I would like to invite you to join me in central Portugal to sing in one of the choirs at the Zêzere Arts Festival in early August. The venue is the amazing world heritage building, the Convento de Cristo in Tomar. But first.....
My first conducting teacher the late Lawrence Leonard, used to be very clear about the fact that conductors must be able to multi-task. Musical and technical training were hugely important of course but he would make sure we knew that we would spend a lot of time 'fixing', organising, moving chairs and so on. He was certainly right! These days we must add Internet marketing to our list of skills to be somehow acquired. Use social media they tell us. Blog they tell us. Facebook. Twitter. Email. It can be really hard to know when you are getting it right. Do these people want to hear from me? So, it is a really good feeling when a Tweet comes back. 'write about it on our blog, feel free'. So - thanks for the welcome Choir Place and I hope your readers will like our project.
Marketers also tell us we need a USP, an unique selling point. Well I don't know if it is unique. There are wonderful buildings in the world and there are wonderful opportunities to sing great music. Unique or not it is an amazing place and we promise a warm welcome, a positive atmosphere and great music.
What might be unique is that the chamber choir groups get to actually live in the Convento de Cristo building itself. 'Magical' was the most frequent word I heard from singers who were with us last year. If you think they might be exaggerating have a look at some of these pictures taken by one of our tenors.
The oratorio choir, or choral holidayers as I call them, stay in the town of Tomar but also have access to the Convento de Cristo during their stay. Everyone gets a VIP guided tour and of course rehearsals and performances take place there. Unique possibly, special certainly. Why not come along and we can share experiences of great buildings and great music!
Repertoire covered includes: Carissimi - Jonas, Mozart - Requiem, Handel - Dixit Dominus, Handel - Giulio Cesare. You will see from the website that the festival is also a summer course for advanced solo singers and string players. We produce three operas and various concerts and informal performances. There is a real summer festival feel, proof that it is possible to aim for the highest standards that we can find in ourselves and enjoy at the same time. Oh! I should not forget that the food and the weather are really good.
Please take a look at our choral programme and tell me what you think.
Thank you again Choir Place and I look forward to keeping in contact with you all. I have already enjoyed many of your ideas and suggestions via your blog posts.
Brian MacKay
Zêzere Arts Festival
