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A Choral Chamber Ensemble

Kerry Krebill
Artistic Director

MUSIKANTEN MONTANA

2022-2023 SEASON

Helena Choral Week 2023

Helena Choral Week Schedule - June 19-24

8 AM -- Join us for coffee/breakfast (Coffee location changes every day -- info on that soon!)
 

Morning Classes Schedule

Monday through Friday at St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral - 511 N Park Ave, Helena, MT 59601


9 9:50 AM -- Music Fundamentals, with Tom Gregg. 
10 10:50 AM -- Renaissance A Cappella Singing, with Michael Harrison & friends
11 – 11:50  AM -- Group Voice with Anne Kania, Bobb Robinson, and Chas Elliott

 

12:15 – 12:45 PM - Lunchtime Concert

More about Morning Classes: 

9 AM Music Fundamentals 

Tom will teach his usual brilliant Music Fundamentals class.  Think of it as Music Theory Bootcamp -- a great way to jump start your brain every morning. Counting, reading intervals, keys...

10 AM Renaissance Singing ($40 for the 4 classes):
Monday Michael is not here till Monday afternoon. Kerry will lead 50 minutes of French drill on the Martin text.

Tuesday – Singing Rounds from Facsimiles (from Thomas Ravenscroft's 1609 collections Pammelia and Deuteromelia). It's fun, and not that hard since everyone learns the same part first before singing it as a round.

Wednesday John Dowland's Ayres for Four Voices (a sampling of Dowland's best and most popular songs).

Thursday Musica Transalpina (Selections from the 1588 collection of Italian madrigals "Englished" that started the English madrigal craze)

Friday Recap (revisit favorite pieces from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday or to read through pieces we may not have gotten to).  

 
11 AM  Group Voice: New Ideas! Be a better singer! 
Monday, Tuesday and Friday Anne Kania and Bobb Robinson: “Singing the subtext: what you THINK is what the audience FEELS." Anne and Bobb will introduce this enlightening concept with examples from their own singing and help you experience the difference through fun group exercises and brave volunteers. What difference?  How, by revealing and expressing the (your) subtext behind the actual text, you can access a deeper emotional richness that passes like magic from the singer to the audience.  Hence, what you think is what they feel. [You will hear this happen in the Tuesday and Thursday lunch recitals, and discuss more on Friday.]

Wednesday and Thursday Chas Elliott: "Breaking the Rules"  Approaching and presenting a song in your own way! 

General Information about Choral Week

All week-day events will be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral, 511 N. Park (next to the YWCA).

(Enter through the back door, off the Cathedral parking lot, and go up the stairs.) 

Morning classes are open to the public – enrollment for 5 days is $50.  

Drop-in any day for $12 each class.

Sign up in advance or right before the class.

(You can easily skip the line and register by email at musikantenmt@aol.com and pay by Zelle or Venmo.)


Private voice lessons available!

Private voice lessons with Guest Artists Tom, Bobb, Anne, Chas or June Lee, which can also be scheduled at mutually convenient times during the week. Private lessons are $40 for 45 minutes. To schedule a lesson please text Donna at 406-439-2926.



Lunchtime Concerts

Helena Choral Week 2023’s downtown lunchtime concerts will all be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral at 12:15 – 12:45 PM.

The five FREE (donations gratefully received) mini-recitals feature the Guest Artists in short programs perfect for the lunch hour.  

Monday “Russian Romances” with soprano June Lee and Gerald Schafer, piano

Tuesday – “Delight of the Soul: Sacred Arias by Bach and Elgar” with contralto Anne Kania and baritone Bobb Robinson, June Lee, piano

Wednesday “American Sacred Songs” with tenor Thomas A. Gregg and Wendy Yuen, organ

Thursday “Harmony of the Voices: Vocal Ensembles from Great Choral Works” including soprano Robin Pennington, mezzo soprano Kathy Bramer, contralto Anne Kania and baritone Bobb Robinson, with June Lee, piano

Friday “Songs My Students Taught Me” with baritone Chas Elliott, and June Lee, piano

Grand Finale Concert Program

8 PM Saturday, June 24, at St. Mary’s Catholic Community

Rejoice in the Lamb -- Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)

Robin Pennington, soprano

Anne Kania, contralto

Thomas A. Gregg, tenor

Bobb Robinson, baritone

Wendy Yuen, organ


Ode à la Musique -- Frank Martin (1890 - 1974)

Bobb Robinson, baritone

June Lee, piano


Alexandria Suite -- Russell Woollen (1923 - 1994)

1. Lines in Christ Church Graveyard

2. Choral Recit.: Suggestion to a Wolfe St. Neighbor

 3. Urban Renewal

4. August Blizzard (Lullaby)

5. Assault of Roses (Scherzo)

 6. Song for a Walk at Night in Winter

7. Fruit Store

8. Epilogue: Graveyard, Old Presbyterian Meeting House

On Sunday morning, the group will also be singing for the 10:15 liturgy at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral.

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Musikanten Celebrates Russell Woollen

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A concert performed by the Musikanten choir and orchestra celebrating the music of American keyboard artist and composer Russell Woollen (1923-1994). They perform several short pieces and finish with a performance of the Alexandria Suite, a setting of poems about Old Town Alexandria.

Chorus and Chamber Orchestra

Kerry Krebill, conductor

Amanda Balestrieri, soprano

Thomas A. Gregg, tenor

Wendy Yuen, organ

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19th Montana Early Music Festival — 
A Spanish Epiphany Celebration

Welcome the Three Wise Men (Tres Reyes) in glorious Spanish style! Musikanten Montana is excited to present Francisc Valls’ “Missa Scala Aretina,” written in 1702 for the Cathedral of Barcelona, where the Spanish composer was assistant organist.  Expanding the Mass, which is exuberantly scored for four choirs of singers, instruments and continuo, the concert will include motets and instrumental works of Victoria, Morales, Guerrero and other Spanish Renaissance and Early Baroque composers, as well as the Propers and scriptures for the Feast Day, all to re-create a festive Catalan Celebration of the Epiphany.

Featured will be our beloved baroque band leader Carrie Krause, along with her British colleague Davina Clarke, and Sarah Huebsch Schilling’s Renaissance wind ensemble Forgotten Clefs. Vocal soloists are soprano Amanda Balestrieri, alto Marjorie Bunday, tenor Dan Hutchings, and baritone Art Bumgardner. Continuo players are Adaiha MacAdam-Somer (cello), Mark Bergman (bass), Billy Simms (theorbo)  and Wendy Yuen (organ).

Performances:

Thursday, January 19 at 7:30 pm - Holy Rosary Parish, 220 W. Main, Bozeman

Friday, January 20 at 7:30 pm -  Immaculate Conception Parish, Western Ave. and Caldonia St., Butte

Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 pm - St. Mary Catholic Community, 1700 Missoula Ave., Helena

Advance tickets available at Birds & Beasleys and Piccolo Music in Helena ($30 general admission; Half price for students), and from Holy Rosary in Bozeman. Suggested donation in Butte is $25 at the door.  As always, Musikanten Montana’s Angel Donors (above $100) enjoy reserved seating in the front of the concert halls.  

 

The traditional MEMF benefit chamber concert in Helena following the tour is Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, and will feature Forgotten Clefs, the Krause-Clarke duo, Billy Simms on theorbo, and refreshments. To allow for a larger audience for this special event, the performance will be at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral, 511 N. Park.  $30 donation at the door. 

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Musikanten Montana
Memorial Concert for All Souls

Bach Cantata BWV 150
Biber Requiem 
in F minor

 

Featuring
Kerry Krebill, conductor
Evanne Browne, soprano
Amanda Balestrieri, soprano
Anne Kania, contralto
Thomas Gregg, tenor
Bobb Robinso
n, baritone
Elisa Wicks, violin

 Brune Macary, violin
Cyrus Roat, bassoon
Adaiha MacAdam-Somer, cello
Dr. Wendy Yuen, organ

St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral

7:30 PM - Tuesday, November 1

 

Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church

7:30 PM - Wednesday, November 2

Suggested donation $25 at the door