BOUND BY HARMONY 

(UPDATE 11/4/24 2:00PM) Concert Week - Google Form, Breath Markings, Comp Tickets

Hello Dualis!

I absolutely cannot wait for this weekend. I'm so excited to make music with all of you wonderful people on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some important notes for the week:
  • Concert Week Info - Please review the Saturday Rehearsal and Sunday Performance (Password: Dualis2024) for all the info you need to know about this weekend. Here are the broad strokes:
    • Saturday 11/9: 
      • Rehearsal from 11am-4pm @ Grace and St. Peter's
        • We will NOT have time for a full lunch break, so please eat beforehand or bring a snack
    • Sunday 11/10: 
      • Concert at 5pm @ Grace and St. Peter's, 3:30pm call time
        • Attire is Concert Black
      • Reception from 7-9pm @ Peabody Heights Brewery
        • All Vocal Artists will receive complimentary beverages (beer, seltzers, NA options available) and food
        • Anyone NOT involved with the concert will need to pay for beverages
  • Google Form - I have made a "Concert Week Google Form" to make sure we have all of the information we need for the Concert/Reception. Please fill this out as SOON as possible.
  • Breath Markings - Some of the scores (most notably the Hensel, Elgar, Thorvaldsdottir, Holst and Coleridge-Taylor) will have some very specific breath markings. I will have all of these uploaded to Google Drive by Wednesday night, November 6th.
  • Complimentary Tickets - Each Vocal Artist will receive one complimentary ticket to give to whomever they wish. Obviously the hope is that you can bring someone who will pay for a ticket as well, but I wanted to make sure loved ones and close friends wouldn't have a barrier to seeing the concert. Please indicate who will be receiving the complimentary ticket in the google form above.
  • Share Share Share! - This is the week where we will most likely get the most ticket sales. PLEASE share the facebook event, Eventbrite Link, and whatever else you can! People are excited about this concert, and now we want to transfer that excitement into ticket purchases! 

(UPDATE 10/28/24 6:34PM) Fractured Atlas, Rehearsal Takeaways, Lusitano, Physical Scores

Hello everyone,

I hope your weeks are off to a great start! Thanks to those of you who attended the optional rehearsal this past weekend - we covered a lot of ground on some of the more challenging parts of the program. Please find below some takeaways from that rehearsal, and some other bits of important info:
  • Keep Sharing!!!
    • We have 4 days left on our first donation campaign - we have currently raised almost $900 of our goal. I am sure there are people you know who want to support you and your music making, but can't make it to the concert - SHARE THIS LINK WITH THEM! 
    • Ticket Sales - I am guessing that ticket sales will increase a TON in the next two weeks, but please keep inviting people to hear us! Here's an Eventbrite link!!!
  • Optional Rehearsal Takeaways:
    • Icelandic is hard - I know this is not a hot take, but there are many things that make this language difficult. Please be sure to give the pronunciation guide a listen, as well as scanning the IPA written in the updated scores to make sure you are as prepared as possible. We will not have a ton of time in rehearsal to iron this out.
    • German is (also) hard - the Mendelssohn (Hensel especially) have some challenging German text. I've included two helpful documents in the Pronunciation Guides section of the Google Drive Folder
    • Phrase-shaping in Renaissance pieces - Most of the phrasing in our Renaissance pieces will be based on your individual vocal line. Please consult the recordings to hear great examples of shaping so that we can START rehearsal with an idea of how each vocal line should sound.
  • One more OPTIONAL rehearsal - This coming Saturday (November 2nd) I will be hosting another optional rehearsal at Grace & St. Peter's from 10am-12pm. We will focus on the Icelandic pronunciation, as well as any of the super tricky sections of the music. I'll send out a reminder on Friday about this.
  • Updated Lusitano Scores - I have uploaded the updated Lusitano score to the Drive. This score is transposed into our performance key, shows the correct syllabification, and has all musica ficta as we will perform it. 
  • Physical Scores - I am assuming that all singers will either be bringing an iPad/Tablet or will have printed scores with them on the day of rehearsal. Please respond to this email and let me know if you need physical copies for the November 9th Rehearsal.
Okay this was a long one - thanks so much for all of the amazing work you've already done, and will continue to do!

(UPDATE 10/20/24 11:33PM) Optional Rehearsals, Music Notes, Fractured Atlas

Hello everyone!

I hope you've been having a wonderful couple of weeks since our last update. Thanks to all of you who posted for our Social Media day! We saw a big uptick in ticket sales that day/weekend, and I'm guessing that was NOT a coincidence. Please keep posting! Social media engagement is our best chance at getting people to come see the amazing concert we have in store for them! Instagram|Facebook

Here are some notes:
  1. Optional Rehearsals - At the request of some members, I will be hosting two rehearsals on the next two Saturdays, in case anyone in the DMV area would like some rehearsal before our concert weekend. Feel free to stop by for as long as you'd like, and I'll be happy to help with any note checking/language questions you may have. These rehearsals are OPTIONAL (I cannot pay extra for these dates), and will take place in the choir room at Grace and St. Peter's. I'll be hosting rehearsals on the following dates:
    • Saturday, October 26th: 12-3pm
    • Saturday, November 2nd: 10am-12pm
    • Please text me at 765-283-8284 when you arrive so that I can let you in
  2. Notes for specific pieces:
    1. O Oriens
      • mm. 33-34 (Soprano 2) - for some reason there is an E natural missing in the Soprano 2 line of this score (see reduction). Please add this note to your score.
      • mm. 37-38 (Bass/All) - most recordings turn the bass notes here into triplet quarter notes, but we will do as written (triplet HALF notes)
    2. Schöne fremde
      • The Carus-Verlag edition we are using was published this year, and contains material which is NOT in any existing recording (exciting opportunity!) We will perform the music as printed in this edition, so please don't rely on the recordings too much. There are small differences here and there in each voice part, but mm. 14-43, sparing a few measures, are almost entirely different than any recordings. After m. 43, the music should match the recording again.
    3. Heu me Domine
      • We will pitch this up a whole step, as in the recording.
      • Diphthongs occuring on a single note, such as "Meu" or "deus" will be split evenly 
    4. Tristis est anima mea
      • I had originally intended on doing the Versus as a small group, we will keep it full choir for now, but I may choose a small group of singers at our Saturday rehearsal.
  3. Fractured Atlas is a GREAT way for any friends/family to help contribute to Dualis if they aren't able to make the concert. We have a short fundraising campaign live right now going until November 1. We will have another "finish line" campaign starting on November 2. Feel free to share this link with anyone who might be interested in donating!


Alright that should be it for now. Remember, we will have 5 hours to put all of this together. Please do not leave your score study to the last minute - it is a LOT of music!!!

(Update 10/6/24 11:51AM) Final Rep Change, Music Notes, Social Media Day

Hello amazing people!

We are just over a month out from Bound By Harmony. I'm so happy to have seen all of the people sharing our posts, if you haven't - PLEASE follow us: Instagram|Facebook and RE-POST!!! Remember, the more people we have in attendance, the more money we have to share the wealth, and to dream up amazing new things. 

Here are some important notes:
  1. Final Repertoire Change - I've decided to swap out Casulana's Il vostro with Gustav Holst's incredible I love my love. This is the final repertoire change. I'm sorry if you had spent time with the Casulana piece, I just think the Holst is too good not to do, and it fits in with the theme a bit better. PDFs/recordings are available on the Singer Resources Page (password: Dualis2024). 
  2. Social Media Day: This Friday (10/11/24) I am asking each singer to record a 30 second video talking about Dualis, our upcoming concert on November 10th, and anything else you'd like to include (favorite piece would be a nice touch). This doesn't need to be flashy! Post this video to YOUR instagram/social media, and TAG dualis (social info above).
    • I know this is extra work, but the more YOU get the word out about US, the higher likelihood that people are going to want to come to the concert. Videos are a HUGE way to get engagement.
  3. Music Notes for specific pieces:
    1. "þann heilaga kross"
      • IPA translations will be added to the PDF by tomorrow morning. Hopefully these along with the spoken recording can help make sense of the language. We won't have much time to correct language things, so please take a look/listen.
      • We will be doing the piece in standard tuning (A = 440). All recordings I can find do this about 4 cents lower than standard tunings. I have reached out to the composer about this and am waiting for her answer, but I think standard tuning is the way to go. Make sure not to get too used to the tunings on the recordings.
    2. "I Love My Love"
      • Tempo: The provided spotify recordings either don't reach the tempo I'd like in the 3rd verse, or don't have the tone I'm looking for. I've included my high school students' youtube video in the youtube playlist, but please note that it gets going at a pretty fast clip.
    3. "They Are At Rest"
      • This will be conducted in 8.
      • Breaths/ties: I have updated the PDF to show where we are honoring the tied eighth notes, and when we're breaking. I've also written in rests/breaths throughout. Generally speaking, a "slash" should be a quick 16th note breath.
    4. "Colouring-In Book"
      1. m. 44 - Bass note is marked as a G natural - In The Crossing's recording, they sing it as a G#, and I have to think this is what was intended by the composer. I have reached out to Leila, but in your practice, please sing a G#. If I get any updates I will let you know.​

(Update 9/26/24, 6:30pm) Launch Day, Eventbrite, Pronunciation Guide and More!

Hello Dualis!

I hope your week is going well, and that you have wonderful and relaxing plans for the weekend. I have a couple of updates for everyone:
  1. Tomorrow (9/27) is going to be our official launch day. Our website and socials are live right now (give us a follow!), but I will be posting/sharing links tomorrow starting at noon. I welcome anyone who would like to join in to do so (the more buzz we get, the more tickets we sell, the more momentum etc. etc.)! Here are the links to our socials/website:
  2. Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite using the link below. Admission is $25 + the Eventbrite fee of ~ $3. Please share the Eventbrite link with anyone you think might be interested - this concert is going to be spectacular!
  3. A pronunciation guide for "Þann heilaga kross" is now available on the Singer Resources page of the website (password: Dualis2024)
  4. There are a couple of solos/small group sections in the concert - I will be reaching out to singers individually to assign these.
  5. Throughout the month of October, I will be doing posts on Instagram/Facebook introducing each Vocal Artist. I will share your bio and your headshot, and would love to tag you on instagram. Please fill out the Instagram Handles google form if you'd like to be tagged.
  6. We are still in need of a Tenor 1 to fill out our roster. I have exhausted almost every resource I have, so if anyone knows of an excellent tenor who might be willing to join, please let me know!
I believe that's it for now, please email me if you have any questions whatsoever. Have a wonderful weekend!

​(Update 9/19/24, 4:20pm) Rep Change, Music, Pronunciation Guides, Bios 

Hello everyone!

I'll keep this brief, as most of the crucial updates are available on the website, or in the previous update. Here are some new things:
  1. Repertoire Change - Due to score availability, we will not be performing the Monk "Astronaut Anthem." I have replaced it with Melissa Dunphy's wonderful setting of "O Oriens." You can find the score in the singer-resources section of the website (see below for link)
  2. All Scores Uploaded - With the addition of Dunphy's "O Oriens" and the Thorvaldsdottir "Pann heliaga kross," ALL music is now available at https://www.dualisensemble.com/singer-resources.html (password: Dualis2024)
  3. Pronunciation guides will be provided for some of the more difficult languages (Icelandic for SURE), I am getting these together in the next couple of weeks.
  4. Bios - I am still missing the Vocal Artist Information Google Form from many of you (we have 13 out of 23 finished). I know google forms aren't fun at all, but if you could please take the time to fill this out, I would love to launch the website tomorrow, but want everyone's bio/picture there. If you're having trouble accessing the form, please let me know!
  5. Please continue to use https://www.dualisensemble.com/vocal-artist-updates.html for all information you may need for this group.

I think that's all - I hope you have a wonderful end to your week, and that you have a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend. I can't wait to work with you soon!

(Update 9/14/24, 12:15pm) Music, Bios, Logistics 

Hello incredible singers,

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this group. I am so thankful to each and every one of you for being willing to embark on a new journey with me, and have every faith that it's going to be a huge success. 

We now have a fully functioning website (for our Vocal Artists), and all of the information you need to prepare for our weekend together will be found at www.dualisensemble.com/vocal-artist-updates.html (Password: Dualis2024).

I'll let you peruse these pages, so I can make this update short and sweet, with just a couple of notes:
  • Updates: I will send out emails (infrequently) with any updates, and will also post them to the website link listed above.
  • Bios/Info: Thanks so much to those of you who have already completed the Dualis Vocal Artist Information google form - we have just over half of the group submitted! Please fill this out as soon as you can - I'd like to launch the website next Friday, September 20th and would love for everyone to have a page.
  • PDFs of Music/Voice Part Lists: can be found at the Vocal Artist Updates link above. Click on "Singer Resources" and you should see a google drive folder with all of the information. We are currently waiting on scores for the Meredith Monk and Anna Thorvaldsdottir pieces, I will send out an update when those are uploaded. I made voice part decisions based on my knowledge of each of you combined with your responses to the google form, please let me know if you need to be switched for anything.
  • We are looking for 1 baritone and 1 Tenor 1 to fill out the roster: If you know of any fantastic singers who might be interested in this project, can you please send me an email? Thanks!


I believe that's all for now. Thanks again for everything - I think you'll find that the program is quite diverse and equal parts challenging and rewarding. 

All best,
Kevin