Georgia Festival Chorus at Oxford

I realize this group "came and went" much earlier this year, but the Budman and I had a great time catching up with Baylor friends AND seeing Oxford for the first time.

The Georgia Festival Chorus, founded in 1987 as the Cobb Festival Chorus by Frank Boggs, is a chorus of 100+ singers who have a far ranging repertoire of classics, anthems, hymns, spirituals, and folk songs. The choir routinely tours internationally as well as within the US and recently just completed a UK tour, which contained a performance at the Cathedral at Christ Church where we were honored to see and hear them perform.





So...what is our connection to the Georgia Festival Chorus? Simply put, the Budman and I became acquainted with the Boggs family through our own collegiate choir experience...the Baylor Religious Hour (BRH) Choir. During our stint in the choir, we had the pleasure of knowing (and singing) with Catherine, Frank's daughter. So, not only did we get to catch up with lifelong Baylor friends, we reminisced about BU and BRH.



It truly felt like "old home week", both seeing friends and catching up with their lives as well as listening to some very familiar choral pieces we have had the opportunity to sing ourselves. A truly lovely program including:

* Glorious is Thy Name, Mozart
* Create In Me, Oh God (Opus 29), Brahms
* Almighty God of Our Fathers, James
* Saul, Hovland
* Salvation Is Created, Tschesnokff
* The Majesty and Glory of Your Name, Fettke
* In This Very Room, Harris
* Redeemer of Israel, Lewis / Arr. Wilberg
* I Will Not Leave You Comfortless, Wm. Byrd
* Daniel in the Lion Den, Caldwell-Ivory
* His Voice as the Sound, Walker / Arr. Wilberg
* My Song in the Night, Arr. Wilberg
* My God, My Portion, & My Love, Lewis / Arr. Wilberg
* Amazing Grace, Newton / Arr. Wilberg
* Ev'rytime I Feel the Spirit, Arr. Dawson
* I Want Jesus To Walk With Me, Arr. Hogan
* Danny Boy / Londonerry Air, Arr. Flummerfelt
* Moses, Medema
* Total Praise, Smallwood / Arr. Williamson

Led by the capable director and singer, Frank Boggs, who we have known for over 30 years...







...the atmosphere was perfect for a concert and for reflection.



















A special treat was to meet the youngest members of the Bogg clan.



While the highpoint of the trip was seeing friends and attending the concert, Budman and I did enjoy a quick walk about Oxford. What a pretty day....enjoy the tour!

Ashmolean Library









Bodlean





Out and about in Oxford

I've gone over to the dark side

I have appropriately been accused of spelling my words with "Ss" and not "Zs"...guilty as charged.

Sad thing is, I don't even notice it anymore.

May Trip: Edinburgh and the marathon

Nice problem to have....so many trips and not enough time to post. However, a quick note re: Marathon #14, Edinburgh; not the time I had hoped but a good run considering wind speeds were 30-35 mph from mile 17 onwards.





Hachie Gal will fight to run another day, however!

Being a fan of destination running, we took the opportunity to explore Edinburgh a bit prior to the race. First up, Edinburgh Castle....





































Views of the amazing Edinburgh skyline.









The other exciting bit of the weekend involved that "pesky ash cloud" that raised its head again, delaying our departure out of Edinburgh by a day. No worries, as we checked into a lovely hotel called "The Witchery" that was FAB-U-LOUS! So, when can I make a return trip?

Virgin London Marathon

Well, the news is in today...for the third year, I have not been successful in securing a ballot position on my own for the London Marathon next April.

No worries, I have 2 charities offering me a charity place....so am all set if I want to run.

As of now, the "12 in 12 in 2012" (12 marathons in 12 months in 2012 for those of you who missed the post) is officially in full swing with 7 marathons secured (Januuary through July). As soon as the other races open registration, I will be full steam ahead.

While we are on the subject of marathons, how about my gal, Paula Radcliffe, and her showing in the Berlin Marathon 10 days ago....placed 3rd and is definitely on the comeback trail for the Olympics.

call me crazy

I know...I am SOOOOOOOOOOO out of touch. I mean, I totally missed all the FB hoopla on the new format and functionality. Guess I need to get a life b/c everyone else on the planet clearly was clued in.

Wacky, I know, but I was following those other big news stories of the day...Athens riots, Texas execution, release of the US Americans from Iran.

What was I thinking?

Hard to believe it has been a year

A year has come and gone since the passing of my funny and smart aunt, Peggy. A day does not go by that I do not think of her or reach to pick up a phone to call her.

Thanks to everyone who remembered this special person today and the gift of healing she gave to others.

She was definitely one of a kind. I know she is up in heaven "flinging her green and gold afar"...

Fall semester is here

I am not in school, but yet there is something about September that reminds me of the start of fall term. September kicks off everything....American football (which I desperately miss), the start of the return of cooler weather, the new fall TV line-up....even the start of fall choir.

The Chiswick Choir is no exception, and this fall, for our "big" work, we will be performing the Brahms Requiem...a personal favorite. There is a little concert in early October that is introducing me to a lovely new bummer crop of British composers that I have never sung, such as Cyril Bradley Rootham.

In his work "For the Fallen", I am reminded why I sing....a line from that work, "There is music in the midst of desolation...."


Indeed.

BBC Proms #38

I always love the musical tributes to Hollywood - last Friday's prom was no exception. The program of famous film scoring was divine, with one major exception - who is Jonny Greenwood and has anyone ever seen Norwegian Wood? Nope, not me either.

* Scores from The Man Who Knew Too Much, Prelude: Citizen Kane, and Pyscho: A Narrative for Strong Orchestra - Bernard Herrman

* Cinema Paradiso - Ennio & Andrea Morricone, arranged by Angela Morley

* Henry V - Suite - William Walton, arranged by Muir Mathieson

* Scores from Star Wars, Title from Schindler's List, and Theme: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Hedwig's Theme - John Williams

* Norwegian Wood - Suite - Jonny Greenwood, arranged by Robert Ziegler

* Murder on the Orient Express - Overture, Waltz, and Finale - Sir Richard Rodney Bennett

* Scores from Out of Africa - Love Theme and On Her Majesty's Secret Service: The Music of James Bond

Sirens starting in Birmingham....

Sitting in my hotel conference room...and the screeching sirens from police cars and fire trucks have already started rolling by....and it is not yet 5 pm...does not bode well for tonight...

For those interested...here is the scope of riots from last night.

Mob rule

It was crazy for a third night in various parts of London, where mobs of youth "simply causing trouble" took to the streets to vandalize stores, set stores, homes, buses, and cars on fire, and terrorize citizens with their behavior. Total criminality.

Riot police were called to areas of Hackney, Clapham, Ealing, Lewisham, and Peckham overnight to try to bring order, but with little success before whole blocks burned down and looters carted away what they wanted for over 2 hours in some cases.

There seemed not to be enough police but one felt for the Met last night. Even the PM and London Mayor have flown home early from their holidays to meet this AM on a plan to get the riots under control. If anything, the riots were worse last night than any of the previous evenings, even after the Tottenham incident of a few nights ago.

It angers me to watch the city burning and general anarchy on TV as it is happening.

To all my London peops out there, "be safe"!

Happy Birthday to Me

Thanks to all those family, friends, and colleagues who wished me well on my birthday. What a wonderful gift of love and friendship I received today!

FB Friend Requests

Has everyone become as "strict" as me on accepting Facebook requests to people either (1) they don't know, or more importantly, (2) can't remember?

Don't get me wrong, I think FB is great for reconnecting to people in your past, i.e. high school, hometown neighborhood, college, first employer, etc.

I am continually perplexed though when I see a name and I think "Do I even know this person?" and "Do I accept a FB request when I am not sure I know this person" Sometimes, I try to look at the requester's friend list to give me a clue where in my past I might have known this person. Even that does not always solve the mystery. Then the inevitable...I sometimes feel a bit guilty for just a brief moment that my memory has gone blank. Or should I?

But only for a moment....then I decline the request.

Sorry if I have offended anyone b/c I "should've but didn't" remember you. Blame it on age :-)

BBC Proms #26

A slighter cooler (only slightly) Royal Albert Hall was the venue once again of last night's Prom. A mixed program in my view, but then again, I will be the first to admit that the modernistic Dutilleux piece circa 1965 was not my forte. Still, the Ravel Bolero is always a crowd favorite and the Debussy opening piece just exquisite.

An entire French composer program included:

* Prelude a L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune - Claude Debussy
* Tout un Monde Lointain - Henri Dutilleux
* Bolero - Marcel Ravel
* Daphnis and Chloe - Maurice Ravel

BBC Proms #24

A really nice Proms program...
beautiful music, with a gorgeous acapella rendition of Irish Tune from County Derry (i.e. Danny Boy).

Full program included:
* There is Sweet Music - Edward Elgar
* Violin Concerto in B Minor - Edward Elgar
* Irish Tune from County Derry - Percy Grainger
* Suite 'In a Nutshell' - Percy Grainger
* Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche - Richard Strauss

Thank goodness the second half of the program was lively...the heat was SO heavy in the non A/C Gallery section...I almost gave up at the interval (intermission, for you Yanks) and headed home. My perseverance paid off.

Less than one year...

It is less than year before the capital city of UK will be awash with Olympic fever....

So, how's the progress thus far?

* UK Olympic sites are either finished or on target to be ready in plenty of time for the events.

* Marketing for event tickets has been "smashing"...so much so, that only 700,000 people got any tickets with another 1.2 million people missing out altogether. From an event promoter perspective, the marketing worked. From an attendee perspective, kinda a bust.

* Everything now is about "Team GB". Athletes are participating in a vast array of world events as we speak, with an eye to the Olympic games next July. Almost reminds me of US Presidential elections...I have an entire year to "listen" to all things "Olympic"....ugh!

* every company seems to be an "official sponsor" of the London Olympics, i.e. "McDonald's is the official restaurant of the London 2012 Games." Don't get me wrong, thanks McD's for the sponsorship, but (1) are you really a "restaurant" and (2) most of the menu kinda flies in the face of healthy eating.

My personal favorite is the "advice" being given by employers to staff about how to deal with the inevitable transportation challenges, A YEAR BEFORE THE EVENT EVEN TAKES PLACE, including:

• Taking vacation around the Olympic games to avoid travelling.
• Working from home or relocating to other company office locations outside of the London area for the 6 week games period (Olympics and Paraolympics)
• Altering working hours to avoid busy times on the public transport system.
• Using alternative types of transport to get to work (e.g. walking or cycling).
• Changing the way you meet clients and partners - use video or web conferencing).

Great suggestions but somw a bit more possible that others (i.e. not planning on walking the 37 miles to work southward or 8 miles into central London)...

Personally..I like the vacation one the best...hmmm...sounds like a perfect excuse for a trip!