PME Sings for Brubeck

This year is the 25th Anniversary of The Pacific Mozart Ensemble. Our director put together an amazing program for the 25th Gala. We're going to sing Mozart's unfinished Mass in C Minor. Dick managed to get 3 composers that PME has worked with to contribute the missing movements! Cool, huh? Now look at the list of composers: Meredith Monk, David Lang and Dave Brubeck! Oh-yeah! The Lang and Brubeck are new works that PME will be premiering! Can it get more exciting? Well, what if Dave Brubeck stopped by rehearsal to see how his piece was going? Yike! Maybe a little too exciting!

So last night Dave dropped by with his wife and producer to see how we're doing. To set the scene I have to mention that the piece is freakin' hard. It's got some really unforgiving passages that test the stamina of the group, some poly-tonal stuff that challenges our ear and goes really really high. The poor Sopranos are way in the top of their range for most of the piece. That said, there are some very cool moments and we worked really hard to get them right. Over the last week there have been 3 extra note rehearsals, a lot of woodshedding and a bit of handwringing.

The result? See for yourself! Dave was very happy. There were some awesome moments when we'd hit a section and he'd throw back his head letting out a little whoop! Boy was that rewarding. Even the normally gruff Russell was appreciative. I believe he actually gave some praise to the Altos. Lynne was working her ass off but I think Dick was in heaven. It's one thing to meet a musical hero. It's another thing to actually work with said hero on their music. All in all it was a successful night (topped off with a little B-day cake for yours truly)

Next stop Australia! Alyson and I are heading down under tonight. We'll continue to blog when we can (I hope everyday, but you never know).

For now here are the pics from last night

See you on the other side of the world,
-Eric