Johann Georg Brandau News
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2019-12-25 06:29:00
Monmouth Civic Chorus. Ryan James Brandau, conductor. December 22, 2019.
Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ. (Orchestra, Seat L6, $30). Program – Messiah and More. Artists Devony Smith, mezzo-soprano The New Jersey Youth Chorus, Trish Joyce, Director. Per my records, this was the sixth year that Lorinda and I celebrated our birthday together. For many years it was marked by attending the Christmas concert performed by the Monmouth Civic Chorus. Trying a selfie with the ultra wide angle camera on the iPhone 11. Compared to prior years’ programs, this afternoon’s concerts had a relatively heavy dose of Messiah, with a couple of arias (and a recitative) sung by the mezzo-soprano Devony Smith. Also on the program were several pieces by the NJ Youth Chorus Coriste – consisting of high school girls – who in some ways stole the show (in a good way). […]
2019-06-04 05:20:00
Monmouth Civic Chorus. James Brandau, artistic director. June 2, 2019.
St. Mary’s Church, Colts Neck, NJ. Preferred Seating ($30). Program – A Night at the Oper(ett)a. Accompanist – Jason Wirth. Monmouth Civic Chorus. This was taken after the first half of the program. The program consisted mostly of songs from operettas written by Gilbert & Sullivan, and the opera Dido and Aeneas by Purcell. For good measure the Hebrew Chorus from Nabucco and The Humming Chorus from Madama Butterfly, as well as The Flower Duet from Lakme were thrown in the mix. We just heard the Hebrew Chorus about a week ago, in Leipzig. While I enjoyed it very much, I thought their volume could be a bit louder. The song sounds simple enough, and the voices often sang in unison. Given what I heard this afternoon, I realized that perhaps it wasn’t that simple. I find […]
2019-04-10 16:21:00
Monmouth Civic Chorus. Ryan James Brandau, conductor. April 6, 2019.
[…] were exceedingly athletic. Evidently the dance company and the chorus have been at it since 2016. To carry on my plagiarism further, I quote from the Program: “The texts were probably written by itinerant scholars and defrocked priests who roamed from town to town, reciting bawdy poems to earn their food and drink …” Well, everything sounds good in Latin (as well as German and French). There was a last-minute soloist substitute, which Brandau announced at the beginning of the concert. I didn’t get the specifics, other than it was possibly the baritone. In any case, all of them did well. Curtain call. Wheel of fortune projected on the screen. Mark Roxey is the one in the white jacket. “O Fortuna” is heard quite often over the radio, and has a haunting quality to it. I do wish the chorus had “shouted” a bit […]
2018-12-18 20:26:00
Monmouth Civic Chorus. Ryan James Brandau, conductor. December 16, 2018.
[…] poorly the chorus’s sound carried into our seating area. I checked our seats for prior seasons, they were all in this same general area. I wonder if other seating areas have similar issues. In contrast, the soprano’s voice came across very well. What she sang included a few selections from Handel’s Messiah, and her singing certainly was on the level of what I heard at NJ Symphony this past Friday. Brandau acknowledging soprano Richardson at end of first half of program. Note the harpsichord towards the right of the photograph. The appearance of this young girl’s chorus Dolce added to the atmosphere. They did quite well with their first song (on stage) but not so well with the second one (in front of the stage.) It is my own experience working with teenagers that it is very difficult to get them to project their […]
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