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Some interesting links

All too often one is bombarded with a huge list of links.  Instead, I offer a small list of sites I have a personal connection to, or which I find irresistibly amusing.

Equal Voices is a six-voice a cappella ensemble dedicated to aesthetic exploration of the vocal art. From Victoria to Vaughan Williams, from Bassi to the Beatles, Equal Voices will take you along paths oft-taken but not always well-marked. Their destination…it may surprise you. Equal Voices are: Phyllis Elaine Clark, Kathy Theil, Robert Isaacs, Neil Farrell, Michael Steinberger, and Jon Szabo.
Pomerium, the Grammy-nominated Renaissance vocal ensemble of which I'm honored to be a member.  Directed by founder Alexander Blachly, Pomerium has recorded for Nonesuch, Dorian, DG Archiv, and Glissando, and performs worldwide.  A group of between 12 and 14 singers, we perform mostly the a cappella music of the great Renaissance masters.  Recent recordings have included works of two disks of music by DuFay, and others presenting works of Josquin, Ockeghem, Byrd, and Lassus, as well as marvellous pieces by lesser known composers such as Antoine Busnoys, Constanzo Festa, and Andreas de Silva.
Voices of Ascension, led by Dennis Keene, is an all-professional chorus of between 20 and 40 singers, performing repertoire from gregorian chant through the choral masterpieces of the 20th Century, as well as various popular styles.  Recordings on the Delos label.
The New York Virtuoso Singers, founded in 1989 by Harold Rosenbaum, is a professional choral group dedicated to the preformance of the 20th Century's great choral works.  As a founding member, I participated in its inaugural all-Britten concert, and on many others since.  Harold Rosenbaum also founded and directs The Canticum Novum Singers, one of New York City's premiere amateur choirs, are also publicized on this site.  Canticum Novum sang my setting of Rorate Caeli in concert in December 1997.
Kent Tritle, music director at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where I sing regularly, and for which many of my choral compositions were written, was recently appointed director of The Oratorio Society of New York, one of New York's most venerable volunteer choirs, replacing the recently deceased and longtime director, Lyndon Woodside.
Vocal Area Network is a New York City based organization supporting vocal music of all sorts. Their website contains loads of links to pages for choruses, vocal ensembles, service organizations, and contains a wealth of information about concerts by singing groups of all types, styles, and sizes.
Lionheart is an all-male vocal sextet specializing in medieval music.  Larry Lipnick, John Olund, Michael Ryan-Wenger, Rick Porterfield, and Pomerium members Jeffrey Johnson and Kurt-Owen Richards, they record for the Nimbus label, and concertize nationally and internationally, notably to great acclaim at the Regensburg Early Music Festival, and throughout the Tyrolean countryside.
The Contemporary A Cappella Society of America is an organization dedicated to supporting a cappella singing, particularly of popular music and jazz.  Competitions sponsored, publications, and a yearly A Cappella Summit celebrating the best in unaccompanied singing.

Harmonytryx is an all-female a cappella ensemble founded by Erica Cohn, who went to the same high school I did.  Based in New Jersey, our home state, Harmonytryx performs a wide range of popular and folk music both acoustically and on-mic.
American Choral Directors Association connects choral and a cappella singing musicians throughout the United States, from high schools and colleges, as well as from houses of worship of all kinds.  Green Bushes Publishing's C1009 (Drop, Drop, Slow Tears) and C1015 (Hosanna Filio David) were performed at the ACDA convention in St. Louis, MO on March 9, 2006, by the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, for whom they were written.  A CD of that concert's repertoire is available from MSR Classics.
In July 1996 and July 1997, I went to Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland, for the Willie Clancy Summer School, a one-week event offered each July. Classes in traditional Irish instruments, dance, and seminars on Irish singing are offered, as hordes of traditional Irish musicians descend on this small seaside town, turning nearly every pub into a weeklong seisiun.
As a former brass player, the idea of a cheap homemade natural trumpet tickles me, thus I provide a link to the Hosaphone Home Page.  It will tell you how to make your own hosaphone from flexible tubing and a funnel.  Dennis Brain played a garden hose at the Hoffnung festival; why shouldn't we, too?


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