Arts Chorale

I'm delighted to announce that we will be singing J.S. Bach's Cantata #198 (Trauerode) with orchestra for our Hill concert. This beautiful cantata was written for the funeral of Queen Christiane Eberhardine of Poland/Saxony in 1727, and features baroque instruments such as the viola da gamba, oboe d'amore and harpsichord. The concertmistress of our baroque orchestra will be Paula Muldoon. To read more on the history of the cantata you can go to http://www.baroqumusic.org/198trauerode.html and I've also placed a few movements on my youtube page to listen to: www.youtube.com/mvmarotto. (Don't bother listening to the excerpts on the baroquemusic website, they're very outdated).

Also, the performance ready schedule for this semester has been emailed . Some resources to help you prepare for octets beyond our regular Tu/Th rehearsals include upcoming recordings on the youtube site, and working with section leaders. Sopranos may contact Sarah Craig (), Altos: Carrie Schalm (), Tenors/Basses: Dan Cox () about arranging times to work outside of rehearsal. Also, if you have keyboard skills and you're willing to help out, please let me know - I'd love to have a few people per section be available.

And finally, I want to offer you another opportunity to sing Bach (you can never have enough Bach in your life!). I'm conducting Cantata #4, the Easter Cantata, with the Huron Hills Choir on Saturday April 3rd at 7pm with baroque chamber orchestra, and I would be happy for you to join. We rehearse Thursday nights from 7:15 to 8:45pm, so if you're interested you can join me Thursdays for a quick dinner after our AC rehearsal and I could drive you to and from rehearsal afterwards. Please let me know if this of interest to you. We will rehearse all Thursdays between now and the 3rd of April (minus Winter break).

Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday,

Best,
Mark

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Life Sciences Orchestra will kick off its tenth season of blending art and science with its first world premiere: a trio of songs, two of them about the University, arranged for chorus and orchestra.

Written by Bill Brehm, one of U-M’s most prominent alumni and donors, the songs will be the centerpiece of the LSO’s free concert on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 beginning at 4 p.m. in Hill Auditorium.

All are welcome to attend and no tickets are required for the concert, which will feature five other pieces that, together with the Brehm songs, represent a journey through America. The journey will begin with remarks by U-M Medical School dean James O. Woolliscroft, M.D.

The LSO will be conducted by music director Robert Boardman, a doctoral student in the U-M School of Music, Theatre and Dance’s orchestral conducting program, and husband of a physician assistant in the U-M Health System.

The orchestra will play Brehm’s songs 'My Michigan', 'All Over Again', and 'Sing of Michigan' -- the world premiere of the songs in new orchestral arrangements set by Daniel Holgate. The orchestra will be joined by the U-M Arts Chorale, a U-M student choir conducted by Mark Marotto.

Brehm, who is chairman emeritus of SRA International and a former assistant secretary of defense, adapted the two U-M songs from patriotic pieces he had written earlier, both of which had been performed by choirs affiliated with the U.S. Army. The new lyrics, and a new middle section to one song adapted from a century-old U-M college tune, pay tribute to Brehm’s beloved alma mater.

In 2004, Brehm and his wife Dee donated $44 million to the U-M Medical School to fuel the search for a cure for Type 1 diabetes, which Dee Brehm has battled since her own college days.

Their gift helped build the Brehm Tower, an addition to the U-M Kellogg Eye Center that will open later this winter and house U-M’s eye clinics and operating rooms, research laboratories and the Brehm Center for Type 1 Diabetes Research and Analysis.

Brehm’s close ties with the U-M life sciences community make his music an appropriate choice for the LSO, which is made up of amateur musicians who are also faculty, staff, students and alumni from all areas of the U-M health and medical community.

For the Jan. 10 concert, the LSO will also play three other pieces by American composers and two pieces by European composers with strong American ties. The afternoon will begin with optimistic and brassy “Fanfare for the Common Man”, by Aaron Copland, followed by the lush third movement of the Symphony No. 4 by Charles Ives featuring the LSO strings.

LSO Assistant Conductor Avlana Eisenberg will then conduct the tuneful, rarely performed “American Suite” (1895) by Antonin Dvorak, based on African American and Native American themes that the Czech composer sought out in his attempt to discover an American classical music.

Following the Brehm songs and a brief intermission, the LSO will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Gustav Mahler's birth by taking on the first movement of his 'Resurrection' Symphony No. 2, a movement that stands alone under the name “Totenfeier”. Mahler conducted the American premiere of his Second Symphony in 1908, while serving as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic.

The concert will close with “Rainbow Body” by Christopher Theofanidis – the most-played orchestral piece by a living composer today. Based partly on a medieval religious chant by German female mystic Hildegard von Bingen, the piece also invokes the Buddhist idea that an enlightened being is, upon dying, absorbed into the universe as energy and light – a rainbow body.

For more information on the concert or the LSO, visit www.umich.edu/~lsorch, send e-mail to orchestra@umich.edu, or call (734) 936-ARTS.

The LSO is part of the Gifts of Art program, which brings the world of art and music to the U-M Health System. The orchestra was founded in the spirit of the U-M effort to encourage collaboration, community and creativity beyond the traditional boundaries between academic disciplines in the basic sciences, health sciences, health care, engineering, social science and the humanities.

1. $4 for Jimmy Johns (if you didn't have it on Sunday) to Carrie
2. $10 (checks to Maureen Stych) for t-shirts to Mo
3. We need final counts for Banquet, so check with your family, etc to see how many guests you want to bring (it will be 5$ for AC members and $10 for guests!)

• skirts need to be down to mid-calf
• if wearing a skirt, you should wear nude colored nylons*
• closed toed flats or pumps--no tall boots please, especially if you're wearing a skirt

• TODAY - Diag Board coloring after choir
• Friday, Nov 13, (tomorrow) - Party at Lauren's House!!!
• Sunday, Nov 15 - Pre Hill Concert
  1. meet at Cube at 10:10
  2. bring $4 for lunch (Jimmy Johns!)
  3. CONCERT DRESS:
     MEN: black tuxedo, white dress shirt (long-sleeved), black bow tie, black pants, black socks, and black dress shoes. Please, no cologne.
     WOMEN: Black blouse (3/4 sleeves or longer), Black skirt (mid-calf or longer) or flowing pants, and black closed-toe shoes. Nylons must be nude, if worn. Please, no perfume.
  4. We will be back to campus by 4:00 this Sunday.
• Tuesday, Nov 24 - Hill Concert at 8:00 and Banquet afterward at the League

Invite your friends on Facebook or send them an email! Call/email your family and invite them to come! Who wouldn't want to come to an AMAZING concert in Hill?!

You guys are doing awesome work. I apologize that emails have been so ridiculous this year. I know that it has hindered our organization in getting out information, so thank you all for being patient with us! If you didn't get the message in one of my lost emails: You all make my heart bigger than a sweet potato. Thanks for being amazing!

• T-shirt Orders are now being taken on the CTools wiki. We'll need at least 11 people to place orders to get a price around $11. To place your order, log onto CTools, click "Wiki" in the menu bar to the left, click "T-Shirt Orders" and then "Edit". Add your name to the list, your color of choice (light blue or light pink), and your size. Be sure to hit save when you're done!
• A carpool signup will be sent out in class today for the pre-hill concert. If you leave before it gets to you (or you miss class today) PLEASE email Mo ASAP.