Hello, dear friends,
First, thank you all for your prompt responses to my previous email, and for sharing both your enthusiasm and your concerns. We are united in our love of making music and our care for one another!
Second, this week’s Rondos rehearsal planned for Wednesday, March 18 at Woodroffe UC has been canceled. Earlier this afternoon I expressed to ONHB that although quite a few members of the band were keen to attend a rehearsal, I thought it best to cancel, for our own safety and for others’. The ONHB board has also decided that, in light of the most recent and urgent recommendation of Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Health, all rehearsals will be canceled until further notice.
It is, to say the least, sad that we won’t get to play together again this session. On behalf of myself and Colin, I must tell you that it has been such a pleasure to work with you, and to witness the progress you’ve made, individually and collectively, over the past two months. Your attentiveness, effort, and musicality make rehearsals a joy! I hope that we will have the chance to make music together again once the dust settles.
Until then, I hope we will all find, in this time of slowing down and taking stock, plenty of beauty and inspiration and love to enrich our lives and music! The ice is melting, the birds are singing, and soon new life will emerge from from the frozen ground. We have much to be grateful for. And, in case you haven’t already heard, more and more renowned organisations are making performances and work available online, free of charge, to make sure we’re not lacking for beautiful music.
- Ottawa Bach Choir Dixit Dominus (Juno-nominated!)
- Side-Eye and Grace: Liminal Spaces (a beautiful album some friends of mine just released!)
For my part, I may use my extra time to learn conducting technique from the NAC Orchestra’s Alexander Shelley, in the hopes of confusing everyone less often, or at least less severely, when next we meet. That, and trying to make progress on my poor, neglected PhD.
Take good care of yourselves and each other, folks. We’re all in this together!
With love,
Laurel
