Technology, Rehearsals, and Composer Ola Gjeilo

Tonight is going to be a very cool evening at LCA rehearsal. We have invited Ola Gjeilo, composer and pianist, to join us via Skype during our rehearsal tonight. This is not the first time I have experienced a Skype rehearsal. And of course as many people, I have interviewed for jobs, engaged with old friends, and connected with other directors via Skype or Facetime. But no matter what I love the fact the technology has made it so much easier for choir, conductors, and composers to make meaningful connections around music.

Ola Gjeilo

Skype

As a part of this evenings session I will be recording session and I hope to have that video posted on our social media pages early next week.

Choir of Royal Holloway

The music we will be performing on our spring concert from Ola is called Ecce Novum. We have previously performed this on holiday concert in December with piano. I am very excited to tell you that this time we will be adding strings (violins, violas, cello) in May.

12 Ensemble

The piece was originally performed by the Choir of Royal Holloway and 12 Ensemble. Ola wrote the text for this composition. It distills the joy of the birth of Christ into a beautiful "soundscape." Sung in Latin, this piece like many of Ola's focus mostly on the sound of the words, in combination with the instrumentation. Though the actual translation is beautiful, the text is there to support an overall concept of sound more that be clearly understood.
I look forward to sharing more insight from Ola after our session tonight.

Here is a link to the original recording. https://open.spotify.com/track/4wl3l2lkOkDVkiMInm8RtR

And please come and hear our performance of the music on May 19th at First United Methodist Church in Lincoln, NE at 4pm. http://www.lincolnchoralartists.org/2018-2019-season.html