Yesterday was the concert for the Greater Trenton Choral Society, led by Chris Loeffler. It was a good show. Not my best, not by a long shot, but it feels good to have the accomplishment. My throat is a bit raw and my voice is lower today from pushing too hard. We had a good space to sing in and I got to liking the sound of my voice bouncing off the walls, so my piano markings became mezzo-forte and it grew from there.

In addition to the program of Americana choral music, I got to do 3 Ned Rorem songs solo. He's become one of my favorite composers of American lieder as he writes tuneful stuff with the modality and harmonic exoticism I like. I got those songs under my belt in about 3 weeks too, so that's a benefit.

Leff has already begun thinking about the fall program but first we need to get our summer recruitment drive going. Some of the existing members seem to want lighter fare, but Leff is hoping we can get enough new blood to try something like Mendelsohn's "Elijah." I'd enjoy that.

I've been incommunicado for much too long now, but now that the semester is over I've nixed two of my big weekly commitments. Now I can actually get things done instead of picking up projects just long enough to have to put them down and go teach people.

Of course, I still need to magically know a few pleasant songs by an America composer by the end of the month. I think the audience is going to be small anyway, so I won't be embarrassing myself in front of anyone important.