Please watch through to the end—you’ll be glad you did.

Nabbed from NJ Thompson’s del.icio.us stream and Six Pixels of Separation.

I’ll be joining the Niles Gymanfa Ganu Association on Sunday, October 5th at 3pm for their 82nd Gymanfa Ganu! I have some great pieces to sing (with Sally Sampson, who will graciously be accompanying me) and I’m greatly looking forward to it. These are really warm, welcoming people and singing for them has always proved to be a pleasure.

Geraint Wilkes will attend as conductor and master of ceremonies; if you haven’t seen Geraint before, I suggest keeping your afternoon free—he’s fantastic! They are also having Ed Groves and the Shenango Valley Chorale, which has been wonderful every year I’ve seen them.

The Gymanfa will be held at the McKinley Memorial Auditorium on Main Street in Niles. I’d love for you to join us!

That, right there? That is my sister.

On March 2nd I had the pleasure of singing for the Welsh Society of St. Petersburg and the Suncoast near Tampa, Florida at their annual St. David’s Day Banquet. Everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming to me and I was very touched by the response to the program. I asked Clark to convey to the group my well wishes and gratitude, but I’ll do it myself here as well: Thank you so very much for having me!

If you’re interested in learning more about them, their website is here. They’re a fantastic group of people and singing for them was an absolute joy!

Yesterday I found out that Lorenzo Malfatti passed away in November. It was heartening to discover his Wikipedia entry, and read again about all the things he’d done. I had a few coaching sessions with him while I lived in Youngstown, and he may have done a master class at Dana, though that was a long time ago. He was demanding as an instructor but I always walked out of there feeling great, feeling accomplished—and he had a good soul. He would come up to me after performances sometimes with praise, or advice, or both. Remembering him makes me smile.

It’s sad to know that he’s gone, but he was 84 years old. And wow, looking at Wikipedia… he did so many awesome things. He was a very, very cool dude, and I am so proud to have crossed paths with him.

My first Christmas in this apartment was spend wading through wrapping paper, relaxing with friends, engaging in Warcraft-related exploits, and, during the early afternoon, eating meat pies at the Alamo Drafthouse during a much-anticipated film adaptation of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Having procured the soundtrack and listened once or twice to jog my memory, I’m a teeny bit embarrassed to admit that it comes off like karaoke—but the movie, I am being completely honest, was awesome. I’d heard that Sondheim was involved in the production at least in terms of cutting down the score to movie-length, and I’m sure that didn’t hurt! I miss the nuance of trained voices, but the movie was really well-done. Sure, I may have patched in my memory of emotional depth from the original cast recording, but I think I would have noticed if the movie was crap. The movie wasn’t crap. ;}

I’ve noticed sometimes that the instrumentation changes for the movie version (for instance, Rent) but that didn’t seem to be the case here. Everything sounded just the way I remembered it, despite cuts, despite (dramatic) vocal differences. Also, Tim Burton obviously knows what he’s doing. The precisely-gauged bloodletting, I feel, was perfect. (Although to be fair, if you haven’t seen the show, or aren’t familiar with it, you won’t be expecting so much blood, stylized or not! So if that’s the case, uh, brace yourselves.)

Marty and I both complained mildly about certain sung lines being turned into spoken ones. I don’t know if that is a result of the less versatile voices, or maybe a condescension to mainstream audiences. I’m only guessing, but those are the only reasons I can think of to turn such delicious Sondheim phrasing into speech. It wasn’t that bad, but we sure did miss some of them. “I’ll come again when you have judge on the menu!” just doesn’t sound right spoken. Bleh!

I do wonder if mainstream audiences are expected to “get” musical nuance. If they were, would they be listening to more traditional opera? Maybe. (Maybe not.)

All this is to say nothing of the delectable Burton visuals, carefully-detailed Goth styling, and Johnny Depp’s adorably emo interpretation. It really was an awesome film. It won’t compare to the George Hearn DVD on its way to me, but it’s not supposed to—it’s a different animal. So I’m happy to have them both, gory as they are. ;}

Yesterday I posted at Virtual Magpie about the Cherryfix design we finished last week (it’s awesome, take a look). But then Em uploaded a free track for purposes of sharing (Merry Christmas, she said) so it seems appropriate to post that here. ;}

Cherryfix – Better Off Alone (mp3)

It’s full quality and one of the rockin’est songs on the album, so give it a listen (and link your friends). Whee!

(For reference: Official Cherryfix Site / Cherryfix @ MySpace / Emii’s Blog.)

I’ve changed my Flickr strategy a bit, and gathered all of my meganmezzo-related photographs into one big collection. Some of them, like this one, certainly bear re-posting. There’s more news coming soon, but in the meantime, I thought you’d enjoy this!

I started posting about Michael’s visit a few weeks ago. A bit of background is here.

It’s a Thursday night—November 8th.

Marty and I are sitting in the First Presbyterian Church, because Michael found us two tickets to tonight’s performance—Michael Match, whose first soprano line, if I recall correctly, was with Dr. Buch’s Early Music Ensemble. How long ago was that?

Though I saw Chanticleer years ago, the memory isn’t comparable to this. Tonight when they begin, you could hear a pin drop in the audience—and no one is going to be so thoughtless, because we’re all in thrall. Chanticleer doesn’t just sing—it pulses. The twelve of them are this incredible living organism. No conductor, no instruments. They are a single instrument, tuxes and tails and white bow ties. The whole result is like one voice, in a way I can’t possibly describe in text, or even by handing you a recording. You had to be there for this one.

Each member seems charismatic and engaging; between sets one singer and then another introduces the program notes, making us smile and fall in love with them, one at a time. And then they all start to sing again, changing configuration between pieces like a flower, or an alien spaceship, and we realize that these songs are perfect. This is the way these songs are meant to sound.

I want to know what each of them is like at home, in San Franscisco. The tall one with the subtle mohawk, the older one with the awesome moustache—twisted ends! I wonder about all of them and soak up the sound, try to see into their souls. This is deceptively difficult (I’d guess) even while they’re singing, something that is so bearing and opening. In our conversations, Michael playfully referred to the others as his “co-workers”, and I try to see them that way. Co-workers. Real, individual people. Not just flat images on a screen, but people with lives that they’re living.

It’s a little bit hard, because what they do is so magical. Or maybe that makes it easier?

“Et pro nobis Christum,” they are singing. The end is Michael’s: a savory “exora,” intertwining harmonies, end of piece. I have seen various sources call Chanticleer an orchestra of voices. They’re not screwing around.

This is their 30th season, and Michael’s first season singing with them. Some of them have been with the group for many years; some for just a few. But hearing Michael Match in this context thrills me to the core—seeing Chanticleer without the familiar, personal flavor of friendship would be missing something amazing and still be breathtaking, but with that thing, with that person for whom I have such an affection… geeze. It’s unbelievable.

Some of you already know how difficult it’s been for me to write this entry, and it’s certainly taken me long enough. But none of the words I type seem to convey the breadth of feeling there is in something like this, at least for me. And as you might have guessed, there’s more on the way. But for now—best to get started, yes?

This is great! It’s a Flash map that shows you the most popular artists and albums across the world (or at least most of it). I’m pretty curious about its accuracy, especially in light of the way labels and radio conglomerates tend to skew the vote, but it’s certainly thought-provoking.

It’s also really fun to play with. ;}

Link (via).