Friday, July 13, 2012
MINNEAPOLIS – The GALA Festival is over and all the choristers (estimated attendance was 6,000) have gone home feeling a warm and happy glow. Five days of singing and partying have left me feeling tired, but it’s a good tired. It’s also nice to be back to an elevation where I can breathe normally. While Denver is a mile-high city, Minneapolis is doing just fine here at 830 feet above mean sea level.
Back to the real world. Damn.
I can’t imagine a better venue for this year’s festival. The Denver Performing Arts Complex is an architectural wonder, three grand concert halls and three theatres all pulled together with a covered breezeway in between, which meant it was always …
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Monday, June 25, 2012
Pride is over, all that’s left is a sunburn, a hangover and a bunch of pictures. Friday and Saturday Stan Hill stood on the stage at Ted Mann Concert Hall and waved his arms around for the last time. He’s going to wave his arms at us in Denver in a couple of weeks at GALA, then he’s off to sip “Stanhattans” in Palm Springs. We’re gonna miss him something fierce. I’m sure he’s not going to let his talent rust: I’m sure we’ll see more compositions out of him.
At the concert, we introduced the Twin Cities to our new Artistic Director, Ben Riggs. He’ll be the one waving his arms around next year, and he got …
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Hell Week has arrived. That’s what we call the week leading up to a concert. This Hell Week is going to be particularly hellish, too. In addition to our “regular” Tuesday night rehearsal at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, we have our tech rehearsal tonight and dress rehearsal tomorrow night. Friday night is show time.
This is going to be a very special concert. Our Pride Concert usually is, but this one is going to be extra special in that we are bidding a bittersweet farewell to our mentor and muse for the last twelve years, Dr. Stan Hill. The maestro has finally decided to hang up his baton, but something tells me that we have not heard the …
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