Nativity Services and Doxastichon at Vespers

As many of you know we have a slightly adjusted schedule this year for our Nativity services. On Christmas Eve we will not have Compline as we normally do at 8 or 9 pm. Rather, starting at 10 pm we'll serve Matins and then segue in to Divine Liturgy for the feast. I imagine that Divine Liturgy will start no later than 11 pm, which means we'll be receiving communion right around midnight and finishing liturgy sometime between 12:15 and 12:30 (at the very latest). Of course there are unknown variables, such as how many people will be there, the number of communicants and how many clergy distributing communion. For those who are curious and planning things around this new midnight service, I think it's safe to say we'll be done no later than 12:30 am. And, yes, there will still be the normal 10 am liturgy on Tuesday, December 25.

Thank you to everyone who attended last evening's rehearsal. For both those who were there and those who were not, we reviewed a new piece, a znamenny arrangement of the Dogmatikon at Lord I Call for Christmas Eve Vespers. It's a piece sung in unison, a style similar to what you would have heard in the medieval period in Eastern Europe. I think it adds a nice element to the service, juxtaposing the old (this piece) with the new (harmonized Kievan Chant, arr. by Boris Ledkovsky; not to mention the eight-part Kontakion by Dmitri Bortniansky, too). When we rehearsed it last evening, for the most part, everyone was able to sing it well except for a few places where there's unanticipated leaps of fourths, or when a phrase begins on the leading tone. A link to a copy of this music is here. Please take a moment to look over the music, especially at those places where potential problems might arise. Last evening we seem to have the most problem with the last three lines of the first page and the first two lines of the second page. Specifically, there were problems with:

1. The leap from "rule" to "and" (page one, line seven)
2. Melisma on "nations" (page one, line seven)
3. The leap from "believe" to "in" (page one, line eight)
4. "in one sovereign" (page one, line eight)
5. The leap from "enrolled" to "by" (page two, line one to two) 

I apologize that there's no recording of this that's exactly the same, but there is a very similar one on the St. Vladimir's Christmas recording from the late 70's or early 80's.

Also, please remember that we are planning caroling on Sunday, December 30. Times and places are TBD, but I'm hoping to go to Catholic Eldercare, Chandler, and condominiums in the "coal yard."

Bravo!

The last seven days have been quite a whirlwind of emotions and fun. What a wonderful week in the life of St. Mary's Choir! I still feel like I'm riding high from last Saturday's exquisite concert. So much music, so much focus, and so much positive energy. All of this seemed to coalesce into a wonderful performance. As your director I was wondering how a concert on Saturday would affect your energy level at a hierarchical liturgy the very next day. Would it be too much? Would the importance of the eucharistic gathering with our archpastor somehow get lost in the shuffle of choir events and concerts? We didn't miss a beat. All of you responded with strength and with love for liturgy and music. Your grit and focus at rehearsals paid off. Congratulations!

But, after last weekend we weren't done. Still one more performance at the Museum of Russian Art on Friday. And, the pressure was on because people were buying tickets for this concert. As you have done time and again, though, you responded with focus and grit. What a wonderful performance and exposition of our liturgical tradition at last evening's concert. You magnificently gave everyone there a window into the prayer life and worship of the Orthodox Church. Again, congratulations!

This morning's event at Fair State Brewing was wonderful way to sort of "end" the week. It was relaxing and fun. I think anytime someone goes through an intense week and ends it with the combination of fermented drinks (within reason) and carols, there is nothing but a cathartic result. Thank you again (and, I guess, thank you to Fair State, too!)!

Please, remember that we have one more rehearsal before Christmas. It's important that everyone attend.

Also, please have on your radar (calendar) caroling on Sunday, December 30. Time and places TBD.

One Week and Counting

We have just a week till our Advent Concert. Tomorrow's rehearsal after church will start at 11:50. Since there's a second liturgy at 11 AM in the cathedral we'll have to have rehearsal in the parish center. I'd like to have it in the gymnasium, but it's possible that yolka rehearsal is still going on then. If it seems like their rehearsal is not wrapping up soon, we'll have our rehearsal in one of the larger class rooms. Thank you for your flexibility.

Also, in previous emails I said that after Sunday's rehearsal I will host people at our house for fellowship and drinks. I'm going to have to cancel his fellowship unfortunately. Both Nino and Mila are sick - Mila more than Nino, but we probably shouldn't have people over. And, I'm still fighting off whatever I was dealing with in November. In lieu of coming to the Ealy's, I'll have some treats for everyone after rehearsal tomorrow.

Thank you all for your hard work leading up to these concerts (and a hierarchical liturgy next Sunday!). I can't wait to be part of all these upcoming events!

Two Weeks and Counting

Today marks two weeks from our Advent Concert. There are about six or eight more binders, so if you *still* haven't gotten one yet, please sign one out the next time you're in the loft.

At last Wednesday's rehearsal we spent a lot of time reviewing Me Thinks I See an Heavenly Host, God is with us (both in English and Slavonic), Avar Part's Bogoroditse Devo, and the Doxastikon for St. Nicholas on December 6 Make Ready, O Cave.

Youtube links:
Me Thinks I See an Heavenly Host: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaawHFeGBVw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUtZxqtfybQ
Bogoroditse Devo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbyUZkBHCko and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e65GLeA4bV8 (only for the first 90 seconds about)

There are still a few more things we need to spend time on at upcoming rehearsals. A few of the liturgical pieces we haven't sung since last year and need to have a fresh look. Also, we still need to spend time on Kastalsky's Shepherds of Bethlehem. I feel like we've really come a long way on this. We are singing it at just about the tempo I would like. It sounds like most of the notes are there, and the our diction is coming along well. The Little Drummer Boy, God's Son is Born, and a few of the Carpathian carols we need to continue to review and refresh in our minds.

Youtube links:
Shepherds of Bethlehem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2w_q_216w and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3riAmXEq7k
Little Drummer Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOo2zPdD-TU (minus the triangle)

Still remaining are three rehearsals including the dress rehearsal:
Wednesday, November 28
Sunday, December 2 (after Church School, probably in the gymnasium because of the second liturgy)
Wednesday, December 5 (dress rehearsal)

The following Friday (December 14) we have our concert at TMORA. More information will be coming about this. 

Finally, some of you might be wondering about me. After four visits to the doctor over the past two weeks, I'm finally starting to feel better. It turns out a pesky virus was to blame for all my misfortune. Thank you to everyone who as pitched in and helped all the services at the cathedral run as usual. It's comforting to know that we have well trained assistants and singers who can step in and cover for me at the drop of a hat when I'm not well. I hope to be back and feeling normal by this Wednesday.

Concert Binders

Concert binders were distributed at this past Wednesday's rehearsal. If you didn't have a chance to pick one up, there are plenty more in the loft. Please, just remember to sign out the binder before you take it.

In other blogs I've spent a little time writing about the origin and history of a few songs in our Advent concert repertoire. Until now I've said nothing about The Little Drummer Boy. Admittedly, at first I was a bit hesitant to include it. I'm a bit more cautious when it comes to singing things in church, and whether or not they have a 'church' sound (whatever that means; it's quite debatable what a 'church' sound is and I could probably write about this in multiple posts - one can find many compositions that I would say do not have a 'church' sound but for better or worse are sung in the Orthodox Church). In the end, I chose to include it simply because the composition itself is not too far removed from other Western carols we sing. The Carol of the Bells is one that comes to mind. I was surprised to learn that Mykola (Nicholas) Leontovych, who composed The Carol of the Bells, did not write it as a carol, but as an example for his compositions students. Only later in North America was it reinvented as a carol. Unlike The Carol of the Bells, the history of The Little Drummer Boy actually has a closer connection to the feast of the Nativity. Its origin can actually be traced back to a Czech carol. Wikipedia has the following to say:
 

The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum" and was published by Davis based upon a traditional Czech carol. Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: Her manuscript is set as a chorale, in which the tune is in the soprano melody with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.", these initials then deleted and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published.The Czech original of the carol has never been identified. 

 

Advent Concert Repertoire and Next Week's Rehearsal

This past Wednesday at rehearsal we reviewed the following things:

1. The first and second antiphons by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. I hope to include these two compositions (as well as others by Alfeyev) in our upcoming recording in March.

2. Shepherds of Bethlehem by Alexander Kastalsky. If you would like to know more about the history of this piece and missed the blog entry from September 27, please go back and read it. Here is a nice video of the composition in the original language. Unfortunately there is a time lag between the video and audio.

3. Me Thinks I See an Heavenly Host by William Billings. This Christmas carol I found in a stack of repertory Resa prepared for the 2009 Christmas concert. When I initially came across it about five or six years ago, I thought nothing of the composition and dismissed it quickly. This past summer while rummaging through music in the office I spotted it again and actually took a moment to sing through it. I was intrigued. It has a very "colonial" (if I can call it that) sound to it and keeps the singers on their toes, changing back and forth from duple to triple meter. Also, and probably most importantly, the text is quite theologically deep and goes to the heart of the Christian message. The more I sang through it and listened to recordings of it the more I liked it. I'll admit I knew nothing about William Billings before seeing this composition. After a quick google search, I found out that he was born in Boston in the 18th century and is considered the first American composer. Here is a nice short exposition of his life and works on encyclopedia.com. Here is a video of the piece (this video is a different video than the one I sent out in the October 9 blog. The previous video - as nice a quality as it is - is not the same arrangement we are singing).

Please remember that this coming Wednesday's rehearsal is moved to Tuesday, October 30. Same time, same place.

Last but not least, this Sunday at liturgy we will sing Resa's cherubikon. Initially when I found the music on the office's computer, I sent a copy of it to Resa's parents and asked them for permission to include it in ISOCM's festschrift in honor of Fr. Sergei Glagolev's 90th birthday. So, her parents have a copy of the music, but have never heard it. The plan is to record it this Sunday and send it to them.

Wedding, Rehearsals, and a Banquet

This coming weekend I'll be away. I'm sorry to say that I have to travel to California. On Saturday Miho is giving a presentation at a Greek Church in San Jose about the history of the Orthodox Church in Japan. We decided it would be best to all go as a family.

Having said that, please don't forget the wedding this coming Saturday at 3 pm. Mark Wesche will be standing on the podium in my place. Singers in Group 2 (and whoever else is singing for the wedding) should arrive at 2:45 and be ready to sing.

I'm sorry that rehearsal was cancelled this past Wednesday, but I was just not feeling well. It wouldn't have been good for me to hack my way through rehearsal I thought. Better to just rest and get over this nasty cold. Next Wednesday we will continue rehearsing for the Advent concert on Saturday, December 8 (at 7 PM, not 7:30).

Please make note that rehearsal on Wednesday, October 31 has been moved to Tuesday, October 30. Same time, same place.

Last but not least, our choir banquet is Sunday, November 4 from 12-3 PM at Elsie's. Please RSVP with Sarah Erickson (serickson618@gmail.com). Guests are $30 per person.
 

Annual Choir Meeting this Wednesday

Congratulations on a job well-done!

This past Sunday's performance at the Byzantine Festival was exquisite in many ways. Nazzo's piece, Today is the Beginning, was executed well on so many levels: dynamics, intensity, enunciation, spirit. What a wonderful debut of this piece in the Twin Cities! What can I say about Fr. Sergei's composition? It's an oldie but goodie, and from the first down beat I knew it would go well. Thank you to all who sang!

This Wednesday will be the choir's annual meeting. We'll begin with rehearsal in the loft and then shortly before 8 PM transition to the parish center for the meeting. At the meeting we'll elect new officers, talk about the upcoming schedule for the choir, and update the choir on other important information.

Just a reminder about the schedule this fall and moving into December:

1. Choir Banquet at Elsie's, Sunday November 4 from 12-3 pm.
2. Advent Concert is on Saturday, December 8 at 7:30 pm.
3. Bishop Paul visit Saturday and Sunday, December 8-9. 
4. TMORA (Museum of Russian Art) Concert, Friday December 14 at 7 pm.

I should also mention that this year St. Mary's Cathedral will have two liturgies on Christmas. The first liturgy will be served on the 24th, starting at 10 PM with Matins and segueing in to Divine Liturgy (similar to Pascha). The second liturgy will be on the 25th at 10 AM just as in past years. In order to gauge how many singers will be at which liturgy I will put up a signup sheet.

Here is a video of the Christmas carol Me Thinks I See An Heavenly Host by William Billings.

See you all Wednesday!

Byzantine Festival Concert this Weekend

This weekend, October 6-7, is the Byzantine Festival at St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic Church. Out of the seven choirs that will perform at Sunday's 5 pm concert, two will be from St. Mary's Cathedral: our very own Cathedral Choir and the Male Choir.

Those of you singing with the cathedral choir, please note the following things:

Repertoire: 1) Nazo Zakkak's Annunciation Troparion and 2) Fr. Sergei Glagolev's Psalm 103.
Meeting Time: 3:20 PM in St. Constantine's church (sound check and rehearsal)
Dress: All black (black blouse/shirt - not t-shirts please, slacks/skirt, stockings/socks, shoes etc.)

Those of you singing with the Male Choir the above applies as well except for the repertoire of course.

At Sunday's sound check at 3:20 we'll also review getting on stage and off. Out of the seven choirs, the Male Choir will sing second and the Cathedral Choir third.

Also, please remember that next Wednesday we will have our annual choir meeting with elections. The meeting will approximately start at 8 pm in the Parish Center (rehearsal will start as usual at 7 pm in the cathedral loft). 

Survey Results and Choir Banquet

This past Sunday was the deadline to complete the surveys for recording repertoire and the results are in! I'm extremely happy to report that out of the 34 surveys received 19 people responded that we should record music for our cathedral's feast (Protection of the Theotokos, October 1). Twelve people responded that we should record Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev's Divine Liturgy and three responded that we should record the parastas service. I think since there is a large minority that wants to record the Alfeyev liturgy we can definitely work some of his pieces into a festal Protection recording.

I think making a recording of feastal music for our cathedral's feast really opens us up to a potentially wide repertory. We have much to chose from. And, we can add an subtract things as needed.

I envision recording selections from both Vigil and Liturgy: Bless the Lord O My Soul, Blessed is the Man, Lord I Call (and stichera for which there are special melodies - we can even sing the stichera for St. Romanos whose feast is the same day and quite appropriate I might add for a recording), Gladsome Light, St. Simeon's Prayer, Magnification, the Canon (Kurt Sander composition), Magnificat, Polyeleos, etc. etc. etc. We'll also include Alfeyev pieces too as I mentioned. Probably or possibly the antiphons, Beatitudes, Trisagion, Cherubikon, Anaphora etc. There's quite a lot that we can work with to make it a marketable recording for the cathedral and other Orthodox churches/institutions, and also one that is representative St. Mary's Choir's high standards of liturgical singing. I'm excited just thinking about all the possibilities and I hope you are too.

I've contacted our recording engineer, Doug Geston, who worked for us for the 2016 recording and he's more than happy to work with us again. According the survey results, the majority would like to record in February. Unfortunately, Doug is completely booked in February, but he does have dates open the first week of March. This will actually work out fine for us since Great Lent does not begin till March 11 this year (yes, Pascha is late this coming year - April 28). So tentatively, I've reserved the following recording dates with Doug:

Saturday, March 2 (starting at 1 PM)
Wednesday, March 6 (starting at 7 PM)
Saturday, March 9 (starting at 9 AM)

These dates are tentative at the moment. If there are major conflicts with other scheduled events at St. Mary's, or for some reason more than half the choir will be at a timeshare in Mexico that week, we'll make adjustments. So, stay tuned.

Choir Banquet details have been ironed out and we are scheduled to have our banquet on Sunday, November 4 from 12-3 pm at Elsie's (729 Marshall St NE Minneapolis).

For the Byzantine Festival concert on Sunday, I'm sorry to say that we will only have time in our concert slot to sing two pieces and not three like originally planned. So, we will sing the Nazo Zakkak's piece (Today is the beginning of our salvation), Fr. Sergei's piece (Bless the Lord, O My Soul), and omit the Petrovich Troparion. The concert organizers apologize for this late notice.

Look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening at rehearsal.

Alexander Kastalsky Christmas Carol

Last evening at rehearsal we reviewed for the first time "Shepherds of Bethlehem," a composition by Alexander Kastalsky. The piece is not only quite beautiful (it is somewhat reminiscent of the Ukrainian Carol "Good Evening to You (Dobri Vechir Tobi)" - which goes to show how connected Eastern European/Slavic carols are) but has an interesting history and is worth mentioning below.

The text is attributed to St. Dimitry, Metropolitan of Rostov (1651-1709), who was an outstanding scholar, poet and musician of his time. It was a surprise to me to learn about the saint's contribution to the arts. This text is found in one of his so-called "mystery plays" - a genre of plays that was popular in medieval Europe - called Christmas Drama. Nikolai Findeizen, a contemporary scholar of medieval Russian music, has the following to say about secular music in 17th century Russia and St. Dimitry's contribution to it:

The management of the [Russian] public theater was entrusted to foreigners and "principals" imported to Moscow for this purpose, and theatrical performances were also staged at the Moscow Slavo-Greco-Latin Academy and later at the Surgical School under the direction of Dr. Bidloo. Plays were produced for the courts in the village of Preobrazhenskoe, where the theater was renovated by Tsarevna Natalia Alekseevna; later, plays were produced at Tsaritsa Praskov'ia Fyodorovna's residence in the village of Izmailovo. Copies of plays performed at the Kiev Academy, in the metropolitan of Rostov's palace, and even in Novgorod have been preserved. The repertory of all these theatrical enterprises can be divided into three basic categories: mystery plays and school plays of similar character; regular theatrical plays (comedies); and theatrical plays with political subtexts.

Mystery and school plays were performed at Kiev Academy, and from there they passed to Moscow and Rostov. It is known that at the founding of the Kiev Academy, Metropolitan Peter Mohila required the poetry teachers to prepare a play for the annual summer festivities. The subject matter was taken from the Bible, but over time as Russian actors were brought in, topics from Russian history were selected. These theatrical productions were slavish imitations of Western models, although the same might be said of the Russian theatrical repertory of this period as a whole. The extent of this borrowing may be seen in the text of Dimitry Rostov's Deistvie na Strasti Khristovy (Passion Play), a mystery play in which one of the two musical numbers were sung in Polish. St. Dimitry was one of the most popular authors of mystery plays performed in schools; during his residence in Rostov, the plays were staged in the Metropolitan’s Krestovaia Palace.

About 200 years after St. Dimitry wrote this text for one of his "mystery plays," Alexander Kastalsky composed the current music for it (albeit a poetic English translation of it). Kastalsky's original composition was actually never published. Vladimir Morosan based it on a mimeograph copy found in the composer's archive in the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow.

Here is a nice recording of the original Russian composition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2w_q_216w
I hope you enjoy it! (Please note that the audio and video do not line up properly; the audio is delayed a second or two delay in the video)

This Week's Rehearsal and Schedule through Decemeber

At tomorrow evening's rehearsal we'll continue to rehearse for the Byzantine Festival, as well as other things for the Divine Liturgy (and even the Advent Concert in December). Last week we rehearsed Nazo Zakkak's Annunciation troparion, "Today is the beginning of our salvation" and you all did an outstanding job with the dynamics and diction. I encourage you to continue to concentrate (while having fun!) at rehearsals as you did last week. Tomorrow we'll rehearse the troparion for Orthodox Sunday, "We venerate Thy most-pure image, O Christ God" by M. Petrovich (by the way, if anyone knows who this composer is and what his or her first name is, I'd be very grateful to know), as well as one or two pieces for our December Advent concert.

There are still surveys in the loft on the bulletin board. If you haven't filled out a survey about the repertoire for the upcoming recording please do so. Your input is important!

Important. Please take note of dates in St. Mary's Choir's schedule through the end of the year:

October 6. Byzantine Festival Workshop. 9 AM (St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic)
October 7. Byzantine Festival Concert. 3:30 PM (St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic)
October 10. Annual Meeting
October 20. Wedding. 3 PM
November 3. Choir Banquet 6 PM
December 8. Advent Concert. 6 PM
December 9. Hierarchical Liturgy 9AM(?)
December 14. Russian Museum Concert 6 PM

Last but not least James Pavlik feel asleep in the Lord. Memory Eternal. His parastas will be tomorrow evening at 7 pm at Kozlak-Radulovich in NE. Funeral on Thursday morning at 10:30 at St. Mary's Cathedral.

Concert, Concert, and Recording

This past weekend I created a small survey for you to fill out about the upcoming recording in 2019. I placed them in an envelope attached to the bulletin board in the loft. Please take one, fill it out, fold it in half, and return to the same envelope on the bulletin board. Please have all the surveys returned to me by Sunday, September 30. It's important that all of you participate in this survey. We want to make a recording everyone will enjoy.

Also, please sign up for the Byzantine Festival concert on Sunday, October 7 if you haven't already done so. The concert starts at 5 pm at St. Constantine's Greek Catholic Church on University Ave., but we should arrive at 3:30 for warmup, etc. What will we sing? As of now this is the selected repertoire: Annunciation Troparion, Nazo Zakkak; Orthodoxy Sunday Troparion, M. Petrovich; Psalm 103, S. Glagolev. The festival is always a fun event, so please consider participating this year if you've never done so.

At last Wednesday's meeting I mentioned that we've been invited to sing a Christmas concert at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. Today I got confirmation from the museum that the concert is scheduled for Friday, December 14 at 7 pm. Please stay tuned for more details.

Tomorrow's rehearsal we will start rehearsing for the Byzantine festival concert, one piece for the Christmas concert, and Bortniansky's Cherubikon No. 6.

Recording project repertoire proposals

Dear Choir -

One of the things we discussed at last evening's meeting was the recording project scheduled for sometime next year. The big question that I'd like your feedback on is repertoire. I really want to hear your suggestions and ideas about this. Three recording ideas were suggested for your consideration:

1. Parastas Service; maybe combined with selections from the wedding service and other services too to fill an entire CD.
2. Vigil and liturgy selections from our feast on October 1. There's potentially quite a bit of material we can choose from; a few different special melodies for stichera at "Lord, I Call"; many, many different possibilities for the non-movable texts/hymns in vespers, matins, and liturgy. 
3. An English recording (the first ever as far as I know) of Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev's Divine Liturgy. We already sing a few different selections of his at liturgy, so we already have a start on this.

Starting this weekend I'll have surveys in the loft to hear your feedback on this recording project.  Please take the time to answer the questions and to give me your ideas about repertoire.

Last evening someone asked whether we have a goal for this recording. Why are we doing it? What will be do with any money we make? These were good questions and I don't remember giving an answer.

I think for any choir - whether it's an Orthodox church choir or a community choir, or even a professional choir like Cantus - it's important from time to time that it is challenged in a way that forces the singers to step up to the plate so-to-speak. Concerts do this and so do recordings. Our task as St. Mary's choir is multifaceted. On the one hand the choir initiates a connection between the earthly and heavenly; our voices give life to the church's sacred texts - texts which then become the prayer of the faithful, leading them to the kingdom of God. This is a theological aspect of our singing, but there's also a practical one too. If what we're doing at liturgy is actually important, then we should not just be concerned with the theological aspect(s) of liturgical singing, but we should be interested and eager to become better litugical singers in a technical way. Rehearsals are obviously the most important part of this technical training, but concerts and recordings force us pay closer attention, listen, watch, learn, and think more closely and critically about ourselves. When a choir has a goal such as a recording, it is forced to grow and self-reflect in ways that normal rehearsals and liturgical services don't force it to. I mean, there are many different analogies you could make about a recording for a choir. In a way it's like continuing education for a professional. It's part of the job and it keeps your skills sharp; it gives you new ideas, new purpose and reinvigorates you.

And, of course, there are many other reasons to record as well. It's fun. As for the proceeds, we'll can decide what to do with it (if anything at all) at a later date.

Deacon Gregory

Week of the Elevation of the Cross

Dear Choir,

It's been quite a while since anything has been posted here, but I think it's good for many different reasons to start blogging again.

As in the past, I hope that what's blogged here can not only provide information to choir members about upcoming events, but also serve as a platform for distributing music and important details about Sunday liturgies and other important services at St. Mary's.

This coming week's schedule.

1. Wednesday, September 12. Choir rehearsal at 7 pm.
2. Wednesday, September 12. Choir meeting at 8 pm. This meeting will be important for many reasons: it's our first meeting of the new ecclesiastical new year; we'll discuss important dates in the fall schedule such as 1) Byzantine Festival concert 2) TMORA concert 3) Advent concert; upcoming recording project and repertoire. Concerning the last point, I'm very interested to know what each of you think concerning repertoire. 
3. Thursday, September 13. Vigil for the Elevation of the Cross at 6:15 pm.
4. Friday, September 14. Divine Liturgy for the Elevation of the Cross at 9 am.
5. Saturday, September 15. Wedding for Joni Venusek and Andrew Hinton. Meet at 2:45 pm the in loft.

If you weren't at rehearsal last Wednesday, I'm sure you noticed that we sang one new piece (Beatitudes) at liturgy this past Sunday. We also pulled out an oldie but goodie - Blessed be the Name of the Lord composed by Dmitri Bortniansky. At upcoming rehearsals we are going to continue to introduce new pieces as well as reintroduce pieces already in our binders. One of these pieces I'd like to reintroduce is Bortniansky's Cherubikon No. 6. It's a lovely composition that is inspiring and fits the liturgical moment in a way that resonates with St. Mary's Cathedral. Here's a link (of course we will sing it in English, though; the score is copy righted, so it won't be posted).

Since we will be within the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross this Sunday, we will most likely sing the feastal antiphons. Here is music for these.

See you on Wednesday evening.

Deacon Gregory