John Lakovits

John Lakovits is one of our most avid choral singing enthusiasts, currently singing in two choirs, ours and one led by former Burbank Chorale Music Director, Frank Basile. I recall him making a very quick exit after our Dorothy Chandler performance, trying hard not to be late for his second gig of the evening. Interestingly, John manages to sing first tenor in our choir and bass in the other one. I guess it follows that he could easily sing baritone in a third! He tells us:

I was born in New York. My family and I moved to Colorado when I was 7. I grew up there, then moved to Southern California in 1980 with hopes of becoming a screenwriter. Since then I have worked in a variety of fields including journalism, human resources, office support, marketing, public relations, escrow, to name a few. I also have a background in improvisational comedy, which I still occasionally teach. My last nine years have been spent working as an escrow officer. As the mortgage/banking industry is in a bit of slump -- pardon my understatement -- I am now in the process of transitioning into another field.

Though I have no professional training I have sung in several choirs in my life, most recently—before Burbank—with a small group back in the early 90's called the Ad Hoc Chorale run by one Frank Basile whom I believe some of you are familiar with. I was drafted into Frank's choir by Anita Van Tellingen. In 2006, Anita suggested I feed my current spiritual and creative longing by checking out the Burbank Chorale, which she had been a part of. I immediately felt I was home my first night. Needing even more, last summer I joined Frank's choir, the Friends of Music, at St. Bedes in Mar Vista.

I appreciate the learning experience I have had with Burbank Chorale so far. For somebody who has no formal education in music it's a true joy to be able work with a musical director like Misha. His patience and sense of humor make each rehearsal something to look forward to. His style of directing is also an education in itself. I used to think a 5th was something you purchased form the liquor isle at the market. Misha has taught me otherwise. The fact that he not only directs us but adds to our musical knowledge is one of the things I like best about being a part of the Chorale.

Some of you met my dear friend and creative partner, Toni Attell, at Glen and Amy's soirée last summer. She and I created a live show that is based on the Golden Age of Radio, Television and Film. It's similar to Vaudeville with our own updated twist. Right now we are performing at retirement communities, but are working on selling a similar, more educational version, to the school system. Since a part of our show includes music, I have learned how to capture, edit and burn music, so we don't have to pay somebody else to do it for us.

A Few Words on Arcadelt

Now that we've rounded out our Spring Concert madrigal selection with Il bianco e dolce cigno I thought a few words were in order about its composer, Jacques (a/k/a Jacob) Arcadelt. Though his name is not exactly a household word, he was a rather popular and influential composer in Renaissance Italy and France. Arcadelt was born around 1500 in Holland (though some sources describe him as French or Franco-Flemish). He worked for many years in Italy, where he served as choirmaster of the Papal boys' choir at St. Peters. He spent the later years of his life in France in service of Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, the Duke of Guise. Though he wrote sacred music, he is most significant as a writer of madrigals. He published numerous books of madrigals in both countries and both languages. His work was important and influential because he contributed to the growth of the madrigal in Italy and France as a "serious" alternative to sacred choral music. According to Goldberg Magazine (an early music publication):

"He was one of those distinguished musicians of the Netherlands, who by their efforts to advance their art in Italy, ...helped to lay the foundations of the great Italian [madrigal] school."

For 99 cents, Itunes has a nice recording of Il bianco e dolce cigno by the King's Singers. It's on a King's Singers album called The Madrigal History Tour (which also has a French chansons by Arcadelt).

Bach at Disney Hall

This past Sunday, Kyrian, Brad and I, and my wife, Karen, had the special pleasure of hearing the B Minor Mass at Disney Hall. The choir was a trimmed-down version of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (maybe 50 singers) and the orchestra was L.A.'s resident baroque ensemble, the Musica Angelica Baroque. Our group sat in the last row of the second to last balcony, affording us a fine panorama of Frank Gehry's masterpiece and a good spot from which to hear the refined, beautiful blend of the chamber orchestra and choir. Brad and I, who like to turn our stereos up loud, had the small complaint that the sound could have been louder, as it would have been if the the LAMC had been at full strength. But we agreed that with a larger choir, we could not have heard the counterpuntal voicing so perfectly. And indeed the smaller forces (still large by Bach's standards) enabled conductor Grant Gershon to achieve what the LA Times review praised as "clarity of line, texture and text," not to mention that special dance-like quality so essential to good baroque performance. All in all, the performance showed the strong influence of Gardiner and other leaders of the "period performance" movement. Brad noted, subtley, that the performance, though excellent and refined, may have lacked a touch of abandon, of "letting it rip" (my words).

But those are quibbles. After all, we weren't there to review a performance. We were there to revel in Bach's amazing music, and so we did. Kyrian and I found ourselves conducting from the balcony during the allegros and holding our breath during the piano sections. And we came away happier than ever that we could look forward to singing ourselves on Tuesday night!