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! 

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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.) 

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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!

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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

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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.  

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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

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Grand Finale Concert Program

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

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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

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