Why Music?

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!