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Oakland Symphony Chorus has started up again! I don't know why it feels early; when I sang with Chorus Pro Musica in Boston, we did Summersings every Monday of August to attract new potential members. We've done two weeks of open rehearsals so far this season, and we're hoping the singing we're doing at the Lake Merritt Pergola this weekend with the SoulBeatz drummers will get peoples' attention.
Maybe it's because this has been the first truly warm week of summer here. I've been appreciating whatever the hell buffer we somehow managed to have here all summer keeping temps 70F and below while it seemed like everyone else in the northern hemisphere was reporting record high temperatures or wildfire smoke or both. This week, our luck seems to have run out - it's been in the 80s, it got up to almost 90F today, and now we've got AQI issues with wildfire smoke drifting down from Oregon. Hooray. So our masking for choir tonight had a dual purpose: continuing to try to dodge COVID in an increasing wave, *and* trying to minimize the amount of smoke we inhaled. Unfortunately, masking for choir is currently optional, unlike last season, so I was disappointed to see that maybe 20% of us were masking. Le sigh. The windows were all open; I guess they decided trying to keep the rehearsal hall a sane temperature and allow for at least some airflow was more important than smoke concerns, but no real winning scenario here for anybody's lungs, the ultimate irony for a singing group.
Still, it's fulfilling to be singing with others again, and after four years out here, three and a half of them under pandemic constraints, we're willing to take a few calculated risks to build stronger ties with our community.
There's quite a bit of Beethoven in this year's concert lineup. In November, we'll open our Truth to Power concert with the overture from Beethoven's Fidelio, along with selections from Margaret Bonds' Montgomery Variations, and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. We'll skip Beethoven for our Tina Turner tribute concert in December; likewise, our February concert "The Artist as Activist" will be a commission by Carlos Simon - Here I Stand: Paul Robeson. Our final concert in May will bring back Beethoven's 5th, as well as some of Aaron Copland's Old American Songs. Given how much I loved singing Copland's In the Beginning back in the day, I'm looking forward to more Copland! And we actually open our season in October, singing a to-be-revealed song for Angela Y. Davis' "Playlist," where the guest of honor chooses music to be performed that inspired her own works.
Maybe it's because this has been the first truly warm week of summer here. I've been appreciating whatever the hell buffer we somehow managed to have here all summer keeping temps 70F and below while it seemed like everyone else in the northern hemisphere was reporting record high temperatures or wildfire smoke or both. This week, our luck seems to have run out - it's been in the 80s, it got up to almost 90F today, and now we've got AQI issues with wildfire smoke drifting down from Oregon. Hooray. So our masking for choir tonight had a dual purpose: continuing to try to dodge COVID in an increasing wave, *and* trying to minimize the amount of smoke we inhaled. Unfortunately, masking for choir is currently optional, unlike last season, so I was disappointed to see that maybe 20% of us were masking. Le sigh. The windows were all open; I guess they decided trying to keep the rehearsal hall a sane temperature and allow for at least some airflow was more important than smoke concerns, but no real winning scenario here for anybody's lungs, the ultimate irony for a singing group.
Still, it's fulfilling to be singing with others again, and after four years out here, three and a half of them under pandemic constraints, we're willing to take a few calculated risks to build stronger ties with our community.
There's quite a bit of Beethoven in this year's concert lineup. In November, we'll open our Truth to Power concert with the overture from Beethoven's Fidelio, along with selections from Margaret Bonds' Montgomery Variations, and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. We'll skip Beethoven for our Tina Turner tribute concert in December; likewise, our February concert "The Artist as Activist" will be a commission by Carlos Simon - Here I Stand: Paul Robeson. Our final concert in May will bring back Beethoven's 5th, as well as some of Aaron Copland's Old American Songs. Given how much I loved singing Copland's In the Beginning back in the day, I'm looking forward to more Copland! And we actually open our season in October, singing a to-be-revealed song for Angela Y. Davis' "Playlist," where the guest of honor chooses music to be performed that inspired her own works.
