I'm doing a concert tomorrow with Cappella Romana and Portland Baroque Orchestra.  It's a Venetian Baroque concert in collaboration with the Portland Art Museum, who has an Italian special exhibit right now.  Here's a video from rehearsal last night.

Here's a couple pictures from Cappella Romana's recent performances at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.  This was an incredible experience!  

In rehearsal before the concert

Our amazing greenroom, which was actually in the gallery itself!

I'm so excited to be headed on tour next week with Cappelle Romana.  We will be performing at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  This is such a unique opportunity.  You can see more info about the tour here.

And I will be posting pictures here, too!

In the meantime, the weather is SO fall now!  The leaves are changing colors in Portland, and it is SO pretty.  This is the music that I wrote today, sort of inspired by the change in weather:

Lastly, I had a great time hosting a "Fall Fling!" with Abby and my friends Fred, Kym, and Malee.  Here's a couple pictures from that event:

For the third time this month, I'm going to do a performance of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis, this time at the Oregon Bach Festival.  I'm down in Eugene, Oregon doing rehearsals this week leading up to our performance on Friday.  I haven't been here for two years, so of course it's lovely to be in Eugene, see old OBF friends, and be making music under Helmuth Rilling.

Here's a picture from rehearsal:

This is just the beginning, because June has been a very musical month for me.  I also did some performances with Cappella Romana, reprising the repertoire from our Greece tour a year and a half ago ("From Constantinople to California").  We performed at the annual Chorus America conference in Seattle, and also a show in Portland.  This review just came out today from Oregon Arts Watch, which was glowing.  You should read it, because when it talks about 2 singers taking on a slightly nasal tone (in the Eastern style), that's me! (And the wonderful Les Green.)

As if those experiences aren't enough, there has been even more music-making!  I was so excited to collaborate with my amazing wife Abby to do a concert last week.  For the first time ever, we presented a concert/sound therapy event together.  It was called "Summer Centering" and we did a wide variety of music, including Snow Patrol, John Lennon, Greek chant, The Civil Wars, and some music I wrote.  And the real centerpiece was Abby's performance on the singing bowls she trained to play in Nepal. 

We're going to do another event like this on August 1st.  Info here

Also, Abby is performing her singing bowls at another event on July 7, which includes yoga, acupuncture, and sound therapy in a single event.  Info here

This picture is from after the event, when several people had lots of questions about the bowls:

Lastly, I've gotten a little behind on my composition project, but I managed to get into a practice room at the University of Oregon today for my latest idea (recorded just with my laptop).  For some reason, ragtime was speaking to me this week!

I just got 2 more pictures from the tour that I wanted to share - pictures of us performing in Greece.

I'm back from an amazing tour with Cappella Romana to London, Germany, and Greece. 

I made a highlights video from our adventures. 
You can also see my pictures on Flickr. 

Exciting news!  In less than a week, I'll be headed across the Atlantic to do a 10 day European tour with Cappella Romana.  We're going to sing in London, Germany, and Greece.  

Some highlights of the tour include:

• Appearance at the Tage Alter Musik festival in Germany
• Performance at St Bartholomew the Great, one of London's oldest churches
• Cappella's first appearance in Athens, Greece
• Masterclasses and special events at 2 different academic institutions

I've done several tours with Cappella, but this one will be a little different for me, because it is only men and we will only be singing Byzantine chant (as opposed to other programs, which often have women singing and incorporate some modern music).  I will be traveling as an isokrat, which means my primary role is to hold the ison or drone for the chant.  This can be a very unique experience - in some ways very stagnant, but also quite meditative and trance-inducing.    

Here's the full schedule:

May 14, 2013, 8:00pm

Recital of Byzantine chant by Cappella Romana 
and the Choir of the Archdiocesan School of Byzantine Chant
The Great Hall at the Hellenic Centre
16-18 Paddington St. Marylebone, London W1U 5AS
Free admission, reservation recommended
More info here

May 15, 2013, 8:00pm

Desert and City: Medieval Byzantine Chant from the Holy Land
Cappella Romana 
St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Cloth Fair, EC1
(London's oldest church)
London, England
More info here

May 17, 2013, 10:45pm

Cappella Romana in Concert
Tage Alter Musik festival
Regensburg, Germany
More info here

May 19, 2013, 8:00pm

Cappella Romana in Concert
Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation
Patras, Greece
More info here

May 20, 2013

Cappella Romana in Concert
The American College of Greece 
Athens, Greece
4:00pm: Master Class
8:30pm: Concert in Cotsen Hall
More info here

Lastly, here is a video of our men's chant group performing a couple months ago at Stanford University, in a "virtual acoustic" of Hagia Sophia: