Author: brandon2458

Join us for this serene service of Compline, sung by the Choirs of St. Chrysostom’s Church, and hear Michel Richard Delalande’s Trois Leçons de Tenèbres sung by Erica Schuller.

St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in Chicago

Wednesday, March 15 at 7 PM – 8 PM

The texts of the Trois Leçons are from the Lamenations of Jeremiah, set to exquisite music by one of Louis XIV’s magnificent composers. This rich and moving music is imbued with life, imploring, crying out in the grand rhetorical tradition of the period. Using dissonance, chromaticism,unusual chord progressions, expressive ornaments and appoggiaturas, Delalande underlines the intensity of these dramatic texts.

Erica Schuller – Soprano
Craig Trompeter – Viole de Gambe
Brandon Jack Acker – Theorbo
The Choir of St. Chrysostom’s Church
St. Chrysostom’s Singers
Richard Hoskins – Director of Music & Organist

I am now working in collaboration with the company Oto Float as their audio engineer and composer for audio tracks designed to custom fit the “floating” experience.  I’m also a frequent floatee and as someone who enjoys mindfulness meditation, find the float tank to be the Mount Everest of meditation experiences.

From their website:

“You are weightless. Free from the pressures of the outside world. Temperature, light, and sound perfectly calibrated for your optimal relaxation and renewal. Stress is reduced, tension is relieved, and focus is restored. Oto Float is your escape from the hyper-stimulation of the 24/7-always-on world. It is your place to reboot your body and mind. Learn more about floatation therapy (also called floating or sensory deprivation) and its many benefits here: http://www.otofloat.com”

Vox 3, a vocal ensemble based in Chicago, put on a successful production of Charpentier’s rarely performed opera Les Arts Florissants (The Flourishing Arts).  The performance was held in an unlikely venue, a barn!  An early music series at the Byron Colby Barn, led by lutenist Joel Spears, has been putting on seasonal concerts for years!

Thrilled to have performed live on WFMT 98.7, Chicago’s premiere classical radio station, with the Bella Voce Camerata.  I played baroque guitar and renaissance lute.   You can listen to the recording of the live broadcast here under the name “A Renaissance Christmas with Bella Voce Camerata”  http://blogs.wfmt.com/livefromwfmt/recent-programs/