Music

I have to give props to Chad for deciding to do a remix of the unofficial Drupal theme created by lullabot.

Not to be outdone, I decided to go for a more ambient feel to the whole thing. (You've got to love GarageBand.)

[audio:drupalambientmix.mp3]

As a trained classical musician and one of the few gigging tenors based in the Peoria area, I'm actively involved in the classical music scene around here. I'm a cantor and the tenor section leader for St. Mary's Cathedral downtown. It's a great honor to get to sing there two or three times a weekend - it is of the most visually and acoustically beautiful places in Peoria.

Before I get into the musical event which you should all see this week, I need to mention a groundbreaking theatre performance called The Adding Machine that you should see if you get the chance. Bradley University Theatre and Multimedia have been laboring together for seven months now to produce this show. In addition to the official site I linked to earlier, the Peoria Journal Star did an excellent write-up on the show this weekend. Because of the demanding technical nature of the performance, including actors brought in from Internet 2, live video compositing on stage, and so on, it will only run this week.

As for music, the Cathedral always puts on quality performances, but we have an extra-special concert going on this weekend. This Friday evening for Stations of Cross, the Cathedral Schola welcomed Mervyn Cousins, an internationally-renowned conductor and organist. He sang with us and played organ, and he also joined us for our Saturday afternoon Latin-language Mass and our Sunday morning Mass.

Each night this week, the Cathedral Schola is meeting to work with Mervyn on John Rutter's excellent Requiem. After four nights of practice, the Cathedral Schola will put on a concert this Friday night at 7:15 PM that includes not only Rutter's Requiem with orchestra but also a special Latin three-part Stabat Mater.

Again, the executive summary:

1. This Friday night, come to the Cathedral of St. Mary's on Monroe Street in downtown Peoria at 7:15 PM for a special Stations of the Cross mass with a unique Stabat Mater and a full performance of John Rutter's Requiem with choir and orchestra. (It's free, but a free-will offering will be taken at some point, I'm sure.)
2. Go see Adding Machine this week. It plays Tuesday through Saturday nights at 8:00 PM and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM. Call the Bradley University Box Office at (309)677-2652 for tickets.

I hope you get to enjoy both of these performances this week. (Because of the choir practices are every night this week, I won't get to see Adding Machine until Saturday evening.)