A Choral Director's Death Glare

Seriously, THIS is THE BEST meme I've seen to capture the sentiment all of us choral directors feel when you've been over a piece and maybe even the cutoffs (maybe even a few times)  and someone sings through a cutoff. LOOK UP! HAHA! I found this on FB and shared it and it was confirmed by a startlingly large, yet unsurprising number of my singers that this is indeed my look when this happens!
    

Choir of St. Paul's Episcopal, New Orleans Sings for St. Bernard Project Event: Nun's Build

My wonderful, sweet choir at St. Paul's Episcopal did SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB last night singing at a St. Bernard Project community event held at the Knights of Columbus Hall. The event was a thank you dinner for Nun's Build for their week of disaster recovery construction work in New Orleans. Nuns Build is comprised of dedicated sisters and non-Nun friends from across the US. I'm so proud of this wonderful, dedicated, and super-talented choir! GREAT WORK, ALL! Thanks to a former choir member, working for the St. Bernard Project, for inviting us!

We sang: I'm Gonna Rise by Paul Marsena, Away in a Manger (both the William Kirkpatrick and Norman traditional tunes), and Andrae Crouch's Soon and Very Soon - all some of our "lighter" repertoire :-)

Louisiana ACDA Fall Vocal Conference 2015

I'm having that weird, yet awesome butterfly-filled feeling of the calm (sort of....ok not really calm, LOL) before a joyful & exciting storm of choral goodness! Our state ACDA convention begins tomorrow! Everyone has worked so hard to prepare and there will be TONS of energized students in the honor choirs who will have an absolute blast working with our marvelous clinicians! I'm really looking forward to a fantastic time for everybody and I am so proud of what the students, teachers, chairs, coordinators, and executive board are all doing in our state! LET'S DO THIS!!!!! ‪#‎ACDA‬‪#‎LAACDA‬ ‪#‎NOLA‬ ‪#‎Louisiana‬ ‪#‎Music‬ ‪#‎Choirs‬

http://laacda.info/

OUR FABULOUS CLINICIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Verdi Requiem!

Behind the scenes in rehearsal with the LPO, NOVA Chorale, The Jefferson Chorale, and the Newman School Choir. Wow, it's going to be a FABULOUS concert! 

The concerts are:

1. Friday at 7:30 PM in Covington, LA at First Baptist Church

2. Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts in New Orleans, LA

This requiem is my favorite piece of music, EVER. I first sang it on Thursday, April 22,1989, at 8:00 PM, with the Charleston Symphony Singers Guild and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (conductor: David Stahl). I was eighteen years old. The Singers Guild is now called the CSO Chorus. When I was in it, it was directed by Ms. Emily Remington, one of my first mentors and truly amazing woman. Through the years, both she and David Stahl were major influences  and role models for me. This first and formative experience singing the requiem was sooooooooo magnificent! I was simply transfixed. It's interesting for me to remember that the work is actually the reason why I went into music. Since 1989, I've had the great fortune to sing it with several different orchestras and choirs. I do believe this is my eighth or ninth time singing it. Now THAT is lucky! :-) Robert Shaw, Larry Wyatt, Richard Conant, Robert Lyall, and Yoel Levi were a few of the conductors. I also use this piece when I teach choral literature and occasionally a movement or two when teaching conducting. 

By the way....I made sure to wait until after the break and when Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto was working on a passage with orchestra only before I snapped these photos!