I survived!

The festival is over, it went well, and I'm still standing. Yay!

This week's tasks include getting ready for Pacific Chorale's next concert. The program includes four pieces by Gustav Holst (he of Planets fame) set on English translations of texts from the Rig Veda. The mixed chorus sings "To the Unknown God," then the women alone sing "To Varuna" and "To Agni" (two apparently known gods), and finally the men alone sing "Hymn to Manas" which I haven't heard yet -- we keep rehearsing them separately.

From the Rig Veda, we head straight into the Buddhist tradition by way of turn-of-the-century France. Lili Boulanger, a composer who only lived into her mid-20s (which makes me wonder whether she died in childbirth) composed Vielle Priere Bouddhique, which translates as "an old Buddhist prayer." We're singing that one in French.

After our intermission, we're singing Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, a German Requiem. This was a revolutionary piece, in that it dispensed with the traditional texts of the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead, and replaced them with a libretto in its orginal German, with references to God but no specific Christian doctrine. It's also incredibly gorgeous, soulful music which I think the PC is poised to do justice to, with the able help of the Pacific Symphony. We'll hear our baritone and soprano vocal soloists for the first time in tomorrow's dress rehearsal. I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, Tripp's got hisself a church! Scroll to the May 7 blog post for details. Congratulations, Rev. Tripp! The community of Wilmette will be enriched by your and Trish's joining them.

I got to play my "fairy godmother" act for some playwrights yesterday, but that will have to wait for another post. I took today off, but the agenda is fully occupied by a stack of applications from emerging dramaturgs for spots on a panel at a conference later this summer. I'm on the panel to choose the panel, so today I'm devoting my time to reading their materials and preparing for the group call next week in which we'll make our decisions. Back to reading...