Last night was the first evening rehearsal for the season, and everyone got a copy of the rehearsal schedule for the year. Now, it’s just ink on the paper, but very soon, we’ll find ourselves out night after night, and wondering “Whoever dreamed up this madness, anyway?!” Carl said for sure, he’s not going out with a whimper, so I thought I’d post the schedule of rehearsals, concerts and services.
The date for the first concert, “If music be the food of love,” has been changed to Monday, October 11th at 7:30 pm. This change has been necessitated by our desire to not compete with other scheduled concerts, and it seems like it will be a busy weekend around Honolulu! This is the concert in which Carl and I will celebrate milestone birthdays— his is this Saturday, September 11th (yes, that’s right!) and mine falls in the last week of October. We compromised by setting the October 11th date. This concert will feature Carl and myself as accompanists (he on the piano, and I on the organ), in addition to vocal and instrumental soloists. Carl will also conduct the LCH choir in a couple of numbers and he and I will play a duet on the church’s two organs.
Aside from regular Thursday night choir rehearsals, the week of November 2-7 has been designated Monteverdi Week, when there will be three dress rehearsals with orchestra, Nov. 2, 3 and 4. Performances will be Friday night, Nov. 5th and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 7th. The Friday night performance will be at St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral on School Street where former LCH intern, Bill Kunisch, is now the parish priest. The Sunday afternoon performance will be at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at Queen Emma Square.
Another busy week will be at Christmastime, naturally, when we have two orchestra rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday, December 20th and 21st, followed by Christmas Eve on Dec. 24th, Christmas Day on Dec. 25th, and St. Stephen’s Day on Dec. 26th. That will surely be a marathon, as we perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Michael Praetorius “Missa ganz Teudsch” for multiple choirs, organs, and harpsichords on Christmas Eve, Fauré’s “Messe Basse” on Christmas Day, Lessons and Carols for St. Stephen’s day on December 26th, and Solemn Vespers for St. Stephen’s Day in the evening! And don’t forget the German Vespers which will take place on Sunday, Jan. 2nd this year, with Kuhnau “Magnificat in C” with interpolations and Bach Cantata 28.
After New Year’s, we’ll take a short break, but will present a Bach Vespers on February 20th with Bach Cantata 111 and Pachelbel “Magnificat in E-flat.”
Bach B Minor choral rehearsals will be on Tuesdays beginning March 1st, which will be in addition to our regular Thursday rehearsals. We’ll take a hiatus beginning after the April 1st rehearsal, while we concentrate on Holy Week and Easter, another marathon week, with Easter rehearsal with instruments on Monday, April 18th; Maundy Thursday on April 21st; Good Friday on April 22nd; Easter Vigil on April 23rd, and Easter on April 24th.
We’ll then resume Tuesday night rehearsals for the Bach B-minor Mass on May 3rd, and dress rehearsals with orchestra will be May 9, 10 and 11. Two performances of Bach’s B-minor Mass will be held on Friday May 13th and Saturday May 14th.
The choir will be on vacation from June 19th through July 31st, resuming on August 7th and preparing for Carl’s last Sunday, Haydn’s “Lord Nelson Mass” on August 21st, 2011.
If that’s not enough to keep us out of trouble, I don’t know what will! Hope we have time to eat and sleep between all these rehearsals, concerts and services! And to think we have “regular jobs” in addition to all this? Another year of insanity!