Pacific Mozart Ensemble

24 Members of PME to perform with Sufjan Stevens at Zellerbach Hall; Oct 10th and 11th, 2006

Sufjan Stevens is currently touring in support of his recent release The Avalanche and the soon to be released Songs for Christmas. Audiences who attended the 2006 PME Jazz and Pops concert will remember the finale, our a cappella rendition of "C'mon, Feel the Illinoise," the title track of Stevens' most well known work.

On this tour Stevens has augmented his usual group of 'Illinoisemakers' with strings and horns, so why not a choir? 24 members of PME will provide vocal support for both nights of the Berkeley run. Both performances are sold out, but we've seen tickets available on craigslist.

Members of PME to perform with John Zorn at Hertz Hall; Nov 12th

Composer and saxophonist John Zorn (b. 1953) has worked with a large number of experimental musicians, particularly in improvised works. He has been a central figure in NYC's downtown scene since 1975 and his experimental work with the bands Naked City and Masada earned him a large cult following.

The Cal Performances program on Nov. 12th features some of Zorn's most fascinating chamber music:

Members of the Pacific Mozart Ensemble will perform Sappho and Evocation of a Neophyte with John Zorn's ensemble.

I awake bleary-eyed to the realization that we participated in something incredible last night. There are so many aspects of this experience that I want to hold on to. I know my memory fades quicker than most. It makes me a little sad that I will not be able to remember every moment of yesterday. I guess that's one of the main reasons I write this blog. It started with the trip to NY last year. I'm finding that I go back and re-read entries all the time. It helps me to not forget the things that I've done that mean so much to me.

Like last night! On stage. With Sufjan Stevens. Part of the show. I mean really a part of the show. Part of the experience. There was always a concern in the back of my mind that we would be off in a corner, unheard over the din of 14 players. I mean think about it. These guys have been touring on this show for weeks now and have it pretty down. They didn't really need us. But here we are singing on every freakin song but one.

Aside from the show itself, the best part of the day was a little rehearsal we had. It was just us and Sufjan in a little piano room in the basement of Zellerbach. At first I was sweating bullets. I lied and said it was from rushing around, but really it was nervousness plain and simple. Moment of truth time. We've been sharing charts and notes but this is the first time he hears what we actually sound like. We started with something easy. Actually, it was a chart I threw together just the day before! At 3pm on Monday I got an email from Lisa that they wanted us to sing on "He Woke Me Up Again." Yikes! Fortunately it's pretty simple so I threw together the chart for our rehearsal that night. So that's the first song we sang. As he we started singing I started to feel a little calmer. In the end it put everyone's mind at ease bing able to run the tunes. Also, the folks got to get a sense of him as a person, which totally relaxed them. After working with some very unapproachable types (like a certain symphony director we all know) it was great to realize we're just working with a fellow performer.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Sometime between rehearsal and sound check, Sufjan shows up with lyrics for another song! Man of Metropolis. We basically learned it at the sound check. Amazing. Folks were able to improvise harmonies on the 2nd and 3rd chorus and they sounded great! This choir came together so well yesterday. It almost makes me a little weepy to see how well they did. There were a few minutes in the rehearsal where we would come up upon entrances or cut offs that had plagued us in the past. Almost ever time the choir was perfect. I felt this great welling of pride each time it happened.

Ok, that's all for now. The real excuse for this post is to get "Day 1" pics up. My Yahoo photo's changed over night (necessitating that I re-format all the photo album links in all the posts in this blog. Awesome.) Now it's up and here are the pics.

Time to start gearing up for day 2. WUH-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

-E

What can I say about this choir that I haven't said already. I'm so damned proud of them that I can hardly stand it. I reviewed the entries in this blog and I realize you must be tired of seeing me gush over their performance. I promise I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to tell you about yet another time I got choked up. In order to stop repeating myself I will tell a little story about day #2.

We came into sound check pretty darned relaxed. The excitement of the 1st night was electric, but there's nothing like the confidence of day 2. That feeling that you know deep down that it's going to be great because it was great. Just last night. Smiles all around. Someone jokes, "so is there a new chart?" Ha ha ha. Everybody laughs. When Sufjan arrives he has a little stack of papers with dense notes. No new chart. but, There are 3 songs on which need new vocals. No joke. I must confess I felt a little something tighten up. I'm trying to imagine a PME concert season. I picture Dick or Lynne coming into the pre show rehearsal with 8 bars of music they want us to learn for that night. By rote.

But I realize, hey wait a minute, is this the same choir that rocked the mic last night on a totally new song (Man of Metropolis) that they learned in sound check? What am I thinking. All systems go, baby! Turns out 3 tunes had codas that he felt needed some choir. Awesome. 2 of them are totally easy. Metropolis and Chicago. The choir learned a unison line and repeated it through the coda. No problem. Riiiiiight. They rock! (oh shoot, I think I'm breaking my first promise) The 3rd was Tallest Man. In that tune, after the choir finishes singing the tune goes out on a 5/8 6/8 jam. The party kinda goes on without us. So what do we do? We go over to the piano, make something up on the spot and the choir sings it. And they sound great! They are totally dialed into this music. Totally in sync with the motives and rhythms. Teaching those parts was one of the easiest things I've ever done with PME. It felt so great. Unfortunately we didn't use it. We sang something else instead. But who cares. Just the joy and ease of working with a group that is that on was a joy in and of itself. Of course the line we ended up singing was a total blast and we rocked it hard in the perf that night. Of course!

Anyway, that's just one part of what turned out to be yet another great day. Today folks have been cruising the web for reviews and blogs of the show. I haven't had time to read them all. But I did read one that got to me (there went promise #2) -- http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2006/10/sufjan_stevens_.html

Some videos showed up on youtube today. So far just Jackson and Casimir Pulaski. I'm hoping and praying someone booted Majesty Snowbird or Tallest Man. Here's Jackson. (you can kinda see Peggy and Doug up over the top...)

"If I could do just one near-perfect thing I'd be happy"

Done.

-E

Technorati : PME, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Sufjan Stevens, Zellerbach