Well it has been a very busy week here in Bordeaux
In terms of weather, we have avoided all extremes, though we have had our usual localised thounderstorms with heavy downpours. There's standing water in the building sites around the flat, but nothing unusual.
In the work there's been various extra things going on, including a meeting of the CNEF33, the new reborn, reformed grouping of evangelical churches in the Gironde. It's great to get folk together and to try and coordinate initiatives and to respect each others situations. It's not without challenge, but we have some good folk involved. We also had a couple of meetings of our steering group and started working on our transition to a different structure.
Adding temporarily to the load is this transition period where I am singing in two choirs. The first is Arianna, which is now entering the final throes of rehearsals for the BIG PROJECT, the Mass for Rossini, composed by a committee of Italian Romantic Composers. It's pretty much as you'd expect and seldom performed because it's a bit of a marathon and needs a beefy orchestra, solid soloists and a big choir. However, it's also good fun to sing because it's totally over the top. The concert is on 13 November and that's the night I regretfully leave the choir. I'll miss the folk and the choir director who's a splendid chap, but I won't miss reserving a car to get me out to the rehearsal rooms.
The other choir is called Arpège (I don't know why choirs can't have easier names) and our project at the moment is an evening of Fauré that we'll give in Arcachon on 20th October. Some of the pieces are just for the ladies and some are pretty straightforward to learn, like some short motets. One I know fairly well, the Cantique de Jean Racine, but I've never sing the Fauré Requiem. I said to the conductor, "So basically I have three weeks to learn this." "That's about it", quoth he. Then he switched me from bass 1 (high bass) to bass 2 (low bass) because of balance and stuff. Sometimes I wander a little, so I think of myself as having to try and avoid being bass 1.5...Still, it's very pretty. I was fretting about one movement in particular, the Offertoire, which isn't an easy read, but we only have two phrases to sing. So I'm fairly confident.
Arpège has breaks, which is wonderful. We get to eat bad things, like Haribo and chocolate bears, and to drink herbal tea. Our musical director is another splendid fellow and he trains us very intently.
In other musical news Pat and I are having a Purcell moment, singing "Sound the Trumpet" together from "Come ye sons of art".
Meanwhile we are very glad that the pavements linking our flats to the tram stop have now been surfected with tarmacadam. I was fed up of putting on clean dark trousers only to get dust all over them as soon as I left the house.
In short it's been a crazy week! No wonder I've been tired all the time!
Next week will be calmer.
In the work there's been various extra things going on, including a meeting of the CNEF33, the new reborn, reformed grouping of evangelical churches in the Gironde. It's great to get folk together and to try and coordinate initiatives and to respect each others situations. It's not without challenge, but we have some good folk involved. We also had a couple of meetings of our steering group and started working on our transition to a different structure.
Adding temporarily to the load is this transition period where I am singing in two choirs. The first is Arianna, which is now entering the final throes of rehearsals for the BIG PROJECT, the Mass for Rossini, composed by a committee of Italian Romantic Composers. It's pretty much as you'd expect and seldom performed because it's a bit of a marathon and needs a beefy orchestra, solid soloists and a big choir. However, it's also good fun to sing because it's totally over the top. The concert is on 13 November and that's the night I regretfully leave the choir. I'll miss the folk and the choir director who's a splendid chap, but I won't miss reserving a car to get me out to the rehearsal rooms.
The other choir is called Arpège (I don't know why choirs can't have easier names) and our project at the moment is an evening of Fauré that we'll give in Arcachon on 20th October. Some of the pieces are just for the ladies and some are pretty straightforward to learn, like some short motets. One I know fairly well, the Cantique de Jean Racine, but I've never sing the Fauré Requiem. I said to the conductor, "So basically I have three weeks to learn this." "That's about it", quoth he. Then he switched me from bass 1 (high bass) to bass 2 (low bass) because of balance and stuff. Sometimes I wander a little, so I think of myself as having to try and avoid being bass 1.5...Still, it's very pretty. I was fretting about one movement in particular, the Offertoire, which isn't an easy read, but we only have two phrases to sing. So I'm fairly confident.
Arpège has breaks, which is wonderful. We get to eat bad things, like Haribo and chocolate bears, and to drink herbal tea. Our musical director is another splendid fellow and he trains us very intently.
In other musical news Pat and I are having a Purcell moment, singing "Sound the Trumpet" together from "Come ye sons of art".
Meanwhile we are very glad that the pavements linking our flats to the tram stop have now been surfected with tarmacadam. I was fed up of putting on clean dark trousers only to get dust all over them as soon as I left the house.
In short it's been a crazy week! No wonder I've been tired all the time!
Next week will be calmer.
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