Tickets to Swansong - A Celebration of Paddy Swanson are on sale now!
Learn MoreToday is the summer solstice, the longest day, the other end of the year from the winter solstice that Revels celebrates every year in Sanders Theatre. “Solstice” refers to the ancient concept of the sun standing still in the period between waxing and waning. In fact we know…
Recording is hard work… surrendering to long hours of often repetitive music-making with hypervigilant attention to detail, patiently waiting for the airplane to pass overhead or the truck to rumble out of earshot on the adjacent gravel driveway, tuning and re-tuning temperamental, multi-stringed bowed instruments in ever-changing temperatures…
My smart phone is getting precocious. Returning from our annual directors and producers conference on the west coast, I was checking my photos of the local beach when a file popped up entitled “Malibu Memories.” With a dreamy California soundtrack playing in the background my phone had assembled…
Prague, capitol of the Czech Republic, is a city teeming year-round with quirky traditions. Possibly the most mystical urban center in Europe, it was home to a huge team of royal alchemists and astrologers employed by the occult-obsessed Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in the late 16th century, and…
This autumn, instead of rehearsing with the Christmas Revels Chorus, I’m in Europe researching my next book (I’m an alto by avocation, a novelist by trade). By coincidence, part of this novel is concerned with the Master of the Revels. Nope, not Paddy Swanson. Not even Jack Langstaff….
Today is the longest day of the year and I turn to David Parr Artistic Director of California Revels for another excellent article on the solstice and related geophysical ephemera. This gem is reprinted from their newsletter in June 2009. Happy Summer Solstice! Paddy…
The Revels Immigration Residency for Elementary Schools “Revels is here! Revels is here!” echoes down the hallways of the Bedford Elementary school each morning as we arrive to lead and run our week long Immigration Residency. The Revels Immigration Residency came into conception when I was thinking about…
In the fall of 2014, I had the privilege of touring as a singer with Northern Harmony, a 16-voice ensemble made up of Village Harmony alumni and leaders. We spent 10 weeks together all told. The group was comprised of singers from across the U.S. and Canada. In…
Hand in hand with fairy grace Will we sing, and bless this place These lines spoken by Oberon at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream got my attention – the simplicity of the rhyme, the clarity of the job to be done and the dignity of the blessing. They…
A New Perspective: Reflections on Revels National Producer/Directors Retreat by Revels, Inc. music director and first-time attendee, Megan Henderson The blizzard had just touched down in earnest and ours was the last flight to leave the Logan Airport runway that morning. The planeful of anxious passengers applauded with…
