What's the Deal?

Season brochures are great things - lovely artwork, useful information, and so on.  But there isn't room for a lot of explanation.  So now I'm going to fill you in on a question you may have if you read our brochure carefully.  Which might be "What is the deal with the final season concert?"  For you may have noticed that I will not be conducting it.  It was chosen, and will be rehearsed and conducted, by guest director Larry Allen.  So first, let me tell you a bit about Larry, and then I'll tell you what's up.  Here is his official bio - short version:
 
Larry Allen is Director of Music and Organist at Mt. Lebanon United Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh.  He is the Dean of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and Secretary for the Executive Board of the Pittsburgh Camerata. Prior to his Pittsburgh move he was for 30 years Director of Music and Organist at Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut and was on the faculty of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford.  During his Hartford years he received an Outstanding Educator Award from the United Church of Christ, and was named Connecticut Choral Director of the Year by the American Choral Directors Association.  His professional chamber ensemble, The Woodland Scholars, appeared at conventions of the American Choral Directors and the American Guild of Organists.  Mr. Allen studied with Alec Wyton at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain. He has concertized in the United States and Europe, and has been a touring organist with the Empire Brass Quintet.
 
Impressive, eh? I think that this is going to be a wonderful thing for everyone.  The audience gets to hear (and the singers get to sing) a wonderful program that is quite different than what I usually put together.  The singers get a chance to work with someone besides me - an opportunity that they haven't had for the past 12 seasons - someone with a very different background than mine. I'm just hoping they'll take me back after Larry is done with them!
 
So you can see that something like this is much overdue.  The remaining question you might have is, why now?  Well, I'm taking a sabbatical.  I'm collecting interviews, information, and researching for a couple of books I'm working on.  I will give you more information and updates as things progress.  For the moment, I'll just give you a very brief idea of what they are about.  One book is a sort of philosophy of music as viewed through the idea of historical performance practice.  It is based on my course notes and experiences in the Baroque Performance Practice class that I taught at Duquesne University for six years.  The second book is an exploration of how one achieves excellence in performance, and how much importance "talent" has in the equation.  Although it will be directed at the performance of classical music, I'm doing my research from outside of classical music, including sports, popular music, and whatever else occurs to me as I talk with people.
 
As to why I want to do this - well, it would take quite a long time to explain that, and I'm not entirely sure I know why myself.  I just know that I need to do it, for myself, even if no one else ever reads either book.
 
So, other than the benefit event in February, I'm keeping out of the way.  I'm really excited to hear the group from the audience, and to observe the way that the group grows and evolves under Larry's direction.