June and August meetings are directed by chapter members here at SFRS. Any member is welcome to try their hand at it, we would love to have you bring your favorite selections to conduct. Contact Greta to volunteer!
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| Our Conductor for June: James Chaudoir |
Our in-person meetings continue to be suspended due to personal distancing mandate during the CoViD-19 pandemic (see our News & Events page). After a full YEAR of quarantine (and longer keeping our "social distance") we are itching to play music in person! Our host venue, Christ Church Lutheran, has begun holding limited services in person and welcome us back as soon as we feel safe to do so, but we are still "playing it safe" and will continue to hold virtual meetings through August via the Zoom Conferencing platform. Since June, players from other chapters have been invited to join our meetings, and in September we joined forces with the Sacramento Recorder Society to present excellent online meetings. We've have had an attendance of between 35 and 50 recorder enthusiasts in attendance, resulting in an SFRS record 53 paid memberships. We are SO grateful for the support and enthusiasm shown by so many outside of our local area.
Our meeting on Wednesday, June 16 at 7:30 PM Pacific time will be conducted by James Chaudoir. James became a member of SFRS early on in our Pandemic Season. Knowing that our June and August meetings are historically conducted by chapter members, he has volunteered to lead this meeting for us. We are very fortunate to have James do this - he's got loads of experience and has been directing his own group in the Zoomspere for quite some time now. He is a veritable fountain of musical knowledge and he is sure to enlighten us about the music he'll present, centered on the very popular 15th c. song Fortuna desperata and present six settings voiced for 3 to 5 recorders.
We are thrilled to once again join forces with the SRS to present this excellent program with a conductor we don't normally have available to us in the Bay Area or the Sacramento Delta Area.
To participate, send an email to Greta and be placed on our invitation list.
NOTE: Be sure to keep your Zoom account up to date (now at version 5.6.6) for the best online musical experience. Click HERE for a PDF sheet of tips to help you with settings for the best results for playing of and listening to recorders on Zoom. Most of these tips - all of the ones pertinent to our needs - are still applicable to the latest Zoom version, although the document was created a while back.
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| James Chaudoir will conduct in June |
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JAMES CHAUDOIR is Professor Emeritus of Music Composition at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh As a composer, performer, and educator, his musical career has spanned several decades. He has written a wide range of works for vocal and instrumental ensembles--from solo performer to choir and orchestra--and many pieces incorporating dance as well as the electronic medium.
Since his retirement from academia, Chaudoir, an avid recorder player, has devoted most of his creative energy to exploring the technical possibilities of the instrument while arranging music for recorder consorts of various sizes, and composing new works for recorder solo and ensembles. His SATB composition “Waltz” was featured as the 2017 Play-the-Recorder Month Composition for the American Recorder Society (ARS).
James is Music Director of both the Milwaukee Area Recorder Society (MARS) and The Renard Consort based in Appleton, WI. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Oak Park Recorder School (Chicagoland), and recently completed a term on the ARS Board, though he continues to serve as a consultant for Play-the-Recorder Month compositions.
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Although we really miss playing together in person, most of us are almost getting used to attending online music playing events. As we near the last quarter of our season, we've enjoyed experiencing each conductor's unique approach to the art of online presentation.
We look forward to next season when we hope to play together again in person and have another brilliant slate of professional musicians direct us. Meanwhile, we will do our very best to stay well and keep up our enthusiasm for playing our beloved recorders while staying well ... and getting vaccinated as soon as possible!
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| Pied Piper illustration - the top of an old model Mollenhauer recorder box |
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