Isacco Columbo is a wonderful musician that I met back in Legnano, Italy when The Rose Ensemble was invited to participate in La Fabbrica del Canto in 2008. We became fast friends and invited him to become a part of our Il Poverello: The Life & Legacy of St. Francis of Assisi. This is his [...]
The Rose Ensemble had to come to a very difficult decision this past Saturday. On Friday, we had found out that all the domestic flights in Argentina were cancelled due to the ash cloud that was left from the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain. This would mean that we would have flown out [...]
The Rose Ensemble was invited to perform in this year’s Madison Early Music Festival. Created in 2000, the MEMF provides an opportunity for Early Music musicians, educators and enthusiasts to gather and exchange information and ideas about Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. In addition, acclaimed Early Music artists are invited to perform and concerts are [...]
The Rose Ensemble rehearsals are starting back up today – it’s been 3 weeks and I miss my collegues. I’m also looking forward to a revival of the Early American show that we will be performing in Austin, MN this Tuesday at the Paramount Theater. The Paramount is one of those theaters that was saved [...]
Let’s face it: History lessons aren’t always fun. Too often, an artistic event that strives toward historical accuracy leaves you feeling educated but not really entertained. Shoring up some cracks in your knowledge base can be worthwhile but seldom extremely enjoyable. However, one of those infrequent occurrences happened Sunday afternoon when St. Paul-based early-music group [...]
In an era accustomed to sensory overload, when stage productions are hard put to compete with the technological wizardry available to film makers, it’s refreshing to spend a couple of hours in a vivid world created simply through the interaction of words and music.
I’m back home. It’s was kind of a bittersweet tour for me this time. I loved the Festival, seeing old friends and meeting new ones, singing with new Rosies and making some really fantastic music. The churches were glorious and Piggy gave everyone a great smile. Jordan from The Rose Ensemble has written a couple of [...]
What an amazing evening. We weren’t sure at first how things were going to go. Our bus was due to leave Legnano at 6:30pm, but there was no sign of our guide or our guest instrumentalist. Around 7pm, Issaco arrived explaining that our guide was with the Norway choir and that our packet lunch and [...]
Day 2 began with a quick breakfast at the hotel.. rather decent, actually. It’s buffet style with scrambled eggs, a selection of breads, croissants, pastry, cereals, & fruits. And coffee. But not just any coffee, you see you get a choice of a brewed pot of espresso or a pot of American coffee. I found [...]
so here’s the scenario… we land in Newark just in time to miss our flight to Milan… that was Thursday. Spent most of Friday in Newark hanging around the airport playing on the iPhone and taking Piggy to Dunkin’ Donuts. Since we don’t have one of those in Minneapolis, I thought he should savor the [...]
sigh…. We were delayed in Minneapolis due to weather on the East Coast. Delayed 2-1/2 hours. Sadly, we were on a Northwest flight and had a connecting flight on Contintental leaving Newark at 6:25pm. The irony of the airport thing is they can delay flights coming in, but didn’t delay flights leaving, so we arrived [...]
For an unprecedented return engagement, The Rose Ensemble has been invited back to participate in the “La Fabbrica del Canto”, an international choral festival that takes place in and around the Milan region of Northern Italy. The following blurb was published in an Italian paper this past week: “The Rose Ensemble dal Minnesota, Usa (torna [...]
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