I’ll be playing the double bass in a benefit concert on 9/9 and 9/10 for the program shown below. This all-volunteer performance is to honor the five year anniversary of the September 11th disaster, and proceeds will go to benefit the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. (See this shameless cute puppy photo for more detail on what our concert proceeds go to.) If you would like to get out of the house for a change and hear some beautiful music, you might consider coming to one of these performances:

The Pacific Collegium Presents:
DURUFLÉ: REQUIEM
A memorial benefit performance
In support of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

• Christopher Kula, conductor
• Tonia d’Amelio, soprano
• Joseph Wright, baritone
• Susan Matthews, organist
• Pacific Collegium
• Pacific Boychoir

— Program —

Finzi, Lo, the full, final sacrifice
Festival anthem for chorus and orchestra

Finzi, Dies natalis
For soprano solo and strings

Duruflé, Requiem
For soloists, chorus and orchestra

Dates:

• Saturday, September 9, 7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland
• Sunday, September 10, 5 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Church, 1668 Bush St., San Francisco

Duruflé’s orchestrated setting of the Requiem Mass is a marvel of the liturgical repertoire, as well as being a seminal work of the 20th century Gregorian chant revival.

Lo, the full, final sacrifice is viewed by many as Finzi’s masterwork, though it is little widely known and virtually unheard in its lush orchestral version. A series of musical vignettes around the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas: Adoro Te devote and Lauda Sion Salvatorem, set in English by the 17th-century poet, Richard Crashaw, it is particularly celebrated for its final Amen in eight-part divisi.

Dies natalis, also by Finzi, sets texts of another 17th-century English metaphysical poet, Thomas Traherne. Accompanied by string ensemble, this work explores in solo voice the innocent ecstasy of a newborn child discovering the world and its wonders anew.

Visit http://www.pacificcollegium.org/ for more information and to purchase tickets for this event.

Bay Area Musicians: September is light anyway, so how about considering doing this benefit to raise funds for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation:

This September, to mark the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center disaster, the Pacific Collegium will present Duruflé’s Requiem and two major works of Gerald Finzi in a benefit concert on behalf of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (searchdogfoundation.org). NDSDF, a primary organization for the training and support of search and rescue dog teams, was prominent in the rescue efforts at the World Trade Center five years ago and in many before and since, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their expert search teams are provided at no cost to fire departments and other emergency service agencies throughout the country. As a tax-exempt charity with no government funding, NDSDF relies on support from private individuals, foundations and corporations to provide this crucial service.

Our goal is to enable 100% of ticket proceeds for this event to directly benefit NDSDF by arranging for fixed expenses to be waived, other expenses such as music rental to be underwritten, and by soliciting an ensemble of top-notch musicians as volunteers for this memorial fundraising concert.

Would you consider a donation of your time and talent as an instrumentalist to help make this event possible? Your time and your skills are extremely valuable (or we wouldn’t ask you to be involved in this project!). We hope you will consider joining us on this significant memorial occasion both for the sake of an important charitable cause, and in order to bring these beautiful works to performance in two very flattering acoustic spaces, but most importantly as a fitting tribute on the five-year anniversary of 9-11.

In fact, we could not be more thrilled about the program of music, featuring Duruflé’s Requiem in full orchestration alongside Lo, the full, final sacrifice and Dies Natalis, two engaging and eloquent works of Finzi a three-part meditation on tragedy and innocence, desolation, redemption and the simple wonder of being. A full orchestra and vocal forces of the Pacific Collegium will also be joined by trebles of the Pacific Boychoir Academy. I believe you will find it a suitable reflection on the events of 9-11-01 as well as a worthwhile observance of its five-year anniversary, in which you will be glad to be involved.

Rehearsal are planned for the evenings of Sept. 7 and 8, with performances on Saturday evening, Sept. 9 and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 10. As an additional thank-you for your participation, we will also offer each participant a complimentary subscription to our 2006-07 season, featuring Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers.

Furthermore, if you know of other talented instrumentalists that might also be interested in participating in this event, I would be happy to know of them, or to have them contact me directly. Please feel free to forward this announcement as you deem appropriate, or drop me a note with any suggestions!

In case you are still undecided about whether to sign on, I have shamelessly attached a photo of a NDSDF puppy. (Take a peek!) : )

Thanks for considering being a part of this charitable event. I look forward to hearing from you!

Warmest regards,
Christopher Kula
Artistic Director, Pacific Collegium

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Pacific Collegium Presents

DURUFLÉ: REQUIEM
A memorial benefit performance

In support of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Christopher Kula, conductor
Tonia d’Amelio, soprano
Pacific Collegium
Pacific Boychoir

Program

Finzi, Lo, the full, final sacrifice
Festival anthem for chorus and orchestra

Finzi, Dies natalis
For soprano solo and strings

Duruflé, Requiem
For soloists, chorus and orchestra

September 9, 7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal, Oakland
September 10, 5 p.m., Trinity Episcopal, San Francisco

Duruflé’s orchestration of the Requiem is a marvel of the liturgical repertoire, as well as being a (the?) seminal work of the 20th century Gregorian chant revival. Lo, the full, final sacrifice is viewed by many as Finzi’s masterwork, though it is little widely known and virtually unheard in its lush orchestral version. A series of musical vignettes around the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas: Adoro Te devote and Lauda Sion Salvatorem, set in English by the 17th century poet, Richard Crashaw, it is particularly celebrated for its final Amen in eight-part divisi. Dies natalis, also by Finzi, sets texts of another 17th century English poet, Thomas Traherne. Accompanied by string ensemble, this work explores in solo voice the innocent ecstasy of a newborn child discovering the world and its wonders anew.

I’m playing bass. The program sounds challenging, so if you’re feeling up to it then get in touch.

I’ve been getting more and more back into my music lately. Gone are the days where I could practice eight hours and still have time for rehearsals and performances, but I’m getting in a solid hour or two every day which is good to keep the fingers loose. In the case of the double bass, one really must practice at least a little bit of technique on a regular basis to keep up the minimum amount of left hand strength required.

Petracchi

I have blog’d on this before. Petracchi’s book Simplified Higher Technique is a really sensible approach to double bass technique I think. These exercises are digestible and worthy of daily attention. As Rodney Slatford notes in the introduction, exercises 2, 7, 8, and 17 should be your daily workout.

As if I had that much time. Day job aside, the trick with my practicing double bass is that I live in a condo, and the kids go to sleep early. The only good time to practice is during the day, when I won’t annoy neighbors or wake children. I need a basement…

ISB Convention

Speaking of Petracchi – the man is coming to do a recital and masterclass at the ISB convention in June. The schedule of events looks quite interesting. And I see old friend Paul Bresciani is doing a talk on audition repertoire. Wow – I’d love to sit in the back and heckle Paul during that spiel. I wish I could take a week off and disappear to that event, but there’s just no way. I have in-laws in town and major projects kicking off at work. Perhaps next time…

Guitar

I’m making steady progress on the Bach lute suite in E minor, and my sheet music copy of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata 1st Mvt. finally showed up. I am working on transcribing some of Händel’s piano works into duos for two guitars. More on that process later as I figure out Sibelius.

The guitar practicing, by the way, is my answer to not being able to practice the double bass late at night. It’s quieter, and more portable. Gotta make do…

Pacific Collegium Concert

Here’s another shameless plug for the Pacific Collegium led by good friend Chris Kula, who are having another concert series with a June 3rd date in Oakland and a June 5th show in San Francisco. The program is entitled Couperin le Grand: Grand Motets – Sacred music of the French Baroque. Check them out. I am going to try to sneak out for one of these…

Chamber Music

I am finding damned near impossible to get together any groups to do the Dvorak quintet or the Trout. String players seem to be getting more and more scarce. I gotta figure something out here…

Musicians come together to swing voters from Bush / October concerts to blitz 9 toss-up states

Awesome! Dave Matthews, R.E.M., Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp, and more, all performing on a tour dedicated to spreading the word for the cause that the current administration needs to go.

I especially love how the Bush campaign has tried to brand this widespread movement of popular musicians working together to spread this cause as a “Hollywood hate fest”. Wow – I’d fire that marketing goon that came up with that lousy attempt at bottom-feeding politics. That kind of slander is going to backfire, big time, because it is precisely these musical acts that do represent mainstream America. It’s one thing to dismiss a few small touring bands with low attendance, but here we are talking about major class acts from all over the country here. Springsteen doesn’t strike me as anything Hollywood, nor do any of the rest.