Category: Music

Christmas Decorations

Timothy Price4 Comments

ChristmasDecorations

Since we never got a new set of tiny lights for the bonsai, Laurie made an arrangement with candles and the candy she will be using in cookies for some decoration, lights and color. Tristan thought it looked like an altar to candy. Be that as it may, Laurie has baked some fantastic cookie,s so if her decorations please the gods of confectionary and the spirits of cookies, that makes it all the better.

Kat sang in the choir this morning, and asked me to photograph her in the choir robe. She looked great in the robe and the colors are very appropriate for the season.

Jerri made almost 100 copies of the recording of Handel’s Messiah performed on December 9th by the Chancel Choir with the NM Philharmonic Orchestra. I designed labels for the CDs and inserts for the jewel cases, and spent yesterday afternoon printing labels, stamping them on CDs, cutting inserts and stuffing the whole lot into jewel cases so Jerri could give them to the Chancel Choir before Christmas. Laurie and I listened to the recording this afternoon while cooking and working on photos, and it’s fantastic. The recording is raw, exactly as it was performed with no post-production editing, and it is really well balanced. the choir, soloists and orchestra sound animated and full of life. This was the first time Laurie had heard the choir outside of singing in it, and she was quite surprised, and thought the recording sounded better than the “professional” version we currently have (I had been telling her how good they sounded for weeks before the performance, and she just thought I was being nice. Me be nice? Like right!). After listening to the CDs I was really happy I took the time to put them together yesterday so the choir members could have this wonderful gift of music for Christmas, especially after all the hours and work they put in preparing for the performances. The quality of the performance also speaks for what a great director Jerri is. She takes anyone who wants to sing in the choir and gets amazing results out them.

Kat Robed

CD Production

On Spot

Timothy Price4 Comments

SpotLight

We were working out the lighting for the Christmas Eve services, and while I was practicing following people walking down the aisle, I photographed Jerri with camera in one hand while tracking her and manipulating the spotlight with the other hand.  I guess all those “drive-by-photos” have honed my skills at taking photos while doing other things.

On Christmas Eve there will be three services at Central United Methodist Church with music and drama in the 8:00pm and 11:00 pm services — I’ll be manning one of the spotlights at those two service. I’m playing guitar for the first service at 1:00 pm, and the fact that I only have two arms that are each a little less than a yard in length, playing guitar at one end of the sanctuary and operating a spotlight from the balcony at the opposite end of the sanctuary stretches way beyond my ability to multitask, so whoever shows up for the 1:00 pm service with only get the added drama of listening to me improvise while the congregation lights their candles, then I’ll play accompaniment for “Silent Night,” which, by the way, was written for guitar.

A clarinet and xylophone duet played for St. Martin’s Hospitality Center’s Holiday Breakfast as part of the NM Philharmonic Orchestra’s gift of music for the homeless and disadvantaged members of the community. I was invited to drop by photograph them playing for the breakfast. The music was excellent, and the place was packed and swarming with activity. I managed to put together a panorama of the activity, but it was one of the most difficult panoramas I photographed and successfully stitched together because of the constant activity, the room configurations, and the extreme differences in lighting from on side of the building to the other. But I think the resulting photo show the activity and how many people St Martin’s was feeding this morning.  St. Martin’s is just one of a handful of shelters and churches that feed and clothe the homeless and other people who need help in the Albuquerque area.

 

xylophone

StMartinsHolidayBreakfast

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Timothy Price1 Comment

GoTell

The Children’s Choir sang “Go Tell it on the Mountain” for the prelude this morning. I’m sitting in the back thinking that we are going to get the usual weak children’s voices, with half the kids off key, while the other half are “out of compás”, but when the kids started singing, belting out out the song in parts, on key and in compás, I remembered I was at Central United Methodist Church, where they get the best music out of everyone, regardless of age. All the kids were great, and the soloists sang like they were pros. It was so refreshing to see kids full of life and spirit, making an effort to deliver their performance.  All the music was fantastic today. The old hymns were fun, the Chancel Choir performed “For unto us a Cild is born” from Handel’s Messiah, and the Hand Bell Choir performed a piece that was out of this world. They get sounds and music out of those bells that you wouldn’t think possible.

Stretch was shifting around in his box he was curled up in, basking in the sunlight, when the box slid off the edge and wedged itself against the heater. Like a captain who won’t abandon his ship, Stretch stayed in the box and patiently waited for one of us to come over and put his box and him back in place. Laurie when to his rescue while I photographed him going down with his box. After Laurie got the box back in place, Stretch resumed his position, curled up in the sunshine, as if nothing had happened.

I find coffee sludge dried and cracking like clay on the bottom of a dry riverbed to be quite artful. It also reminds of the time when Laurie was going to pre-op and I unintentionally dribbled thick, black coffee that looked like motor oil with a couple hundred thousand miles on it along the floor from the elevator to the first bed in pre-op. The staff at the desk started swarming like ants that had their hill stepped on, while doctors and nurses tiptoed around the line of coffee like it was some type of infectious, black ooze. I really wanted to photograph the whole thing, but I felt I would have been pushing it to get out there and start clicking away — instead I cowered in the corner and tried to look like I was sorry for dribbling sludge on the floor (actually I was really sorry, not for their sakes, but because I didn’t get to drink the coffee). Even though I didn’t get photos, it was really great performance art. Luckily, all that came of it was mad dogs from the Hazmat crew who were brought in to clean up my offensive sludge — I’m not so sure I’ll get off so easily next time.

StretchBox

JavaSludge

Holiday Tradition

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Lewis Winn

 

We had our annual holiday party at the office tonight. There is an abundance of green chile, chicken enchiladas, posole, gumbo and other food to satisfy one’s hunger, and Lewis Winn’s guitar and Michael Olivola’s bass accompaniment is a highlight of our annual holiday party. I believe this was the 9th year straight that Lewis played at our party, making his jazz a holiday tradition.  Lewis is a super guitarist, and if you live in the Albuquerque area and haven’t heard Lewis play, you’ve really missed out.  But not to worry, he is playing with the group The Alpha Cats at The Range Cafe, 925 South Camino Del Pueblo.  Bernalillo, NM  starting at 7:30 pm on Saturday, December 15th, and at the  St. Clair Winery and Bistro, 901 Rio Grande Boulevard Northwest  Albuquerque, NM starting at 6:00 pm on Sunday, December 23rd.

The Second Coming

Timothy Price2 Comments
Javier Gonzalez, Tenor

 

The second coming of the Messiah was as wonderful as the first. The soloists were fantastic, the orchestra was superb and the Chancel Choir was marvelous. Janet, one of the Choir members and soon to be minister, and I were talking about how many great musicians and artists we have in New Mexico, especially given a population of only 2 million. I was telling her that it’s the “enchantment factor” — the beautiful environment and great climate that draw people to New Mexico — we are truly blessed to have so many exceptional performers to share their talents with us and truly enrich our lives.

 

Cammy Cook, Soprano

 

Ivan Conrad, Bass

 

Jacqueline Zander-Wall, Mezzo-soprano

 

Hallelujah Chorus

 

The Messiah Has Come

Timothy Price5 Comments

ChoirOrchestraSoloists

If you missed Handel’s Messiah tonight, performed by the Central United Methodist Church’s Chancel Choir with the NM Philharmonic Orchestra, David Felberg, Conductor, and soloists Cammy Cook, Soprano, Jacqueline Zander-Wal, Mezzo-soprano, Javier Gonzalez, Tenor and Ivan Conrad, Bass — not to worry, there is a second coming of the Messiah tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, December 9th,  3:00 pm at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University NE. If you live in the Albuquerque area, you really shouldn’t miss it — there will be tickets available at the door.

Before the concert began, members of the Albuquerque Girl’s Choir were singing in the hallway as people came in. Most of the girls were very young, and they didn’t have a director. They were all very cute, but as they tried to sing, especially with recorded music, they were so rhythmically challenged that they were difficult to listen to. After the Chancel Choir had warmed up, Jerrilyn Foster, the director of the Chancel Choir, came out and started directing the girls choir, which completely transformed them — they all of a sudden sounded good and were “in compás”.  I think Jerri has a magic touch, because she takes all comers into the Chancel Choir and gets the best out of all the singers. She is really amazing.

Tonight’s performance was wonderful. Even though I’ve been listening to the choir practice every Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon, and to Laurie sing with her CD daily for months; and even though I sat through the rehearsal with the soloists Wednesday night and the dress rehearsal with the orchestra and soloists last night, tonight’s performance still sent chills up and down my spine and brought tears to my eyes — it also brought back memories of listening to the Messiah in a 15th Century Cathedral in Madrid, Spain in 1996. The cathedral was packed and we had to stand through the whole concert, but the sound and the atmosphere was so beautiful and mesmerizing, you felt like you where in the 18th century, and there wasn’t a dry eye in that old cathedral when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung. I had much of the same feeling listening to the Messiah this evening and I believe, like Handel, that we see Heaven before us and “the great God Himself” when we listen to great performances of the Messiah.

Girls Choir
Jerrilyn Foster takes a minute before the concert to direct the Albuquerque Girl’s Choir
Left to right: Ivan Conrad, Cammy Cook, David Felberg, Jacqueline Zander-Wall and Javier Gonzalez

Gunfight at the Frontier

Timothy Price9 Comments

 

Where else in the world, besides Albuquerque, can you attend a performance of Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor K. 427, then go to the Frontier, sit under the eye of The King, look at a collection of Indian rugs on the ceiling, and get a photograph of the guard in a gunfight with The Duke?  The Grand Mass in C Minor was performed by the UNM Symphony Orchestra under the direction of  Dr. Jorge Pérez-Gómez, and the UNM University Chorus, Professor Bradley Ellingboe, director, with guest Conductor Jena Reis. The soloists where soprano Leslie Umphrey, Associate Professor of Voice, UNM, mezzo soprano Drea Pressley, Sam Shepperson, co-director of the Opera Theater at UNM and baritone Michael Hix, Assistant Professor of Vocal Studies at UNM. The concert was excellent, although one woman at the end of the row in front of us brought her baby. I don’t know what she was thinking bringing a baby to a classical concert. About half way through the concert the baby got fussy, and the woman took her sweet time taking the noisy kid out of the theater. The people around her were nervously laughing at its squawks and cries, while the soprano gave her “mad dogs” for the little brat competing with her solo. She finally took leave, allowing us to enjoy the concert and the soprano to relax a little before her next solo.

 

 

 

Mozart's Grand Mass In C Minor k. 427

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Goth

Timothy Price5 Comments

First of all, if you didn’t make it to the performance  of “A Winter’s Journey” by Quintessence Choral Artists of the Southwest tonight, they are performing tomorrow, December 2nd at 3:00 pm at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona NE. The concert was fantastic and the “Jingle Bells/Hallelujah Chorus” medley is not to be missed.

On the way home from helping Tristan get ready for Goth Night, Laurie are I were wondering how we fit so much into the day. Laurie made two chocolate, chocolate chip angel food cakes first thing this morning, then we did a photo shoot of her outfit before she ran off to choir practice for the Messiah. I hung the photo backdrop from the ceiling, extending the width by 3 feet and allowing me to take down the stands. Then I gathered up parts from different water filters and put together a new water filter to replace the one that broke from a hard freeze a few weeks so I could run drip systems when the hoses thawed out. I cleaned out vines and scraggly growth from what we call the “north house” garden, worked on the bathroom remodel, went to the post office and Lowe’s, and herded cats. After Laurie got home from the rehearsal, she cut up the cakes and I bagged the pieces so we could freeze them, then we got ready to go into town. We did another photo shoot of Laurie’s outfit, and went to pick up Tristan. Tristan had to try on some new clothes we ordered that came in yesterday before we headed to the photo show. We finally got to the ANMPAS show, but we missed Susan (one of her entries is the triptych on the left side of the B&W photo below). We went to the concert after the photo show, which was great, as I already mentioned, then we went by Target so Laurie and Tristan could get some clothes and makeup. I was one of a couple dozen men pushing shopping carts behind their women in the clothing and makeup isles — all of us men looked rather bored and longingly glanced toward the tool department. Three hats, exercise tights, a pair of shoes, various shades of lipstick and an eye shadow kit later, we headed to Tristan’s to help her get ready for Goth Night. Tristan had sworn off make after the years she performed Flamenco with Laurie and I, but makeup is a necessary part of Goth Night along with high heeled footwear and corsets.

In the first photo, Rosencrantz was playing on the backdrop, jumping around and attacking the folds. Meanwhile, Guildenstern was hanging out on the couch with Cthulhu — both of them look like they could use corsets. The third photo in the series is of Susan’s triptych of the demolition of the houses on our property. The rest of the photos include Tristan and Cat getting ready for Goth Night, and then both of them all made up, dressed in proper Goth black, corseted, high heeled, and ready to have a great time.

Things To Do Thursday

Timothy Price7 Comments

If you are fortunate enough to live in the Albuquerque area, or if you are visiting during the month of December here are a few things you can do:

On December 1st at 5:00 pm, Quintessence Choral Artists of the Southwest will be performing “A Winter’s Journey” at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1100 Indian School Rd., NE, and at 3:00 pm on December 2nd at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona NE.

Also starting Sunday, December 2nd and running through December 28th from 10-5 daily is the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show in the Fine Arts Building at New Mexico Expo (enter the San Pedro and Copper Gate). Our good friend and fellow photographer Susan Graham got a couple of photos of the demolition of the houses on our property in August in the show.

On December 4th at 7:30 pm, the UNM Symphony Orchestra is performing Mozart’s Grand Mass in C, K. 427 at Popjoy Hall at the University of New Mexico. Suzette, one of the lovely women in Wild Women Wednesday, is singing with the University Chorus.

On December 8th at 7:30 pm, the Central United Methodist Church’s Chancel Choir will be performing Handel’s Messiah with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, and on Sunday December 9th at 3:00 pm at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University Blvd, NE. My blog The Messiah is Coming has all the details. Laurie, Suzette, and Nicole Larson (all of whom have appeared in Photo of the Day, Etc. this month) are singing the Messiah with the Chancel Choir.