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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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.