Calling Singers - Pass Chorale Begins Rehearsals

It may not even be summer yet, but the Pass Chorale will begin rehearsals for its Christmas Concert on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Flag Day. The major work for Christmas will be a mass in G by Franz Schubert. Several Christmas anthems will also be part of the program.

All singers are invited to participate. Rehearsals are held at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 1320 W. Williams St., Banning. For further information call director, Ernest Siva at 951-849-4676 or email siva@dishmail.net.

Rehearsals begin on Flag Day

Rehearsals for the Pass Chorale Christmas concert begin on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Flag Day. We will begin singing Christmas music. We are still undecided on a major work, but we have enough music to get us started. Please join us!

Spring Concert

It was a wonderful experience to sing the Faure Requiem and the other pieces. The orchestra members really loved the music too! The reception by Jill Trick and her mom, Laura Trick, was beautiful with fresh flowers from Jill’s garden and wonderful food. Pat Murkland distributed our programs and actually tweeted about the concert from her post. Accompanst Joan Frost came through like a champ, playing the organ part in the Requiem and accompanying the rest of the choral pieces.

The audience was smaller than usual; it happened that the funeral for one of Banning’s leading citizens, Bud Mathewson, was that day as well.

Spring Concert Press Release

The beautiful Requiem by Gabriel Fauré is the featured work at the Pass Chorale’s Spring Concert on May 15. This Requiem features beautiful solos and choruses, lush strings, harp, and brass. Featured soloists are Stacy Fraser, soprano, and Ulises Espinoza, baritone. Stacy Fraser is head of the Opera Department at California State University, San Bernardino. Ulises Espinoza is a voice student at Cal State.

Also on the program are two choral pieces by Los Angeles composer, Morten Lauridsen, recipient of a National Medal of Arts in 2007. One piece is from Songs of Roses, a choral setting of 5 French poems. The other is a setting of a poem by James Agee, Sure on this Shining Night.

An anthem by English composer, John Rutter, and a setting of the Battle Hymn by Peter Wilhousky are also be featured. Rutter composed a new anthem for the recent Royal Wedding.

The Pass Chorale is a community chorus serving the Pass area. It was founded in the 1950s and we are proud to be carrying on its tradition of performing major classical works. The Chorale and orchestra are directed by Ernest Siva, who grew up on Morongo reservation, earned degrees in musical education and choral music at USC. Singers are from communities and around the Pass area. Orchestra members are from all over southern California.

Date and Time: May 15, 2011, 2:30 pm

Location: Our Savior’s Lutheran Church

1320 W. Williams St.

Banning, CA

Tickets: Available at the door

Adults: $15

Seniors and Students: $10

Further information: 951-849-4676

passchorale.blogspot.com

Countdown to Concert!

Rehearsals are getting serious. We're singing through the entire program now. We began work on two new choral pieces, For the Beauty of the Earth by John Rutter and Battle Hymn arranged by Peter Wilhousky. The Wilhousky is an arrangement that most of us remember singing for the first time in high school. It still seems to be the singers favorite. We have orchestra parts for the Rutter and the Wilhousky, so they should be wonderful.

The Faure Requiem is going through all of our minds now. Soprano Dolores calls it and "ear worn." It is beautiful, and we are beginning to make real music. The Lauridsen pieces are shaping up too.

We handed out flyers at last rehearsal. We've been working on the program.... Its getting close.

Spring is coming

As we get closer to our spring concert, rehearsals get serious. We are struggling with singing the Morten Lauridsen song, Dirait-on in French! The music is difficult, but the French is giving us more trouble. We will prevail. We are loving the melodic lines in the two Lauridson pieces. The second, Sure on this Shining Night, begins with a glorious melody sung in unison by the men. The piano parts are important in both pieces, and accompanist Joan is doing a great job. The singers will catch up to her soon, we hope!

Rehearsals

The Pass Chorale has had four rehearsals since we resumed in January. At the last one we made it all the way through the Faure Requiem. That's just the first taste of the music, now we go back and really learn it. Nonetheless, it is a milestone.

We have also started rehearsing two songs by Morten Lauridsen, Sure on this Shining Night and Dirait-on. The first is a setting of a poem by John Agee. The second is from a suite of four songs in french, about roses. Both have wonderful melodic lines in each part. The piano accompaniment is also really beautiful.

We still need singers, so anyone with singing experience can still join us. We meet on Tuesday evenings at Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Call or email for further information!