stcecilia.ca

My most recent St. Cecilia concert was such a wonderful experience. (Jan 29th, Libiamo!)

Working with Christianne Rushton, Jason Robert Davis and Simon Docking was such a treat. And the packed house and enthusiastic audience was exhilarating!

There is an appetite for opera in Halifax!

What was also wonderful was meeting a new corporate donor. Jules Chamberlain of Nice Moves, Royal LePage Atlantic Realty, has stepped up to the plate and become a donor of St. Cecilia Conert Series.

His contribution went beyond a cheque. He also spread the word through Facebook and Twitter and brought along some friends to the concert.

I can’t stress enough how vital this kind of community/corporate involvement is to keeping the arts alive. We have been bemoaning the government cuts to arts. And it IS a big problem.

But we need to be proactive in finding new resources.

Often business and the arts don’t mix. I know that from a business point of view, the arts don’t make sense. Nope, we’re not going to run a profit. Nope, ticket sales are not going to cover all the costs of presenting a concert.

Many business people see that as “bad business”. But there are enough people in the corporate sector that realize that apples are not oranges. And we in the arts community should be engaging those in the corporate world and proving that what we do justifies the questionable “bottom line”.

Today, however, I will just start with, “Thank You, Jules!”

Well, it’s that time again. D Day. Or, Dress-rehearsal Day, to be more exact.

For the past week we’ve been getting to know each other and each other’s voices better. We’ve worked on the music and the staging. And now its time to run it!

Only, it’s Nova Scotia. In the winter time. So there is a storm today.

Now, I love a storm. (look for proof in the concert on Sunday!) but not on Dress-rehearsal Day!

But the show must go on…so we will wade through snow, ice pellets, wind, mozart, verdi and puccini to put the final touches on what I know will be a fab concert.

Looking on the bright side – a storm on D Day is better than a storm on Concert Day!!

And this concert will melt any remaining snow and ice…lots of passionate music and warm, golden tones and fiery acting on display at the Lillian Piercey Hall on Sunday afternoon.

I hope you can join us!

I’m just in the door from an inspiring week in the mountains.

Sundre, Alberta is home to Kathleen van Mourik and Charles Foreman, the artistic directors of Calgary’s Mountain View Concert Series, with whom I’ve had the great pleasure of performing with for almost a decade.

We spent the week leading up to these performances rehearsing in their wood-beamed rehearsal space in their house…their 9 foot Bosendorfer looking out through  immense windows onto a snow-laden forest, the mountains in the distance.

This time the performance was a “salon” concert in the style and period of Schubert, and was held in an actual historic salon of Lougheed House in downtown Calgary.

Two pianists, a violinist, an actor playing George Sand, and myself performed works of Chopin, Viardot, Liszt, Schumann and others to a packed “salon” on Sunday and Monday evenings.

Every time I work with Kathleen and Charles, I am filled with inspiration and gratitude for the experience of immersing myself in the joys of song. I learn so much and relish the chance to soak up all the music and beauty without the hurried pace of regular daily life.

I am thrilled that Kathleen, Charles and entourage will be heading east to perform our “Pierrot” concert to the St. Cecilia audience in May 2012.

They have never been to Nova Scotia, and I can’t wait to show off my beautiful province. But I also feel I am bringing Nova Scotia a gift from the West.

And now I am home in Toronto, turning my focus to my Lunenburg Christmas concert on December 18th. This will be another happy event, with my brother, Ian Bent, at the piano, and many of my favourite songs of the season on the program.

Lots of travel in this month of December, but it truly feels that home IS where the song is.

I thought it fitting to write on the blog today, as it is the feast day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music, and the namesake of this concert series.

Barbara Butler began this series 23 years ago, and has created a beautiful and impressive gift to the city of Halifax, and now to the South Shore as well. One might call her a living patron saint of music.

I have witnessed how much work, love and persistence goes into keeping a classical music series alive, and I am grateful to Barbara and to those who continue to make the St. Cecilia Series thrive.

Nova Scotia is lucky to have such a series, and we artists rely on the passion, vision, and dedication of Artistic Directors, Board members and volunteers, to provide us with a platform to share our music.

Listeners and musicians alike are better off for the St Cecilia Concert Series. And today, especially, this Musician in Residence is particularly grateful.

And that, you could say, is my Ode to St. Cecilia

I think one of the hardest things about being a singer (musician in general?) is the music learning (or “note bashing”) stage.

It generally follows a performance, where the music is memorized, interpreted and embodied. It’s been loved by me for months, and is given to an audience eager to receive it.

The magic of live performance has transformed it from notes on a page to a living, breathing thing.

Then suddenly it’s over. After the concert, you wake up and instead of greeting your treasured friends, only strangers. Lots of little black dots.

And a time-line. These pages of black dots (and endless lines of poetry in different languages) have to become your new best friends in the next five weeks.

As I plunk away, I remind myself that this stage lasts only a week. Or two, if I can’t find that motivation…

I’m recently back from sunny California where my brother-in-law got married. It has been grey, cold and wet since I got back – much more November than October-like. I can feel the dreariness seeping into me, but am combating it with planning the Candlelight Christmas concert.

I get the warm fuzzies at the prospect of choosing my all-time favourite hymns, carols, and arias of the season. It won’t be a “challenging” concert. I want it to feel like a warm bubblebath…with cinnamon and pine tree scented candles

There is time for musically and intellectually challenging concerts (Pierrot is coming!), but December 18th will be about peace, joy, love and hope. And descants!