The new year is here, and I am once again faced with the self-imposed challenge of keeping up with my blog. Let’s see if 2014 will prove a success in that regard.
As I revisit my goal to be more consistent with my writing, I’m faced with the desire to write about and share all the interesting events of last year. Unfortunately, I know myself too well to know that this overwhelming task would prove fruitless. Instead, I’ll list them here:
Note-worthy musical events I missed writing about in 2013:
-David Lang’s battle hymns performances with Volti
-singing profanities in Latin for The Hangover Part III
-recording a cover of Yaz’s “Only You” for a dear friend’s wedding
-dear friends singing my arrangement of Ellington’s “T.G.T.T.” at my own wedding
-Mahler with Michael Tilson Thomas at the Hollywood Bowl
-recording demos with True North vocal jazz ensemble at Spragueland
-Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 50th season opening concert and live recording
-singing in Seth McFarlane’s birthday concert
-my first solo jazz show in 2 years
It was, in fact, a very good year. Let’s hope this year will be just as fun. To start things off, last night was LA Master Chorale’s first rehearsal for our Bach B Minor Mass performances in two weeks. This will be my first time singing the piece, and it’s pretty spectacular. It’s dense and difficult stuff, but with all those changing harmonies and imagining how people in Bach’s time reacted to his music in general… well, it’s quite music-nerd-inspiring.
I’m excited for what 2014 will bring, and I hope to stick to my intentions to write about it. Now would be a good time for me to enjoy a little bit of my Christmas present: The Complete Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941).
