That's a Wrap

This has already been a busy week for me, and it is just getting started. After making a recording in Rome in March (see posts on March 12, March 25, and March 26), the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception completed a second recording session for a new Christmas recording last night. This will be an extended version of the radio program we recorded for Public Radio International in December. A producer, Malcolm Bruno, has been helping us make recordings since the polychoral CD we made last year, and it was great to see him again after the Rome trip. We heard some of the tracks from the first edit of the Rome CD, and Malcolm said that he is close to the final version. It sounds great, because Santa Maria Maggiore is about as close to a perfect acoustic as you can get, an ideal sonic envelope.

What do a bunch of tired singers do after finishing up a two-day recording session? Hit the bar, of course, to quaff a little liquid comfort. We have been several times to the quirky lounge of the Hotel Helix (at 14th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW), and it is becoming a favorite haunt. A fun night out will hopefully carry us through this Sunday. For our normal choir Mass at the Shrine (every Sunday at noon), we will be assisting at a special Mass in honor of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, celebrated by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington. That afternoon, we will head over to Washington National Cathedral, to join our Episcopalian friends for a special solemn evensong at 4 pm, in thanksgiving for the remarkable papacy of John Paul II. It would be great to see some of you local folks at either of these events.