Great First Week!

What a great first week! Lots of singers, lots of guys, lots of enthusiasm. It's going to be a great year! Here are the men on day 3, really knocking it out.

Dear Choir Members,
I am so happy to be welcoming you all back! I have had a wonderful summer and I can hardly wait to get started making music with you all again. I could not be more proud of the accomplishments of the 2010-11 Choir and I am really looking forward to continuing the fantastic level of excellence we were able to reach last year in Italy. For those of you who are new to Choir, here are just a few of the things you have to look forward to, besides great music, great trips, great friends, and the joy of singing as part of your school day!

Fall Concert, Sunday, October 23rd, 7:00 PM, Grace Lutheran Church
Be sure to mark your calendars now for the Choir’s debut performance on Sunday, October 23rd at 7:00 PM at Grace Lutheran Church, corner of Loma Verde and Waverley. It is always one of the most exciting concerts of the year as our choirs take the stage for the first time in a program of culturally rich and diverse choral music from around the world.
Winter Concert, Wednesday, December 14th, 7:30 PM, Spangenberg
I am very happy to announce that our Winter Program will be a set of pieces with the fantastic Gunn Chamber Orchestra. They are truly amazing and it will be a thrill to bring to life some of the great choral works for choir and orchestra.
Choir Retreat, YMCA Camp Jones Gulch
This is one of my favorite traditions at Gunn. This will be my 22nd year at Jones Gulch, and I enjoy it more now than ever. (The Saturday night talent show is not to be missed!). We are going to go up on the last weekend in January so we can rehearse extensively for the Choir/Staff musical!!!!!
Choir Staff Musical, Wednesday, Thursday, February 8th & 9th, 8:00 PM, Spangenberg
One of the biggest traditions at Gunn is our annual Choir/Staff Musical. If you have never seen one, you are in for a treat. It’s a crazy, song and dance filled night with fantastic costumes and show stopping performances by not only our students, but many of the Gunn Staff as well. This is a not to be missed Gunn event.
Spring Tour to New York City, May 24-27, 2012
I can honestly say that I think touring is one of the most important things we do as a musical ensemble. It creates a sense of purpose, a feeling of community and friendship, and shared memories that last forever. Nothing encourages us to work hard more than an upcoming tour, and I can’t wait to share the magic of New York City with all of our singers.
Spring Concert, Thursday, May 31, 7:30 PM Spangenberg
Our musical farewell to the class of 2012!

Looking forward to a great year of music making!

Bill Liberatore
Choral Director, Henry M. Gunn Senior High School

Two more weeks!

Only two more weeks till we are back in rehearsal and beginning to create the 2011-12 Gunn Choir! I assume if you are reading my blog you have been to the all new Gunn Choir website. (Thank you Lisa Kelly. It looks fantastic!) I am very excited by our terrific numbers for 2011-12 with more than 150 singers, and 40 guys!! I am so grateful to all of you who promote this program and encourage your friends to come and join us. It is going to be a great year! I loved the tour to Italy (best trip EVER!) but I am excited to start working on music other than the kind of repertoire you need to sing in Italian cathedrals during Lent! I hope everyone is enjoying their last days of summer, and looking forward to an exciting year of music making.

If you are looking for something fun to do in August, come check out the TheatreWorkes New Works Festival. It is an amazing array of new plays and musicals. Some fully staged, some in a reading format. I am working on a play called Upright Grand by a wonderful young playwright named Laura Schellhardt. It is a play about a father daughter relationship. The father plays piano in a dive bar, the daughter ultimately becomes a famous classical pianist. I get to play all kinds of styles and music throughtout, and I think it is going to be really cool. I encourage you to check it out, and all the other cool stuff that is being performed this week. Go to www.theatreworks.org for more info.

Can't wait to get started on a whole new year!
Best,
Bill Liberatore

Italy 2011

I cannot say enough good things about the choir trip to Italy. Glorious weather, fantastic accommodations, great kids, wonderful chaperones, the best tour guides, the best museums, the best food. Of course for me the part that mattered most was the music.
It is not a small thing to tour in April instead of June. Those two months are a lot of practice time. What a thrill to have the choir rise to the occasion in such a dramatic way. The singing was amazing, and the audiences could not get over them. Here's a little taste. There will be many more videos and recordings coming your way.
Many thanks to all the parts of our extended Gunn community that came together to make this possible.

Google Voice Assignment

To Concert Choir Students,

Here is your first google voice assignment! It will only take you a few minutes, and it will help me identify students who are going to need more help as we prepare for the festival in March, and the tour in April.

Instructions:
1) Download your part to this weeks assignment (Irish Blessing and Jubilate Deo)
http://www.mediafire.com/choir/googlevoice

2) Sing through it a few times and make sure you are warmed up and ready.

3) Dial my googlevoice number: 485-3531. It will ask for your name, and then it will forward you to my voicemail. At the beep, say your full name again, then push play on the accompaniment track you downloaded and sing your part for me. The excerpts are a total of only about a minute.

4) The assignment is not optional if you are traveling to Italy. Refusing to do these weekly checks will take you off the list of students traveling with the choir.
If you are not going to Italy, I will only ask you to sing the pieces we are working on for the March Festival. If you are not going to Italy and you do not do the assignments you are asked to do, you will not be eligible for an A in the class.

5) Students who cannot learn their parts on their own will be given extra coaching outside of class. This is going to make a huge difference towards our success in these upcoming performances.

II. Extra Rehearsals before Italy
In order to be ready to sing the concerts in Italy, we are going to have to put in some extra time outside of class. I understand that the singers in Kiss Me Kate have no time outside of class, so I am going to do this in two different ways.

If you are not in Kiss Me Kate, we will be having an extra Italy rehearsal on Wed March 9, 6:30-9:00. Please clear your calendar. If you can’t be free, you will need to
schedule a rehearsal with me sometime during that week to make it up.

For all singers going to Italy, including those in Kiss Me Kate, we will be rehearsing Tues March 22, 6:30-9:00 and Wed March 30, 6:30-9:00. If you have an unchangeable conflict with either, you will need to rehearse with me during the full hour of tutorial that week.

III. Spring Performance Dates: Please mark your calendars!!
Sunday, March 27, Invitational Choral Festival, San Jose Choral Project
Mission Santa Clara, 4:00 Performance
April 7-16, ITALY
Thursday, May 26, Spring Concert, 7:30 PM

Thanks!
Bill Liberatore

Choir/Staff Musical 2011

Braveheart and Soul: The Birth of Moortown Music

The Annual Gunn Choir Staff Musical is HERE! Wednesday and Thursday, February 9th and 10th, 8:00 PM. Don't miss our hero Braveheart (Mr. Deggeller) as he battles in song and dance against the evil King Edward the Longshanks (Blake Vesey) in a Motown Throwdown that will leave you laughing and humming all the way home. Tickets are on sale in the Student Activities Center or online at Gunnchoir.org.