Mandala Monday and Music-Free Mandala to Color and Conspirare performing “Let The River Run”

Today I have both a mandala for you to color as well as an uplifting arrangement of “Let The River Run” by Carly Simon (arrangement by Craig Hella Johnson) and sung by the world renown choir, Conspirare.

First the mandala:

Mandala-017 from http://mandalasparapintar.blogspot.com/

Download a larger version to color at: http://mandalasparapintar.blogspot.com/2015/01/mandalas-para-pintar.html, then listen to this fabulous choir while you are coloring.

According to Youtube this is: “Conspirare performance of “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon (arrangement by Craig Hella Johnson) from the PBS special “A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert,” a production of KLRU-TV in association with Conspirare. Conductor, Craig Hella Johnson. Recorded live at Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX, October 2008. Available on DVD and Grammy®-nominated CD (Harmonia Mundi) at http://www.conspirare.org.”

I have the great good fortune to know Craig Hella Johnson and, as someone trained as a choral director, can honestly say he is a genius at arranging choral music and a world class choral conductor. I hope you explore more of Conspirare’s music on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/ConspirareChoir/feed?spfreload=10.

To see Craig’s TEDxAustin talk, which I highly recommend, see my post: http://nwcreations.com/ted-talk-thursday-tedxaustin-craig-hella-johnson/

Enjoy!

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

Mandala Monday and Music-Free Mandala to Color and There Will Be Rest by Frank Ticheli

Most of you don’t know this about me but earlier in my life I worked as a choral conductor. While illness has kept me from singing or conducting for many years, I still love choral music and thought from time to time I would share a piece with you along with a mandala.

Today I have a mandala to color from http://mandalasparapintar.blogspot.com. Below is a small version of the mandala:

Chinese Mandala III from http://mandalasparapintar.blogspot.com

Download a larger version to color at: http://mandalasparapintar.blogspot.com/2010/11/mandala-chino-iii.html

And while you are coloring why not listen to this exquisite music, There Will Be Rest by Frank Ticheli.

According to Youtube this is: “Frank Ticheli conducting his own work There Will Be Rest with the Georgia State University Singers; November 8, 2011, Rialto Center for the Arts, Atlanta, GA”

Enjoy!

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

 

TED Talk Thursdays – Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery of them from www.ted.com:

“TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.”

Today we have the follow up to last week’s talk, TED Talk Thursday – Eric Whitacre: A choir as big as the Internet. According to Ted.com:

In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, “Sleep,” with a video choir of 2,052.

Eric Whitacre began his music career singing in his college choir, with no previous musical experience. By 21, he had completed his first concert work, Go, Lovely Rose, and soon advanced to Juilliard where he studied under Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano. Today, his 44 published concert pieces have sold over a million copies, he has conducted choral music in some of the most esteemed halls in the world and his music has been featured on dozens of commercial recordings. His album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works earned him a Grammy nomination in 2007.

Most recently, Whitacre has been noticed for his cutting-edge work, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, a musical that combines electronica with choral and operatic traditions. The musical has earned him the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award, received 10 nominations at the 2007 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, and performed to a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall in 2010.

Here is the TED Talk:

And here is the new piece, Sleep:

Check out the stories behind the video at: http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir/stories

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

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