November 10, 2008

St. Mary's Episcopal Church; Wayne, PA

The Faure Requiem at St Mary’s Church in Wayne was a beautiful concert that was very well-attended. Michael Stairs was the organist and the orchestra sounded particularly rich with the choir. It is rare to do Faure in the original orchestration of mostly violas/cellos/bass so we thank the anonymous donor who made this performance possible. An interesting fun fact that Dr. Gordon Turk shared : The Pie Jesu (beautifully sung by Monica Zigler) was orginally not permitted to be sung by a woman, because of the laws of the day. So in the original performances, the female vocalist had to perform behind a curtain!!! Thank goodness times have changed!
 
 
The Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli presented a vocal recital on Sunday, Nov 9 at 7 PM. It was a wonderful mix of selections, and RSQ provided a trio to accompany 3 vocal selections. In order to give the singers a bit of a break (singing for an hour is not easy!) the trio played one of our favorite Bach triosonatas. It was a small but appreciative audience, and they seemed to enjoy the trio “interruption” in the middle of the vocal recital. The sanctuary at Good Sam has great acoustics and it is always a pleasure to perform there, and work with Chris Garvin, their music director, and Martha Koeneman, their pianist (who incidentally is also the piano soloist for the PA Ballet).
 
 
This Wed night, Nov 12, RSQ is providing the music for an exciting event at the National Constiution Center . Bloomsbury Auctions has some amazing Phialdelphia artifacts that are going on sale. The quartet will perform following the press conference announcing the impressive array of items to be auctioned.

November happenings!

A sign of welcome at UCCVF in Wayne, PA.

On November 2, RSQ was extremely well received at the “Music of Note” series at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge. The quartet, comprised of Karen Banos, Walter Choi, Marjorie Goldberg and Susan Lerner, played an assortment of classical and popular music to a very appreciative (but small!) audience. We wish you could have joined us and hope to see you at some of our upcoming events. The audience loved the program and their enthusiasm was infectious….The concert ended with the quartet in Phillies garb playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” which left everyone (including the quartet) smiling….

This weekend RSQ will be performing the Faure Requiem on Sunday, Nov 9 at 4 PM at St Mary’s Church in Wayne, PA .  The interesting orchestration of this piece for 5 violas, 4 cellos, 2 bass and 1 violin creates an extraordinary timbre. This is truly one of the most lyrical and beautiful pieces in the choir literature, and the chorus at St Mary’s is doing a remarkable job. The soloists are all professional singers and this is a performance that will be a moving experience to all that attend.  This concert is FREE!!! I hope you can come!

Sunday night, Nov 9 at 7 PM, Vocalist Phil McClelland (the tenor on our demo CD!) will join 2 other singers in a vocal recital at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Wayne, PA. He will be joined by Karen Banos and Christine Cottle on violin and Susan Lerner on cello. THe string trio will accompany the voices on a few numebrs and will also play a Bach triosonata. This is another wonderful FREE concert that we hope you can attend!