Thursday, November 12, 2009
New video, new CD, new concert
A recording of this performance, along with many other wonderful pieces, will be available on our newest CD release, Alleluia.
This CD of mostly pre-released songs suitable for Sunday use will be available soon!
Also, be sure to get your tickets for the 2009 School of Music Scholarship Concert! This concert, on November 20 and 21, will feature the combined choirs and Philharmonic orchestra on the Poulenc "Gloria," Rutter "Gloria," and the Borodin "Polovtsian Dances." Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general admission. The concert starts at 7:30. Don't miss it!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Double, Double Toil and Trouble!
Tickets are $3 for students, $7 for general, and available from any choir member or at the door. If you buy tickets at the door, be aware that you will be charged an extra service fee.
For more information, visit our homepage!
See you there!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
We're going to Israel!
This comes as a result of being invited to headline at the Abu Gosh festival. You can read more about it here. This is one of the most important festivals in the country, and it is quite an honor for us to be invited!
While we are there, we will also be hosted by the Efroni Choir, directed by Maya Shavit, and the Moran Choir, directed by Naomi Faran.
This tour is being partially funded by generous donors to the University of Utah and the choir, but they can't do it alone and neither can the choir members! If you would like to help send us to Israel, visit this page to find out how to make a donation to the choir. Everything helps and is greatly appreciated!
We are very excited to go! Thank you for your support in the past and your continued support now. We will keep you updated as things continue to develop.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Choral Showcase videos and Facebook fan page
Blythe Enke (Soprano II): “There is no way to truly describe the feeling of performing with the Singers until you're right there, actually doing it... I wasn't prepared for the way I would feel when we walked onto the stage, I was so overcome with emotion that I felt like I wanted to laugh, cry, and be lifted up into the sky all at once... hallelujah!"
Anna Lucero (Alto II): "The music was absolutely phenomenal-I was going to die it was so beautiful!"
Paul Hill (Bass II): "I was really pleased with our performance and I received lots of positive feedback about it. I was told by one person that it was nice for him to hear a concert where everyone was in tune. My mom had tears in her eyes as we finished the Circle of Life and I knew we'd done something special.”
Were you there? Tell us what you thought! Leave a comment.
Miss the concert? Join the University of Utah Singers Facebook fan page to not only keep up on all the latest news and announcements regarding the choir, but also to see videos from this and other performances! Currently, our featured video is Eric Whitacre's "Hope, Faith, Life, Love." More videos can also be viewed on our YouTube page.
Join today!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Choral Showcase coming soon!
The concert features the Singers, the A Cappella Choir, and the Women's Choir and comes after all the choirs only being together for about 3 1/2 weeks. It's a crazy, adrenaline-filled few weeks, and the Showcase is the result! It's always a fun concert and gives a great preview of what wonderful things are going to come during the year.
It's Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 PM at Libby Gardner Concert Hall.
Tickets are $3 for students and $7 for general admission. They are available from any choir member, from the Kingsbury Hall box office, or from the box office at Libby Gardner Concert Hall the night of the concert.
Don't miss it!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tour Videos
All of the videos from the competition laps of the Marktoberdorf competition are now available on our youtube channel. Videos from the rest of the festival, including the final concert and the prizewinners concert, are forthcoming.
In the meantime, we're also working on adding videos from our concerts throughout the tour. The first of these is Trond Kverno's "Ave Maris Stella" from our concert in the Knights' Hall of Brezice Castle, Slovenia. More videos like this will be coming soon! Keep watching!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Singers over the summer
New CD
Did you know we released a new CD? The Cloths of Heaven was released at our Bon Voyage concert the night before we left on tour.
Featuring repertoire from the Singers' 2007-2008 season, this is our ninth release. The CD includes Anton Bruckner's classic motet "Os justi meditabitur sapientiam," Eric Whitacre's beautiful "Five Hebrew Love Songs," and the world premiere of William Hawley's "The Cloths of Heaven," which was commissioned by the choir. Choral music fans will also find spirituals, gospel music, and sacred and secular music from all over the world.
You can buy it here. Don't worry: the order form will be updated soon! Sound samples will also be available soon here.
Competition Videos
Wish you could've heard us at competition? Now you can! Videos from our performances at Martkoberdorf are being uploaded onto our Youtube channel. There are currently six videos available with more to come!
iTunes
Don't forget that all of our live performances are available for free download on iTunes. You can also purchase our CDs from iTunes. Recordings from many of our tour performances and the competition are forthcoming---keep watching!
And of course, don't forget to keep up with us on facebook!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tour: Results!
WE WON!!!
Yes! That's right! The University of Utah Singers took first prize at the 11th International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf! We couldn't possibly be more excited about it!
Here's a rundown of everything we won:
1st Prize in the Mixed Choir Category
3rd Prize in the Youth Choir Category
Special Prize for the best interpretation of a work premiered at the competition (Nancy Wertsch's "Hail Holy Light")
The anticipation yesterday was about killing us. We sat in the hall and held hands and clapped and cried and had so much nervous energy that I think we almost exploded. The whole hall was electric with it, with hundreds of singers awaiting the results of a whole lot of hard work.
When they called our name, we all leaped to our feet, jumped up and down, screamed, cried, hugged, clapped. It was an incredible feeling, and something we will never forget!
I know I speak for the whole choir when I say thank you to Dr. Allred, who made the whole thing possible. We would not be the choir we are without him. Thank you for teaching us the technical skills and drawing out the emotion. You make it possible for us to sing with our hearts. With you, we don't just sing, we make music. Thank you!
And personally, I want to thank the entire choir for being so wonderful during the year and especially this tour. It was fantastic!
And we won! WE WON!!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tour: Marktoberdorf
We arrived on Friday and enjoyed a concert and some opening ceremonies. We got to meet all the other choirs. In total, there are 13 choirs competing: five in the youth choir category and eight in the mixed adult choir category. The Singers are entered in both categories, so some of us had to compete four times! There are choirs from all over. We’re the only group from the United States, but there are choirs from Argentina, Ireland, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and possibly some place I’m forgetting.
It’s been very fun to hear all of these groups perform! They represent some of the best in the world and it’s an honor to be numbered among them.
Saturday was the first round. This round had to be between 20 and 25 minutes, and had to follow certain rules. For example, there was a compulsory piece that every choir had to perform, and every piece had to be sung acappella. It was interesting to hear all the different interpretations of the same music. The Singers’ mixed choir was the third to perform on Saturday morning. We all felt really good about how we performed. We sang a great mix of pieces, including Romantic era music, spirituals, and “Hail Holy Light,” our commissioned piece, and the audience seemed to really love it all. We sang with a lot of spirit, energy, and emotion, and were able to connect with each other and the listeners. Hopefully we connected with the jury, too!
Our youth choir performed first in the afternoon section, and they did a great job too. We have all learned so much wonderful music this year, and it is a remarkable thing to be able to get on that competition stage and just send it right out to everyone in the hall!
Today was round two, which is the free program. This program can only be 10 minutes long, and there are no rules about accompaniment and no compulsory pieces. The youth choir performed in the morning as the last in their category, and did a fantastic job! The mixed choir also got to go last and ended the entire competition. What an amazing opportunity!
We won’t get the results until Tuesday, but we all feel really good about what we did. And the truth is that no matter what the results are, we know we did our best, and we gave some incredible performances. We have come together in such a wonderful way, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we have accomplished. I think we all feel the same.
Of course, we DO want to win . . . we’ll see what happens!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tour: Austria and Munich
After Gorizia came Koper, a beautiful town on the Adriatic Sea. Everyone enjoyed walking along the coast and doing a little swimming during the day. That evening, we sang in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Special thanks to the University of Primorska Academic Choir who hosted us for this concert!
The next day, we headed toward Ljubljana but first stopped in the Postojna caves. I wish I had a picture to show you from these caves; they are incredibly vast and amazing. The guide told us they were at least three million years old! But they said no photos, unfortunately. At the end, there is a very large cave that they call a concert hall and we got to sing a couple of songs there. Other tour groups were so interested in us they asked us when and where our next concert was!
For those that were staying in the area, they were in luck, because our next concert was in St. Jacob's Church in Ljubljana. We enjoyed getting to meet with and hear Urska Fabijan's Mysterium choir. It was also fun to sing with them!
The concert with Mysterium ended our time in Ljubljana, and we were sad to go. As I mentioned before, we really enjoyed ourselves there! Thanks again to everyone for the hospitality.
After Slovenia, we headed to Austria where we stayed in Salzburg for a couple of days. Of course, we made sure to see all the Sound of Music sights.
We also got to sing in the Salzburg Cathedral.
After enjoying some time in Salzburg on our own, we headed to nearby Bergheim to sing for Mass in the Pfarrkirche, and then perform a joint concert with the Volklslied Choir in the Pfarrkirche. It was fun to trade songs back and forth with the choir, and then to sing with them at the end.
Far too soon, we boarded the bus and left Austria, and arrived here in Munich on Thursday morning. Our purpose here is to record in the Himmelfahrtskirche. Those of you familiar with our repertoire and/or recording history may know that our CD A Jubilant Song was recorded in this same church several years ago. It's fun to be back!
We'll record a little bit more tomorrow morning and then we're off to Marktoberdorf! The festival starts on Friday with a big opening concert gala, and the competition starts on Saturday. We'll compete on both Saturday and Sunday. If there's internet access, I'll be sure to keep you updated!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tour: Good job, Slovenia!
Thank you very much to our hosting choirs! It was a pleasure meeting you and working with you. Good luck to all of you in the future!
Today we head off to Salzburg, where we will all endlessly sing from The Sound of Music and all of the operas by Mozart. And probably a few symphonies too. We aren't picky.
More pictures hopefully to come in the last leg of our tour. Marktoberdorf is just a few short days away...wish us luck!
Thanks again, Slovenia! We love you.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tour: Slovenia
Anyway, the last couple of days we've spent very close to the Slovenian border. On Saturday, we were in Gorizia, which is a city that spans both Slovenia and Italy. We spent the day on the Slovenian side, then gave a concert on the Italian side in the Kulturni Center.
The concert was great! When we sang our Slovenian folk songs, the audience went absolutely wild. One choir member commented that it was like we had just finished a rock concert. They leaped to their feet and cheered. All of us were surprised and extremely gratified by the reaction. I have never experienced anything quite like it!
Also, we loved Gorizia because they fed us really well. Ice water! Real honest to goodness ice water! Nearly unheard of! Air conditioning and ice water: things you should not ever take for granted.
After Gorizia, we traveled to Koper, which is a city on the coast of Slovenia by the Adriatic Sea. (Right across the bay is Venice, if that helps you find it on a map.) We sang in the beautiful Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Again, the audience was just wonderful. Every time we sing, I am moved by their passion and interest in what we are doing. When you tour, you run the risk of getting tired of singing the same pieces time after time, even when you have a lot of repertoire to choose from. We all work very hard not to go on autopilot when we sing, but I think the audiences really do a lot to make each performance unique and fresh. I think I can speak for the whole choir when I say we really love our audiences!
Next up is Ljubljana, and then we say goodbye to Slovenia and head to Austria and Germany. Bavaria, here we come!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tour: National Theatres and Knight's Halls
We did spend a lot of time in rehearsal for the few days we stayed, but we were also privileged to meet with some government representatives while we were there. They told us some of the history of the town and made us feel quite welcome. They told us that Varazdin has a rich history of choral singing, and so everyone was very excited for our concert that night. The Croatian people are very friendly and warm! We all managed to squish into the reception room to meet with the representatives, and we even sang for them while we were there.
On Thursday, we performed in the concert hall of the Croatian National Theatre. The building was built in the late 19th century. It was really hot. I mean, really hot. But the audience was so receptive that the energy was just fantastic. It was a great concert despite the heat.
Today, we bid farewell to Croatia and came to Slovenia. We are staying for one night in the city of Brezice, where we performed tonight in the Knight's Hall of Brezice Castle. This hall is truly amazing. It took our breath away when we walked in. This picture, unfortunately, does not do it justice as the light in the evening was bad. But it is really beautiful with an amazing acoustic.
The concert tonight was really incredible. We got to sing Slovenian folk songs to Slovenians in their native tongue! I'm not sure how good our pronunciation was, but it was really fun to be able to sing to them in their own language, and they seemed to really enjoy it. I think we all felt really good about our performance tonight. Things just seem to be getting better and better!
Tomorrow we head to Italy to perform in Gorizia, and then we'll be back in Slovenia on Sunday. I'll do my best to update as much as possible!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tour: Croatia
Check for more detailed updates soon!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tour: The Last Days of Hungary
On Sunday morning, we sang mass in a church in downtown Budapest and made the priest cry (twice!). I can't get over how wonderful it is to share our music with all these people! After mass, we toured the city a little bit. Aside from all the mosquitos, everyone is really enjoying themselves.
We've been performing pretty much every day in all sorts of different venues, including a few impromptu numbers here and there, like when we sang with our gypsy band at dinner the other night. We're definitely being kept on our toes and I don't think we've ever sounded better as a group. We're all coming together in a way that is very special and unique to tour.
Today, Monday, we went to a little town called Esztergom to perform in a church there. On the way there, we stopped in the Esztergom cathedral, which is the third largest cathedral in Europe, falling behind only St. Paul's in London (2), and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (1). We were ecstatic when our tour guide said we could sing there. Seven second reverb is pretty incredible.
Tomorrow we leave Hungary for Croatia and start some intensive rehearsal to really polish and get us ready for the Marktoberdorf competition. We've come a long way and we've got a lot further to go, and I'm excited for everything that waits ahead for us! Much more fun is coming!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Tour: Hungary
At the Choral Castle, there are performance halls, one of which we used last night. We drew a crowd to our concert and encored about a million times. We actually left the building and got called back in to encore again. It was a really wonderful experience, even if we were all exhausted after arriving at the Castle 2 hours behind schedule, lugging all our luggage up many, many flights of stairs, and changing clothes as fast as humanly possible. The audiences here are so incredibly appreciative! It is a joy to sing for them.
The Castle also has many rehearsal halls, one of which we utilized this morning. For part of our rehearsal, we got to work with Gyorgy Orban. We have learned two of his pieces this year and he workshopped with us a little bit. It was really fun and he is a very nice person!
We went to a nearby town called Szentendre for lunch and a small shopping excursion. The beautiful blue Danube runs right through this town. And of course they sell gelato. What could be more important? Not much.
We also went into Budapest itself for just a short time today. The view of the city from the citadel is breathtaking. We could all hardly believe what we were seeing. What an opportunity!
Finally, tonight we performed in the town of Telki to a standing-room-only crowd. People were jammed in every spare spot and even flooded out the door. We sang our hearts out to a wonderful crowd and had a great time. Telki is having their annual Spring Festival, and we got to go enjoy some local music and food afterwards. We work very hard, but we also play hard!
Hungary is great! The food is wonderful, the audiences are fantastic, the weather is beautiful, and the people are friendly. It's treating us well, and I think we're giving back in kind.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tour: Goodbye, Prague!
We took a walking tour through the city and got acquainted with some of the cultural history of the area. Part of the tour included the large cathedral in the center of town. It is so beautiful inside! We all wanted to sing there, but unfortunately it wasn't on our list of concert stops. Next time!
The walking tour included the famous Charles Bridge, which many of us returned to the next day on our own free time. The bridge is crowded with merchants and tourists and locals just going from one side of the Moldau River to the other. Yes, that's the Moldau, or the Vltava, as it is called here. The composer Smetana lived in Prague and wrote a whole piece about the country. The Moldau is the central movement of the work.
Our first concert of the tour was in a local church. The audience was very appreciative and we had a great time. It was a wonderful way to start the concert portion of our tour!
Today, Thursday, we drove to a nearby town called Nymburk to sing in a church there. The acoustics were amazing. We shared the concert with a local Czech choir and really enjoyed each other. There's nothing quite like singing liturgical music in a cathedral that's built for it.
We had a small reception with some representatives from the Ministry of Culture in Nymburk. Dr. Allred got the key to the city! Okay, not really, but he did get some very thoughtful and beautiful gifts. We felt very welcome in the area and were happy to be there.
Tonight is our last night in Prague, and tomorrow we move on to Hungary. We've enjoyed it here, and we look forward to what's ahead!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tour: The Beginning
On Monday, May 11, we all arrived at the airport and traveled to Atlanta and then to Prague. Everyone was very excited to go!
When we arrived in the city on Tuesday, we took a walking tour and had a whirlwind history lesson. I hate to admit it but I think I only heard about 10% of what our tour guide said. Jet lag is brutal!
Today we all went our separate ways and saw the sights---the Opera House, the Charles Bridge, the Jewish Quarter, Old Town...there's so much to take in! Tonight we'll sing our first concert on our tour. The first of many!
More pictures to come! The internet in our hotel is a little shady and it's making it difficult to post. There will be more, though, so keep checking back!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Water Passion Reviews
"I can't quite believe what I heard tonight. It was so touching and beautiful. Thank you for giving this wonderful gift of a concert to us." --Karen Taylor, audience member
"Brady Allred presented the work with the University of Utah Singers and A Cappella Choir on Friday night in the Libby Gardner Concert Hall. To say that the work was fascinating merely scratches the surface. . . . There is no preparation in Western culture for the moving experience that awaits the listener during the chilling betrayal scene or the serenity of the concluding moments. At first uncomfortable, the music eventually permeates the being and leads to an ultimately moving experience." --The Salt Lake Tribune
"And hypnotic is exactly what "Water Passion" is. Tan uses quite simple means to capture the emotional impact the story of Christ's crucifixion has. A violin, cello, synthesizer and three sets of percussion join a large chorus in bringing this story to life. Of course, the work needs the right conductor to invigorate the music and capture its soul. And Allred did just that. With his perceptive direction he made Tan's 'Water Passion' speak to the audience. The listener felt the tenderness of Jesus, the anger of the mob and the horror of Christ's death on the cross. Allred's interpretative talents were put to the test with this work, and he passed with flying colors." --Deseret News
"My wife and I attended the performance of this work last week and wanted to thank you so much for bringing it to our community. We were both overwhelmed with it. I have seen many many concerts, by some of the world's finest and most famous musicians; however, the Water Passion concert you orchestrated was the best musical performance I've ever witnessed. Thank you and all the performers for their hard work and discipline, and thank you for bringing such a fascinating work to SLC. With the exception of Mahler's 2nd, I don't think I've heard a more compelling work on the life of Christ. But as great as the music is, it wouldn't have been half as interesting without the passion, enthusiasm and excellence you paired with it. Thank you once again and keep up the good work, what you do is a treasure to our city." --Eric Wadley, audience member
What did you think? Tell us! Leave a comment.