Singing Well While You Move

More and more choruses are adding choreography to their performances, and they're facing the difficulty of maintaining vocal quality while the singer is moving.  This problem will be addressed in a "Vocal Master Class" on "CHORAL-ography... learning to maintain good vocal technique and projection while moving and acting."

This 90-minute workshop costs $25 and will be held on Wednesday, November 6 at 3:30 p.m. at Pioneer Congregational Church in Sacramento.  It will be conducted by a cast member of the national touring production of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" that is coming to Sacramento.  The workshop is sponsored by the California Musical Theatre Academy, Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus, and Broadway Sacramento.  An application can be downloaded from this link.  And there is a poster at this link.

Diocesan Choir Festival at Trinity Cathedral

Canon David Link of Sacramento's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral has announced the Twenty-seventh Annual Diocesan Choir Festival, to be held on Saturday, January 25, 2014.  Rehearsals on that day will start at 9:00 a.m., and the event will culminate in a Choral Evensong service at 3:00 p.m.

All singers are invited to participate.  Click here to download a document with more information, or contact Canon Link at sierracanon@yahoo.com or 916/930-8024.

The Best Messiah Story You Ever Heard

In December 1939 a Yuba College instructor assembled a group of singers and instrumentalists to perform Handel's Messiah.  It became a tradition that eventually led to the formation of the Yuba Sutter Oratorio Society (www.ysos.org), which this year will celebrate the 75th anniversary of this annual Messiah performance on December 8 in Yuba City (click here for details in the Sacramento Choral Calendar).

But that's not the best part of the story.  One member of the chorus on December 8 will be LaVerne Grell, who was at that 1939 performance and has directed or sung in every performance since.  And on November 14, she will celebrate her 99th birthday.