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My very kind and generous husband gave me a spa visit as my Christmas gift. I think I dropped the hints pretty strongly, wrapping his gift and placing it under the tree by Dec. 12th, and mentioning several times that “I brought that gift all the way from Germany in my backpack.” This is wife-speak for “You’d better get me a gift of equal or greater value.” There is a language of spas. When the receptionist explains that “your therapies will commence at 11:30” she means your massage starts soon so get changed now. The waiter at lunch may ask… Read More »Spa-speak

January was a busy month for Schola Magdalena. We had a concert at the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto on Friday Jan. 14th, and then toured to Stratford for an afternoon workshop, tea and concert. It was a snowy day, but the folks in Stratford did come out and we were treated like royalty! We were each given a beautiful bouquet after the concert (ah, roses!) and Nicola Adair cooked us a gourmet dinner with plenty of excellent wine before we were poured onto the Via Rail train back to Toronto. It was a wonderful weekend, and great… Read More »January blog

    Do you remember the first time you heard Handel’s Messiah? Last Saturday afternoon we had the privilege of presenting this masterpiece of baroque music to about 300 people, most of them under the age of 12. Pax Christi Chorale teamed up with the Gallery Choir of St. Mary Magdalene, along with four super stellar professional singers and a volunteer orchestra made up of veteran players and high school students, led by Larry Beckwith. I shared the conducting with Matthew Otto my assistant conductor. During one of the choruses, a tiny little girl came right up and stood beside… Read More »Children's Messiah

It’s embarrassing but I think I’ve lost my camera. So I’ll just describe this week’s activities. I went out on a limb and went downtown to a club to see an amazing singer/songwriter perform live with her band. Her name is (wait for it) Stephanie Martin, and I found myself at several points very  moved by her music and her devotion to performing – and not just because we share the same name. I’d recommend to everyone to step outside of their musical comfort zone and take in a new genre of live music over the holidays. I’ve returned to… Read More »Where is my camera?

Being a musician in Toronto sometimes takes me off the well-beaten track of my weekly routine to some very interesting places. Yesterday I had a great time playing piano and organ for the annual Christmas carol concert at Upper Canada College. It will be remembered by family and friends as the carol service when the house lights in the auditorium failed. The audience’s carol singing was a little timid, perhaps because of the dim light, but this did not deter the boys from singing very enthusiastically, and playing some rousing big band numbers. As I wandered through the halls looking… Read More »Playing it old school

When Janet and I decided to visit Hildegard sites in Germany we were initially pretty confused since there is more than one way to pursue her history. We felt it was most important to visit the living community of nuns who sing daily services in the Abbey of St. Hildegard. We were not disappointed.  The nuns sing Gregorian chant beautifully and the Abbey is a turn-of-the-century version of a medieval monastic building. We spoke with several of the nuns in the gift shop, and made many purchases: CDs, books, printed music and wine. If you want to visit the Abbey… Read More »In search of Hildegard

If you’re a musician you might know that feeling of getting up the morning after the show and with fear and trepidation opening the newspaper to read the review. There were a couple times in the 90’s when I couldn’t eat my breakfast (OK only once) when I did get a review I wish I had never read. This one is different. If you’ve become a blog enthusiast, you can subscribe to John Teraud’s classical music blog. He’s a Mensch! Read John Terauds blog http://thestar.blogs.com/soundmind/2010/11 Our CD and video launch party is this afternoon at SMM at 3pm.    

Though I’m hanging up my hiking boots (actually had to discard them) I think I will continue to blog you some photos and stories from my trip. I’ve really appreciated your comments, and I’ve enjoyed distilling my experiences down to a couple of photos and 250 words every other day or so. I got home late last night from Frankfurt and things are gearing up for our SMM CD and Bravo video launch at St. Mary Magdalene’s at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. It will be a great way to see everyone again, and a wonderful welcome home. The last three days… Read More »Last post?

I’ve had two very full days as guest of Janet and Harold Nahabedian who is chaplain of St. Alban’s Anglican church here in Strasbourg. Fr Harold arranged for me to meet the Maitre de Chapelle of the cathedral, Dominique Debes. After climbing several circular staircases, walking outside across the dizzying heights of the cathedral roof, we passed through two locked doors, walked through the bellows chamber and squeezed into the tiny organ loft. Dominique was kind enough to let me play this magnificently restored Silbermann organ, so I improvised on “Tantum ergo” for the tourists 100 feet below. After a short… Read More »Alsatian hospitality