Yesterday evening we went to see Bay Choral Guild’s latest offering, this time a program of American works from the days of the Revolution through the 20th Century. A very enjoyable program. Composition is not only of concern to the … Continue reading
Mass that has defined Christian liturgy since the early Church represents what, on the surface seems like one of the great challenges in the musical arts: given a set text, one that the listeners historically knew by heart and had heard literally thousands of times, find a way to make it new and interesting.
Continue readingOne of my favorite performing groups, the Bay Choral Guild, began a three-night series of concerts featuring choral music written by living, West coast composers. This unusual format produces what I think is one of the richest and most deeply-textured performances by BCG in recent memory.
Continue readingIf you have not taken the opportunity to hear Bay Choral Guild, this program is one you should not miss. Not only is the program filled with excellent music, I have a sense that this group has really moves to a new level in their performances.
Continue readingChange, especially the kind that moves a civilization forward, requires easy access to knowledge and information. The Founding Fathers understood this. As exponents of the Enlightenment, they saw the availability of knowledge and information as a critical element of a thriving and prospering nation.
Continue readingIt’s commonly known that in the pre-print age people relied on their memories to store information, but it is not commonly realized just what this entails. When we think of memorizing something, we think in terms of learning something by rote, so that we could recite it if called upon to do so.
The medieval memory went far beyond that. The art of memory was not merely about holding information, but about processing it.
Continue readingOne of the few things everyone–and I do mean everyone–should do before they die is go to a stage production of a major opera by a world-class opera company. The San Francisco opera certainly qualifies for the latter, and Richard … Continue reading
The Redwood Symphony and Conductor/Director Eric Kujawsky are to be congratulated for taking on such a challenging and remarkable work and delivering a polished, moving performance.
Continue readingNo, the latest offering by Bay Choral Guild was not program of favorites from Woodstock. The title of last Friday’s concert, “Peace and Love” alludes to the works that made up the program. The concert we attended was the first … Continue reading
Last Saturday my spouse and I had the pleasure of listening to another excellent concert by the Bay Choral Guild at the Campbell United Methodist Church. The name of the program was “A World of Song”, a title which does … Continue reading