Updates from the
road; the story of a traveling singer.
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Wondering where the rest is?
Blog Archives
2006
2007
April 2, 2008 YouTube channel You can find me on YouTube on
my own channel. Check it out,
things are being added as I can come up with them. Also check
out Cantus' work, you can find it on my page under favorites.
March 8, 2008 Recording All is Calm
All is Calm was a huge success
this season. (See blog archive
here.) Having been
broadcast on MPR to rave reviews,
Cantus,
Theater Latte Da and
MPR have teamed up to get a
recording down faster than any of us could have on our own!
The actors have recorded their portions, Cantus has finished
recording our portions, and now it is time to make the disk.
The show has so much dialogue over underscoring from Cantus or pasts
that rapidly move among the actors and the singers both spoken and
sung as well as having to pay people to sit around as other parts
are being recorded (Cantus does many takes before we are happy!)
made this a particularly difficult session. I think the final
product will be very nice; the show is fantastic and both the actors
and Cantus performed very well for the mics. Check out the short video
above put together from takes of the title track All is
Calm (an arrangement of Silent Night in 3 of the
languages you would have heard in the trenchesby Cantus
Artistic Director Erick Lichte)...keep your ears open for the
awesome low note at the end!
March 5, 2008 Recording for Documentary Today
was really a fun new experience! Public Television is doing a
documentary on the choral scene in the twin cities and naturally
Cantus was involved. After a short interview about our trip to
Africa and other recent endeavors, we got to the singing.
Standard Cantus rep, but this time with a few cameras on us and a
person riding around on their cool little cart that seemed to have
40 joints so it could easily and smoothly move in any direction and
any angle at any time...ok, you get the idea. I have done
other on camera work, but this was the first time I saw the process
from set up to break down. More news on the program when I
know more.
February 26, 2008 Time to go Many know already, but it is official,
after four years, this will be my last. There is still plenty
of work ahead before I am done this summer but following this
spectacular season, it is time for something new. Like all
good things, they come to an end, and for me that time is this
season. There is plenty in the works for next season that
makes it tempting to stay (besides the salary and benefits!) but to
paraphrase Al, a former Cantus tenor, "There is always going to be
exciting stuff, if you need to go, you need to just go and not think
twice." (Side note, congratulations to him, he is a new
daddy!) Time to get back to
enjoying the rest of this season and get some plans in place for
what's next.
February 18, 2008 The Semi's To get right to the point, I didn't
make the finals. Am I upset? No. For my first
attempt at ANY competition these results have been great.
Besides, I got to sing on stage a the Met and let me be the first to
say...acoustics can be a man's best friend. I have sung in
many great halls around this country but none compare to the Met.
For a place of such size (nearly 4000 seats) it had the sound of a
mid size concert hall (around 1000 seats), particularly those of a
box design such as
Sauder Hall at Goshen College and
Stude Hall at
Rice University. There was plenty of feedback on stage and I
didn't feel the need to over sing (which was my main concern going
in). The weekend was really fun, the hotel was nice, the
meetings/coachings were informative and frank yet very
encouraging and friendly. A large congratulations to the
finalists! In the photo below are my three mentors over the years,
from left to right, John David DeHaan, me, JoEllen Miano, and Norman
Bailey.
February 12, 2008 Beautiful venue on a beautiful
campus Well, late afternoon on Saturday the
Idaho Dept. of Transportation website showed that one of the two
routes to the airport had been opened so off I ran...I tossed my
sheets in the laundry, packed (no folding this time!) and ran out
the door to ensure the mountain pass didn't close again before I
could cross.
I made it without a problem thanks
in part to the huge snow removal machines that were cutting swaths
in the drifts that looked the same as when rock is cut through to
keep a road flat! It definitely made for an exciting drive.
After one night at a truly nasty hotel (hotels.com didn't make it
seem that way) and a few hour delay waiting for flight crew I
made it to Houston for an exciting show at Rice University. The very
well established chamber series
Houston Friends of Music
is a wonderful organization who consistently hosts the world's top
chamber musicians in Stude Concert hall on the beautiful campus
of Rice University.
February 7, 2008 No better place to be snowed in. Being completely snowed in is never
fun, but there are few places that I could imagine would not drive
me crazy. Luckily, this week I have been at one of those
places. Back in Idaho again to do some coaching for the
upcoming semi-finals of the Met Competition, and I am stuck.
Seriously. All three highways to leave this valley have been
closed since I got here Saturday night (it started snowing as I got
in around midnight). It is now Thursday and only once have I
left the house. We needed groceries and had to leave soon
after the driveway was plowed and return before it drifted over
again. I am estimating that time to be around 3 hours. The roads/driveway (which is the real problem since it is 300 yds
long and as 1.5 miles back on a dirt road) are getting cleared and
it is ok when they are, but the strong wind has been drifting the
snow like mad. You can see some of the cool designs that have
been created around the house in these photos. I walked to the
end of the driveway earlier today and some parts where nearly clear,
other parts 3-4' deep. I have to be at the airport on Saturday
to join Cantus in Texas for tour so I hope this storm finished up
soon! I wouldn't think that 56 more hours wouldn't be enough
time, but we are now on day 4 of the "snow in" and it hasn't changed
a bit so my faith is waning at the moment.
January 19, 2008 I won again! I can't believe it. I won again.
I was one of three first place winners at this year's
Upper Midwest Regional Finals of the
Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions. Along with a cash prize,
the three of us won spots in the semi-final competition February 17,
on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC. What an honor
this is. The competition was top notch this year, exemplified
by three of us moving on (most often only two move on and sometimes
only one is deemed appropriate by the judges). It was a low
voice day, the other winners being (pictured below at a recording
session, left to right, myself last)
Kyle Albertson,
bass-baritone and Cory Renbarger, baritone.
Luckily, we are all competing against the judges,
not necessarily
against each other, so the competition stays friendly. On
February 14th, we will travel to NY along with the other 23
semifinalists from around the country and begin prep for another
round of competition on February 17th.
I was
really excited to go to the after party (although I had to leave
before dinner and the concert in order to attend a reunion for those
of us who went to Africa this fall) which was held at the
James J. Hill house in St. Paul. Located on
the historical Summit Ave. this house was built by
the railroad tycoon James G. Hill and was amazing to tour...more so
because of my interest in woodworking. This home is FILLED,
floor to ceiling in many rooms with beautiful work from craftsmen
generations ago.
January 4, 2008, Merry Christmas,
Happy New Year The holidays are over, but I am still
on break. After a nice quick trip back to NY to visit family I
headed down to Mexico to spend some time relaxing and visiting with
new friends and family. I spent new years at a ranch in
Madera, Mexico which was somewhat remote, not at all quiet but a ton
of fun! Dinner was the head of a bull. That's right.
The whole head. I had some taquitos from the cheek which were
fantastic but passed on the more gooey parts of the meal. The
food on the trip was really fantastic (keep in mind I wasn't in Cabo
or Cancun, this was true Mexico) and some of the drinks I had were
to die for especially, michelada (a medium colored maybe an amber or
lager with salt and three limes) and cubana (same amber beer but
this time with a spicy tomato mix, pepper and Tabasco). Plenty
of play time during the week but now I am in Idaho gearing up for
the regional finals of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions
later in the month. It is wonderful to be in
this beautiful valley again and especially to see
Kristine Ciesinski and
Norman Bailey with whom
I have studied for years but haven't seen for nearly 18 months.
Design by Tim Takach
Layout and maintenance by Tom McNichols
Copyright 2005 tommcnichols.com
Today
was really a fun new experience! Public Television is doing a
documentary on the choral scene in the twin cities and naturally
Cantus was involved. After a short interview about our trip to
Africa and other recent endeavors, we got to the singing.
Standard Cantus rep, but this time with a few cameras on us and a
person riding around on their cool little cart that seemed to have
40 joints so it could easily and smoothly move in any direction and
any angle at any time...ok, you get the idea. I have done
other on camera work, but this was the first time I saw the process
from set up to break down. More news on the program when I
know more.
I made it without a problem thanks
in part to the huge snow removal machines that were cutting swaths
in the drifts that looked the same as when rock is cut through to
keep a road flat! It definitely made for an exciting drive.
After one night at a truly nasty hotel (hotels.com didn't make it
seem that way) and a few hour delay waiting for flight crew I
made it to Houston for an exciting show at Rice University. The very
well established chamber series
Being completely snowed in is never
fun, but there are few places that I could imagine would not drive
me crazy. Luckily, this week I have been at one of those
places. Back in Idaho again to do some coaching for the
upcoming semi-finals of the Met Competition, and I am stuck.
Seriously. All three highways to leave this valley have been
closed since I got here Saturday night (it started snowing as I got
in around midnight). It is now Thursday and only once have I
left the house. We needed groceries and had to leave soon
after the driveway was plowed and return before it drifted over
again. I am estimating that time to be around 3 hours. The roads/driveway (which is the real problem since it is 300 yds
long and as 1.5 miles back on a dirt road) are getting cleared and
it is ok when they are, but the strong wind has been drifting the
snow like mad. You can see some of the cool designs that have
been created around the house in these photos. I walked to the
end of the driveway earlier today and some parts where nearly clear,
other parts 3-4' deep. I have to be at the airport on Saturday
to join Cantus in Texas for tour so I hope this storm finished up
soon! I wouldn't think that 56 more hours wouldn't be enough
time, but we are now on day 4 of the "snow in" and it hasn't changed
a bit so my faith is waning at the moment.
I can't believe it. I won again.
I was one of three first place winners at this year's
not necessarily
against each other, so the competition stays friendly. On
February 14th, we will travel to NY along with the other 23
semifinalists from around the country and begin prep for another
round of competition on February 17th.