In Part 1 you discovered just how skilled at foreign languages singers need to become. It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of time to pronounce a foreign language accurately or to learn to speak it. One element is vitally important:

the meaning.

The meaning of the words and their expression is of utmost importantce in any performance, whether it's a concert with thousands in the audience or a nighttime lullaby for one little child.

This is a vastly different performance philosophy than the…

Singers really only need to speak one language, however the reality is that they need to be able to pronounce at least a half-dozen and should learn to speak as many as possible. Even if it's just your basic greetings and vocabulary.

This is not to say, however, that singers should stress themselves out about learning multiple foreign languages. Too many singers stress themselves out about their language skills being not "good enough," as it's easy to forget how much time and practice it take…

Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht.

Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata 106 Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God's time is the very best time)

Heinrich Schütz Warum toben die Heiden (Why do the Heathen rage together?)

Sunday, November 10th, 2013

4:30 pm | free will offering

612-721-6611

The Elm Ensemble

NASA has released Hubble telescope pictures and they are fascinating. Some, like the horsehead nebulae, are descriptive, some are fascinating, some just plain odd. One of them is particularly striking, and perhaps this is what music actually looks like:

Photo by NASA, STScl, Public Domain.

In addition to the fantastic, professional organizations that we have here in the Twin Cities (and around the country!), there are loads of interesting free and low-cost concerts you may be missing out on. The programming is different, the presentation can be more relaxed. Add variety and some new music genres to your concert season.

Colleges and universities everywhere have music departments brimming with students, majors and non-majors alike, who are studying with the best teachers in the US. …

For classical music newbies and those who've been put off of classical music by classical music snobs, the convention of clapping at a classical music concert is a bit of a mystery. However it's easier than you think! Here are a few rules of thumb for when to clap. And when not to clap.

1. When it's a welcome:  clap when the featured musicians come on stage. (If you're not sure who they are, don't clap.)

If you're at an orchestra concert, the orchestra is usually already on stage when the conce…

Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.

Admission is Free

Free-will donation

Mozart Sancta Maria, mater dei, K. 273

Mozart Requiem

Linh Kauffman, soprano

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote several of the greatest pieces in Oratorio literature, one of them being the Matthaeus-Passion, the St. Matthew Passion. And from this, the wonderful aria "Mache dich mein Herze rein," in English "Make in me a clean heart."

You don't need to speak German to understand this one.

[embed=videolink]{"video":"http://youtu.be/NoBcr-bAg2c","width":"800","height":"450"}[/embed]

Handel's Messiah

with the St. Catherine Choral Society

3 p.m.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Premiere: Tribute, a cantata honoring the life of Russell B. Connors (New work by Albert Biales, text by Russ Connors)
Patricia C. Connors, conductor

Kristie Tigges, soprano

Nicole Warner, mezzo-soprano

Rick Penning, tenor

Mike Schmidt, bass

$10 / $5 / Free with SCU ID

Georges de La Tour: Adoration of the shepherds (1644) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Johann Sebastian Bach Christmas Oratorio, Parts I - III

Carrie Henneman-Shaw, soprano

Nicole Warner, alto

Roy Heilman, tenor

Jonathan ten Brink, bass

Paul Boehnke, Conductor

Bach Society of Minnesota

Saturday and Sunday, December 7th & 8th, 2013

More details to follow.

This was the first oratorio in which I ever sang solo professionally after Grad School and it was my European Debut concert…