Artistic Council and Education Outreach Reports
| 5._artistic_council___education_outreach_reports.pdf |
Communications – Paul Scholtz
Cantus Activities Week by Week
---
Operations/Production – Zac Colby
Dearest honorable members of our BOD:
Cantus is so proud of our home show run, having achieved much positive press, incredible audience reflections after the concert, and most of all some music making an incredibly high level. I've heard estimated reports that the amount of time we spent putting together the Kahane alone exceeded something like 60 hours. Also the incredible endurance of the singers with long and distant tours, combined with an immediate home concert run that we did not take our usual days off during so that we could have enough time to prepare our Christmas show.
Speaking of Christmas, we are bubbling along on preparing 'Three Tales of Christmas.' Singers are reducing 'A Christmas Carol' and 'Gift of the Magi' and Chris Foss has freshly composed an exciting setting of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for TTBB.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we are already talking about collaborators and strategies for next Fall as well as thinking about ways to nudge along local partners like the Schubert Club and Rob has set up a phone call with us and the SPCO's Liquid Music Series.
It’s all hands on deck as we begin the 360 process and hit the road for tour again! Thank you for your support during this time, as always, and we look forward to sharing our holiday program with all of you.
---
Programming – Chris Foss
After the success of Sweet Honey in the Rock, we are now evaluating the experience. The group is also brainstorming another short list for collaborative concert partners for the future. We hope to make a final selection for next year sometime this November.
This year’s Christmas music has been distributed, and we’ve started rehearsing it. Most of the rehearsal will occur on tour, and we’ll soon finish the process of completing the underscoring moments.
For the Beauty of the Earth has been programmed, and pieces are being ordered. All arrangements have been assigned, complete with due dates.
Our process for choosing our Covers repertoire (aside from the entire Rumours album) will start soon, with the ensemble submitting tracks in Nov, and then listening and voting in Dec. We will have a final list and assign producers/arrangers before Christmas break. We’ll also choose next year’s album for inclusion in next year’s marketing materials.
The ensemble has agreed to add around 25 minutes of orchestral repertoire to accommodate a booking with orchestra in Stevens Point, WI next Christmas season. As this is in addition to our normal length Christmas show, hopefully we will be able to add more orchestral dates with the added workload.
---
Education Outreach – Sam Green
High School Residency
We kicked off our Residencies at Fridley, New Prague, and South with school concerts on October 11 and 17. Fridley posted this article: http://www.fridley.k12.mn.us/page.cfm?p=2305&newsid=682
In evaluations from students at Fridley, the concert was received with overwhelming positive feedback. They especially loved our performance of “True Colors.” Masterclasses at each school begin in November!
National Outreach
Cantus provided two workshops while we were in Alaska. In Anchorage, we provided a masterclass for choir students at Bartlett High School. While their numbers were small, the students were eager to implement our coaching, and made enormous strides in their facial engagement and vocal tone, and had really great questions for us at the end of our time together. Their teacher began our time together with a fun “get to know you” game, which was a first for Cantus Outreach in my time here! :)
Fairbanks’ outreach was odd. We were initially contracted to do 3 hours worth of masterclasses for 3 choirs; two high schools and the community symphony chorus. When we touched down in Fairbanks the day of the outreach, our presenter let us know that there would most likely be only 2 high schools present, and since the outreach was scheduled for a Saturday, there would be reduced attendance from each school. In reality, 3 students from one school showed up with their disengaged director, and one member from the community was also present. Our presenter apologized profusely, and was agreeable in reducing our time commitment from 3 hours to 1 hour. We improvised and did a combination lecture demonstration along with coaching the students through some of their “prepared” repertoire. What could have been a discouraging afternoon netted positive with great questions from the students. All 3 of them were in attendance at the concert the following evening! Our final outreach was a school concert the morning of our departure. While it was well attended and a quality performance, the concert didn’t begin on time, and our presenter technically kept us past our contracted time commitment. Just some things to keep in mind if we consider going back to Fairbanks and doing outreach.
Twin Cities Outreach
In an informal post-concert conversation at Colonial Church in Edina, I was put in contact with the director of the Boychoir at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault. The company is planning on discussing possible collaborations and other outreach at our meeting in November, and perhaps including the other 2 Twin Cities boy choirs (Minnesota Boychoir, Metropolitan Boys Choir) in the mix as well!
Spread the word that Cantus offers a variety of educational outreach opportunities locally and around the country each year. If you know educators/organizations interested in working with us, refer them to education@cantussings.org, or contact Sam at sgreen@cantussings.org.
Cantus Activities Week by Week
- October 1 - Discover of Sight Tour (Anchorage, AK)
- October 8 - DOS Tour (Fiarbanks, AK); DOS home shows; Board retreat
- October 15 - Christmas rehearsal; DOS home shows
- October 22 - DOS Tour (Mansfield, PA; Philadelphia, PA)
---
Operations/Production – Zac Colby
Dearest honorable members of our BOD:
Cantus is so proud of our home show run, having achieved much positive press, incredible audience reflections after the concert, and most of all some music making an incredibly high level. I've heard estimated reports that the amount of time we spent putting together the Kahane alone exceeded something like 60 hours. Also the incredible endurance of the singers with long and distant tours, combined with an immediate home concert run that we did not take our usual days off during so that we could have enough time to prepare our Christmas show.
Speaking of Christmas, we are bubbling along on preparing 'Three Tales of Christmas.' Singers are reducing 'A Christmas Carol' and 'Gift of the Magi' and Chris Foss has freshly composed an exciting setting of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for TTBB.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we are already talking about collaborators and strategies for next Fall as well as thinking about ways to nudge along local partners like the Schubert Club and Rob has set up a phone call with us and the SPCO's Liquid Music Series.
It’s all hands on deck as we begin the 360 process and hit the road for tour again! Thank you for your support during this time, as always, and we look forward to sharing our holiday program with all of you.
---
Programming – Chris Foss
After the success of Sweet Honey in the Rock, we are now evaluating the experience. The group is also brainstorming another short list for collaborative concert partners for the future. We hope to make a final selection for next year sometime this November.
This year’s Christmas music has been distributed, and we’ve started rehearsing it. Most of the rehearsal will occur on tour, and we’ll soon finish the process of completing the underscoring moments.
For the Beauty of the Earth has been programmed, and pieces are being ordered. All arrangements have been assigned, complete with due dates.
Our process for choosing our Covers repertoire (aside from the entire Rumours album) will start soon, with the ensemble submitting tracks in Nov, and then listening and voting in Dec. We will have a final list and assign producers/arrangers before Christmas break. We’ll also choose next year’s album for inclusion in next year’s marketing materials.
The ensemble has agreed to add around 25 minutes of orchestral repertoire to accommodate a booking with orchestra in Stevens Point, WI next Christmas season. As this is in addition to our normal length Christmas show, hopefully we will be able to add more orchestral dates with the added workload.
---
Education Outreach – Sam Green
High School Residency
We kicked off our Residencies at Fridley, New Prague, and South with school concerts on October 11 and 17. Fridley posted this article: http://www.fridley.k12.mn.us/page.cfm?p=2305&newsid=682
In evaluations from students at Fridley, the concert was received with overwhelming positive feedback. They especially loved our performance of “True Colors.” Masterclasses at each school begin in November!
National Outreach
Cantus provided two workshops while we were in Alaska. In Anchorage, we provided a masterclass for choir students at Bartlett High School. While their numbers were small, the students were eager to implement our coaching, and made enormous strides in their facial engagement and vocal tone, and had really great questions for us at the end of our time together. Their teacher began our time together with a fun “get to know you” game, which was a first for Cantus Outreach in my time here! :)
Fairbanks’ outreach was odd. We were initially contracted to do 3 hours worth of masterclasses for 3 choirs; two high schools and the community symphony chorus. When we touched down in Fairbanks the day of the outreach, our presenter let us know that there would most likely be only 2 high schools present, and since the outreach was scheduled for a Saturday, there would be reduced attendance from each school. In reality, 3 students from one school showed up with their disengaged director, and one member from the community was also present. Our presenter apologized profusely, and was agreeable in reducing our time commitment from 3 hours to 1 hour. We improvised and did a combination lecture demonstration along with coaching the students through some of their “prepared” repertoire. What could have been a discouraging afternoon netted positive with great questions from the students. All 3 of them were in attendance at the concert the following evening! Our final outreach was a school concert the morning of our departure. While it was well attended and a quality performance, the concert didn’t begin on time, and our presenter technically kept us past our contracted time commitment. Just some things to keep in mind if we consider going back to Fairbanks and doing outreach.
Twin Cities Outreach
In an informal post-concert conversation at Colonial Church in Edina, I was put in contact with the director of the Boychoir at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault. The company is planning on discussing possible collaborations and other outreach at our meeting in November, and perhaps including the other 2 Twin Cities boy choirs (Minnesota Boychoir, Metropolitan Boys Choir) in the mix as well!
Spread the word that Cantus offers a variety of educational outreach opportunities locally and around the country each year. If you know educators/organizations interested in working with us, refer them to education@cantussings.org, or contact Sam at sgreen@cantussings.org.