Well, Cantus fans, it looks like the blogging thing is going to continue. This time around, we are detailing our holiday tour with the Boston Pops, under the direction of Keith Lockhart! We had an exciting opener in Arkansas (a first time visit for the orchestra and most of the current members of Cantus), here's a couple of lines about the show:
"Far and away, most of Sunday’s best moments involved Cantus, which delighted the crowd of 2,200..."
"an inspiring version with tenor solos of “O Holy Night and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols.”
the full review:
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/208963/
We have been having a fantastic time getting to know the players of the Pops, while travelling together on our chartered 737 (and also at the hotel bar after the show!). They have been very warm and welcoming. Part of the excitement (nerves) around these shows is the amount of technical support necessary to put it all together--the singers are all wearing headset mics, and we're playing about half of these shows in hockey colosseums and convention centers, like the Arkansas show, and the other half in concert halls (which are much easier to perform in). So, we are surrounded by equipment, wires, speakers, cables, and tech crew every night--some of us have had experience with those trappings outside of Cantus, but all of us are extremely impressed with the well-oiled machine that the Pops is. Nice too is the trading off of solos on this tour, so all the singers can have the experience of singing in front of one of the nation's best-known orchestras (and singing when their parents happen to be in the audience...). See you on the road!
Here's the rest of the schedule:
http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/toc_01_gen_images.jsp?id=bcat12550013
More updates coming soon!
