History in the making

This is our maiden voyage in the world of blogging, but then again, there's been a lot of firsts for us as an arts organization in recent times. One of the most significant firsts happens in less than a week when we head overseas for our first ever European tour to Austria and the Czech Republic. During our 10-day trip, we will give five concerts of our "American Ambassadors" program, which features some great works that represent our national choral heritage (Bernstein, Copland, Thompson) and folk songs arrangements of Shenandoah and Simple Gifts. No American music program would be complete without spirituals and of course we're taking some Hogan arrangements. The program also features some newer arrangers of spirituals as well like Roger Wesby's arrangements of 'I Wanna Die Easy' and 'Ride on King Jesus' that inflect some more jazz influences into the medium. In general, our programming gravitates toward the contemporary side of the spectrum and we really enjoy working with composers and being a champion of bringing new works to light.

In fact, the whole reason we are going on this tour is a direct result of our work with a local composer. Two years ago, we co-sponsored the world premiere of a work by Randall Svane entitled "Mass," which is an a cappella setting of the ordinary of the Latin Mass.

Well, fast forward:

• There's a big write-up in the Star Ledger giving kudos to composer, choir and, director
• Communications and CDs are sent to directors all over the world
• Kapellmeister of the Salzburg Cathedral takes interest
• Kapellmeister invites composer, choir, and director to present Randall Svane's Mass at the Salzburg Cathedral

• A tour is born!

Everyone involved is understandably excited. On Friday 8/8, 40+ singers, family, and friends depart for our first stop: Vienna. We'll be a-posting as we go.

But first, we have a rehearsal and one more send off event. On Monday, August 4th at 7:30pm, we'll be holding an open rehearsal at St. Mary's Church in West New York, NJ (another first since we've never performed in that part of Hudson County yet). Click here for more information and links to directions

Details can be found on our Web site's home page at www.ScholaOnHudson.org