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.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Blog Updates!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
End of 2008, Happy New Year, 2009!
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.
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.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
All is Calm touring and xmas update
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!!
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!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Driving blues
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.
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
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.
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.
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