It’s fall and Soromundi is delighted to be singing together in person again. Our highest priority is the health and safety of our chorus, so we are taking gradual steps towards full rehearsals. We are requiring vaccination for all in-person singers and using singers’ masks that allow for breathing and some vocal production but are also protective.
In September, the mild weather allowed us to rehearse outside. Thank you Eugene City Parks and the Wayne Morse Ranch! This month we have moved inside but have split the chorus into two, so altos and sopranos rehearse, then we break to air the building, before tenors and basses get their turn. At the end of October we are moving inside as a whole group to practice in a large airy space. It’s been 18 months since we heard all the parts together and we can’t wait.
Our focus this season is on vocal recovery – learning to sing together again after this forced COVID absence. We’ll spend lots of time on tone, breath, pitch and rhythms. We expect a smaller chorus this year as people gradually become comfortable singing together, but we have high expectations for a season where we still hope to tour, perform at the Hult Center in the spring, and complete our fourth recording in June. Our music will reflect over thirty years of singing together.
We hope to be performing again soon so watch this space, check out our website www.soromundi.org or find us on FaceBook.
Lisa and Kate
Lisa Hellemn, Soromundi Musical and Artistic Director Kate Barry, Soromundi Board President
Soromundi stands with protestors around the country and the globe in demanding racial justice and the dismantling of systemic racism. We support efforts to eliminate individual and structural violence and discrimination against Black people and all people of color. In this stance we recognize that as a majority white organization we must do our own work in combatting racism and providing a truly welcoming environment for people of color. To this end Soromundi has committed to making education about racism and anti-racism an immediate goal and part of our plan of action for the chorus. We are determined to be allies in this struggle.
