Bach Choir of Pittsburgh Concerts, 10/27/07 & 10/30/07

I've recently rejoined the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. We're putting on our fall concerts next week. The music is wonderful. If you like classical vocal music (or want to exposure your kids to one of the great local choirs), I hope you'll consider buying tickets and attending. Here's a complete description of the concerts:


Voices on the Wind
Featuring the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble
Saturday, October 27 at 8:00 p.m., Trinity Cathedral, Downtown
Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m., Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland

The 24-player CMU Wind Ensemble joins the Bach Choir in a program featuring glorious pieces for wind instruments – including the ultimate wind instrument – the human voice. Come soar with us on the wings of song.


Ave Maria
The Franz Biebl Ave Maria, a beautiful a capella setting of the standard text, is like Bruckner with its thick and expansive harmonies. It has become a gem of the standard choral literature, brought into prominence by Chanticleer.

Equus
Meaning "horse" in Latin, this piece was composed from discarded themes and ideas covering four years of the composer Eric Whitacre's life. This rhythmic and exciting piece is a great example of program music, featuring the women of the Bach Choir.

Celebrations
Vincent Persichetti's meaningful setting of the incredible poetry of Walt Whitman features pieces primarily from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." These settings are thoughtful, spirited and dazzling in their use of colorful orchestration and choral voicing.

Rainland
Rainland explores the inner landscape of a young woman experiencing deep hurt for the first time. The music is both haunting and mysterious, featuring soloists from the Bach Choir. Rainland is the "place where tears come from" and is the U.S. premiere of the UK composer, Joseph Phibbs.

Tickets are available through ProArts 412-394-3353 or proartstickets.org


http://www.bachchoirpittsburgh.org/

WDUQ (public radio in Pittsburgh) Has Lost My Money, too

WDUQ has shown that it has more loyalty to Duquesne University (which does provide its office space) than to the listening public. WDUQ has been ordered by Duquesne University (a Catholic university) to return a donation from Planned Parenthood.

Well, I figure if WDUQ has to return a donation from Planned Parenthood, it doesn't need my money either. After all, I'm a feminist, I believe in free access to birth control and that abortion in the first three months is purely a medical issue and no one's business.

If Duquesne can dictate to WDUQ which donations to take and reject, what's next? Editing the news? No more stories about priestly pedophiles and the huge amounts of money the Catholic Church has had to pay in damages?

I think it's time for WDUQ to find a truly independent home. Duquesne is not an appropriate venue for public, independent radio.

Great News for Al Gore and Doris Lessing!

I'm very happy that Al Gore co-won the Nobel Peace Prize (with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and that Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Al Gore has had quite a year.

Comprehending that Very Different People May Have the Same Name

I'd like to think people who are online are reasonably able to read and think things through. This isn't always the case.

No, I'm not just commenting on Bush-supporters here.

I have a friend with a slightly unusual name. She got harassing messages in her LiveJournal because she shares the same name as a woman in another state who was involved with a murder.

So the lesson is that harassing people on the Internet is stupid. But it's beyond stupid to not realize that multiple people online could have the same name.