Friday, September 24, 2010

Je Chante, Chante, Chante

I sing.  Have I mentioned that before?  Yes, here - I forgot.  Sorry!

Anyway, I've been singing seriously and semi-professionally since I was 12, when I joined the Cathedral Choir of Men and Girls at Washington National Cathedral.  I continued singing through college, first at St. Michael's in Manhattan and then, during my semester abroad, at the American Cathedral in Paris.  (Worst.  Jew.  Ever.  I know.)  I didn't sing much during my senior year of college or while getting my MA, but I joined two choirs - one professional and one amateur - during my year back in Washington, DC.  I knew that I'd go into withdrawal if I took any more time off of singing, and so I tried to dive straight into the choral scene here in London as soon as I arrived.  That's how I came to sing Spem my first weekend here - yay!

I've had a voice lesson here and there since then, and I sang a pick-up evensong last weekend with a friend, but the big news is that I got into a choir!  My audition was last week - it was pretty rigorous.  Besides having to prepare my own piece and sightread a piece that they provided at the audition, the director emailed me a piece a few days ahead of time to see how quickly I could learn on my own.  I've never done that for an audition before - it was an interesting experience.  I must have done okay because I got an email the next day inviting me to sing in the first concert!  The group is called Chromata, and it's going to have a core of 20 singers, though I'm not sure how many will be singing each concert.  Mark your calendars - 7:30pm on 4 December at St. Mary's Balham.  We'll be doing a selection of Marian texts from the 15th/16th centuries and the 20th/21st centuries.  Should be great fun!  I can't wait to start rehearsing and to meet the other singers.  Yay for choirs!

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