Sixth annual Bachanalia is a glorious success Last Friday was BACHanalia at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, and Portara performed in it.  We had a blast, and we were a hit!  John Pitcher, in his ArtNowNashville review, had this to say about us: My favorite performance of the evening probably came from the Portara Ensemble in its more serious guise. The group, under the expert direction of Shreyas Patel, gave a luminous account of the famous Cantata No. 61 “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.” The group sang with a beautifully blended sound and with unfailing sensitivity to the text. They followed with an equally glorious reading of “Jesu, bleibet meine Freude” (better known in the English-speaking world as “Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring”), which featured a vocal sound that truly shimmered and shined. I even had a little solo, singing the recitative “Siehe, siehe!” in the cantata.  Big thanks to Shreyas for letting me use the classical vocal training I don’t often get to use these days (most of my singing at the moment is choral). I’ll probably post more about Portara in the coming weeks - we’re getting ready for our Spring concerts in April. Isn’t this picture of Portara lovely?  We’re such a colorful group, lol.  Big thanks to whoever took it (probably someone with ArtNowNashville).  I’m the 5th one from the right in the “U”, wearing the dark purple shirt. Our complete musical offering was: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, singing the original German chorale text from BWV 147 movements 6 and 10 Cold and Fugue Season, arr. Ellen Foncannon
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Sixth annual Bachanalia is a glorious success

Last Friday was BACHanalia at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, and Portara performed in it.  We had a blast, and we were a hit!  John Pitcher, in his ArtNowNashville review, had this to say about us:

My favorite performance of the evening probably came from the Portara Ensemble in its more serious guise. The group, under the expert direction of Shreyas Patel, gave a luminous account of the famous Cantata No. 61 “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.” The group sang with a beautifully blended sound and with unfailing sensitivity to the text. They followed with an equally glorious reading of “Jesu, bleibet meine Freude” (better known in the English-speaking world as “Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring”), which featured a vocal sound that truly shimmered and shined.

I even had a little solo, singing the recitative “Siehe, siehe!” in the cantata.  Big thanks to Shreyas for letting me use the classical vocal training I don’t often get to use these days (most of my singing at the moment is choral).

I’ll probably post more about Portara in the coming weeks - we’re getting ready for our Spring concerts in April.

Isn’t this picture of Portara lovely?  We’re such a colorful group, lol.  Big thanks to whoever took it (probably someone with ArtNowNashville).  I’m the 5th one from the right in the “U”, wearing the dark purple shirt.

Our complete musical offering was:

  • Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61
  • Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, singing the original German chorale text from BWV 147 movements 6 and 10
  • Cold and Fugue Season, arr. Ellen Foncannon

Source: artnownashville.com