Determined to do something musical this year, and finding opera to be a dead-end street at this point, I am looking to another genre that I sing really well that doesn't overtax my range or stamina - Bach, i.e. the pieces written for sop 2 or alto.
Another great thing about Bach is that I can sing a number of these with instrumental accompaniment.
At the church where I sing there's an elderly violinist who is retired from the New York City Opera orchestra. My partner pointed out that I must have something to offer, as he has accompanied me when I've done various solos, including the "Laudamus te" from the Bach B Minor Mass.
So this morning I approached him about doing some concert numbers together, perhaps in the new small venue I discovered on a side street in "Curry Hill" (I don't want to name it unless I get a gig there) that features string players.
He said it sounded great, and that I should start giving hiim 6-12 pieces and that we should start rehearsing them together.
So, so far I have the Laudamus te, "Erbarme Dich" from the St. Matthew Passion, and "Schliesse, mein Herze" from the Christmas Oratorio. Even though some of these are seasonal, my violinist thinks they would be perfectly acceptable as concert numbers. And, thanks to my owning a CD of Angelika Kirchschlager singing Bach arias, I am going to look into "Nichts Kann mich Erretten" from Cantata 74 and "Widerstehe doch der Sunde" from Cantata 54, both of which have violin accompaniments. And then google to find a few more.
I think I need to make a commitment to do one thing each day to get this rolling, which shouldn't be hard.
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