producing a documentary on the Minnesota choral scene. We filmed five numbers, and hopefully we'll get to show you some footage very soon.

G

Touring and teaching mayhem, 2008 style...

2008-03-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

First of all, I should mention that Dashon was unwittingly assuming the Superman pose while we were teaching in Houston--where Cantus reunited with former member Phil Moody, who now is in charge of a big high school music program in Texas. Just like they say, things are big in Texas, and we had a huge day-long festival! On this tour also worked with University of Houston's fantastic college choirs, and Cantus made its Houston Friends of Music debut on the lovely Stude Concert Hall stage at Rice University (review here). What a great place to sing. Despite a large size, the sound on stage is quite intimate, so it was a joy to make music there.

Slipping out early from the sessions with the college choirs, Dashon and I headed across campus to be interviewed on Houston Public Radio (link here).

Here's a shot of the Cantus Mobile Office ©, where we get our work done* while we are on tour. Part of our preparation for our pop shows in May involves writing new arrangements (which you can see me toiling away on here)--thank goodness for notation software!

If anyone is keeping score, the Macs are currently leading the PCs 5-3 in the ensemble, plus two iPhones (not that I am dissatisfied with my Powerbook, but Steve, if you're out there, would you like to make Apple the official laptop of Cantus and throw in some new machines?!).

*hopefully

In other news, if you are a member, you can now catch Cantus on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cantus/7671804290

See you next time, when I'll talk about some quick turnaround on new Cantus recording projects, getting "old school" with the St. Olaf choir, Cantus on TV, and other newsworthy items.

Cheers,

Gary

Welcomes for 2008

2008-01-30T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi, gang:

Welcome to part two of the 07-08 season of Cantus. We now take some time to catch you up on lots of Cantus news and happenings!

Our self-titled release this season was just named one of the top ten for 2007 on NPR!

We also welcome tenor Eric Hopkins to the ensemble. He joins us after a number of years with Dale Warland, and lots of singing in the Twin cities. A quick study, Eric prepared our touring program (about two hours of music) with only two weeks of rehearsal--a large feat! We are very excited to have him along on our travels.

Cantus now has videos up on YouTube! Just visit:

http://www.youtube.com/cantussings

The biggest news for the group this month is that our very own bass, Tom McNichols, is heading to the Met in New York City in February, after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Minnesota District and Upper Midwest Regionals! He'll complete against young singers from all over the country for a shot at cash prizes, national exposure with a live radio broadcast, and a spot with the Met's young artist program. Good Luck, Tom-- We're all rooting for you! http://www.metoperafamily.org

As for touring, we headed out to southern California for a couple of shows, trading the frigid land of Minnesota
for a balmy (though chilly by San Diego standards) 55 degrees at La Jolla's St. James by the Sea Series! We performed a memorial concert and gave an education opportunity at Bishop's School the next morning, where the choir was getting ready to compete with a Keith Hampton arrangement from Anton Armstrong's choral series, and Eric Whitacre's Lux Aurumque--both familiar territory for Cantus, so it was a fun and easy clinic to give.

We then headed up to UC-Riverside to do a show for a small but very warm audience despite a pretty chilly night. Special thanks to Denise, Melanie, and all the staff there, who were wonderful hosts! After the show we found that Riverside rolls up its sidewalks pretty early, though to be fair our show was on a Tuesday night. A few of us tried to go out after the show for a bite, but nothing was really open after 10:30...win some, lose some, I guess. Couldn't really stay out late anyway, since we had an early departure to get back to LAX in the morning.

Well, we've got some time at home now, doing some strategic planning for the group during February, then we head back out again mid-month. We'll be in touch again soon!

Welcome

2008-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new home of Cantus' travel and touring blog.

Here's a reprint of our last blog from the 2007 Boston Pops Holiday Tour, look for more postings once we hit the road again in late January '08:

Wrapping things up for the Pops tour, our last show of the Holiday tour with them happened last night.

The scheduled plane ride to Newark got cancelled--the weather hit hard again in Boston town--so we shuffled off to the Amtrack station, once we got word over the phone and hopped on a six hour train ride down instead. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) pushed the show back an hour to accommodate the bad weather travelling, and the show kicked off just after 8pm. Wonderful crowd, truly amazing concert hall (gorgeous looks and sound), and Maestro Lockhart announced from the stage that it wouldn't be the last time that Cantus would be seen with the Pops--what a thrill! It appears that all parties were very happy with our performances and collaboration with the orchestra. We do hope that another collaboration will come very soon.

Feels good that all our hard work paid off, and we definitely stretched ourselves on the tour, both musically and personally. The confidence of the last show was a far cry from the initial nervousness that I'm sure we all felt a few weeks ago when we had our first rehearsal in Arkansas. We survived snow-storms, long drives, and nick-of-time arrivals, but the experiences and audiences were all worth it.

Oh, by the way, forgot to mention our fun times too, visiting sights in the East, like Colonial Williamsburg, malls in Maine, beautiful New Haven and Providence, went to some movies, and even a Boston Bruins game! Ate at some fine restaurants, pubs, and sweet shops, too (not to mention cotton candy and popcorn at some of the arenas we played at...)

The men of Cantus wish to express their sincerest thanks to the entire staff, crew, and musicians of the Boston Pops. We all had a wonderful time getting to know and work with you!

As we move into January, we welcome a new tenor (Eric Hopkins) to the fold for the second half of our '07-08 Season, and we look forward to telling you more about him soon.

Join us regularly here at http://cantustales.blogspot.com regularly. 2007 was extremely exciting for us, and 2008 should prove to be a lot of fun. Cheers.