Libera to tour USA - Summer 2017

Talks and reviews about Libera concerts or public appearances

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hiskeys
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Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by hiskeys »

Surpinto said: Thanks for the information. I will have to consider when the best time to arrive would be. It could be very hot that day and waiting in line in that sort of heat is not exactly my idea of fun. But I am not worried about it at the moment, I'll figure it out that day.
If you didn't care what you looked like, you could find an umbrella hat like the King's choristers did (for 10p each) on their 2013 Far East tour. - He talks about it at :13 seconds in.



By the way, the whole set of these videos from 2014 are rather well done.
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hiskeys
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Bachmahlerfan said: I noticed that the Houston based Fort Bend Boys Choir promoted the upcoming Libera concert in Houston on their social media accounts. They are considered one of the largest boys choir organizations in the country, so they may help attract some extra concertgoers. It's funny how some groups will eagerly promote a Libera concert, while others will act like they don't even exist.
I remember that they got together (at least for photos) with a children's choir last time they were in Texas; not sure of the name of it though. It's the 9th picture down on the right hand side, right next to the large picture of Gabe.

http://libera.org.uk/gallery/usa_spring_2015/

I would imagine that any singing or choral groups, amateur or professional, would be good places to advertise Libera concerts.
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Surpinto
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Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by Surpinto »

hiskeys wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:23 am">6 years ago</span>
Surpinto said: Thanks for the information. I will have to consider when the best time to arrive would be. It could be very hot that day and waiting in line in that sort of heat is not exactly my idea of fun. But I am not worried about it at the moment, I'll figure it out that day.
If you didn't care what you looked like, you could find an umbrella hat like the King's choristers did (for 10p each) on their 2013 Far East tour. - He talks about it at :13 seconds in.
By the way, the whole set of these videos from 2014 are rather well done.
Hahaha, it's not that big of a deal :) I can tolerate it without anything special like that - I was just needlessly bitching. :lol:

It's funny that the King's College Choir did that though. :lol: King's College is an excellent choir and one of my favorites in the genre.
bachmahlerfan wrote: <span title="Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:25 pm">6 years ago</span> I noticed that the Houston based Fort Bend Boys Choir promoted the upcoming Libera concert in Houston on their social media accounts. They are considered one of the largest boys choir organizations in the country, so they may help attract some extra concertgoers. It's funny how some groups will eagerly promote a Libera concert, while others will act like they don't even exist.
I think it's that many don't know that Libera exists. The boy choir genre doesn't exactly have a good reputation in the US - and for a very good reason. Many so-called boy's choirs in the United States who claim to be anything other than a glorified elementary school choir really are not. The choristers are not trained well and the music chosen for them to sing is even worse. When such choirs make recordings they will often only sell them in very small numbers either as a fundraising ploy, or to raise additional funds from the boy's parents because only the parents would truly even want the recordings. It is a very sad situation.

Now, to be fair, I listened to a few recordings of the Fort Bend choir and they are definitely not the sort of mediocre group I describe above .

However, the recordings (and these are recordings from their 2016 CD) sound like they were made in the 1970's: they choose an acoustically decent location, set up two large microphones in front of the group, get a piano player who accompanies them into the room, and record the whole thing. If there is any post-production it appears to have been minimal.

The correct way to do this of course, for the last 30+ years, has been to record the instrument(s) separately from the singers in studio. Then have the singers wear headphones which plays the accompaniment and they sing along with it. This would also require them to have more microphones recording the group. This allows for the recordings to be polished and also to record certain, more difficult songs, in segments and then mix together the best takes of those segments.

Having said that I am not trying to judge the Fort Bend Boy's Choir, paying for the sort of studio time that the above requires may very well be out of their league. Additionally the audio editing involved may not be something that anyone they have in-house knows well - again incurring costs. But then this begs the (rhetorical) question of why release a CD at all and expect any substantive sales aside from purchases made by the chorister's families?

This is the exact problem that so many boy's choirs run into in the Unites States. Things like this do nothing to improve the reputation of the genre, which is why so few people have heard of or care about Libera in the US because to them it's just another "boy's choir" of the sort I mentioned above :( The fact that a group like Libera who trains their choristers properly, chooses suitable and excellent music for them to sing, and makes professional studio recordings exists at all is a foreign concept to many in this country.

This is why so few serious advertisements are made when Libera comes to town.
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Yorkie
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Surpinto wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:23 pm">6 years ago</span>
It's funny that the King's College Choir did that though. :lol: King's College is an excellent choir and one of my favorites in the genre.
They're not even the best college choir in Cambridge :wink:
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Surpinto
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Yorkie wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:51 pm">6 years ago</span>
Surpinto wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:23 pm">6 years ago</span>
It's funny that the King's College Choir did that though. :lol: King's College is an excellent choir and one of my favorites in the genre.
They're not even the best college choir in Cambridge :wink:
:D :lol: Good one! You guys are so lucky to have so many world-class choirs in your country.
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Yorkie
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Surpinto wrote: <span title="Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:59 am">6 years ago</span>
Yorkie wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:51 pm">6 years ago</span>
Surpinto wrote: <span title="Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:23 pm">6 years ago</span>
It's funny that the King's College Choir did that though. :lol: King's College is an excellent choir and one of my favorites in the genre.
They're not even the best college choir in Cambridge :wink:
:D :lol: Good one! You guys are so lucky to have so many world-class choirs in your country.
Seriously. Try St John's College, Cambridge. Even better is New College under Higginbottom (who retired a couple of years ago) - my absolute favourite although unfortunately the new choir director is still finding his feet.

You actually do have one of the finest Anglican choirs in the USA. Go online and listen to St Thomas in NYC. Up there with the very best of British.
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Surpinto
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Yorkie wrote: <span title="Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:56 am">6 years ago</span> Seriously. Try St John's College, Cambridge. Even better is New College under Higginbottom (who retired a couple of years ago) - my absolute favourite although unfortunately the new choir director is still finding his feet.

You actually do have one of the finest Anglican choirs in the USA. Go online and listen to St Thomas in NYC. Up there with the very best of British.
Yorkie, your musical suggestions have always served me very well. I have had "Agnus Dei" by New College (under Higginbottom) for some time and enjoy that album. I have take taken your suggestion and have downloaded "The Call" a somewhat recent album by St. John's and will listen soon :) Other suggestions are welcome of course as I am not as knowledgeable on this sort of thing as you and others here are.

I am familiar with St Thomas in NYC and have endeavored to one day attend a concert or service. :D

So as to keep this thread on topic, I want to mention that the reason Libera may be reluctant to do touring on the east coast in the US is exactly because we have more access here to various touring and other choirs in greater number than elsewhere in the country. Between Washington DC, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia almost all artists travelling to the US aspire to play in these cities which makes competition stiff and Libera's attendance figures lower. :(
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Yorkie
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Ah, Surpinto sorry but The Call is, errmm, not their best work 🤔

Try Illumina by New College 👍👍
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bachmahlerfan

Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by bachmahlerfan »

I'm wondering if it might help to check with religious goods stores near some of these venues to see if they are aware of the upcoming concerts. They could put up the official tour posters in the stores, and if they don't know about Libera, we could encourage them to become familiar with the group (and sell their CD's!). One example would be Pauline Books and Media in Culver City, CA. Calling churches might be more challenging because there are so many of them, but we could inform ones with large congregations.
bachmahlerfan

Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by bachmahlerfan »

Asbury U.M. Church officially added the concert to their facebook events. It states that doors will open at 5:15 PM, and that the concert is "sponsored by the region’s musical organizations serving children and families."

https://www.facebook.com/events/1907032702885133/
bachmahlerfan

Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by bachmahlerfan »

bachmahlerfan wrote: <span title="Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:27 pm">6 years ago</span> Asbury U.M. Church officially added the concert to their facebook events. It states that doors will open at 5:15 PM, and that the concert is "sponsored by the region’s musical organizations serving children and families."

https://www.facebook.com/events/1907032702885133/
Those details may have already been present on their main website, but I wasn't sure. On a side note, I found an article about the Tulsa Boys Choir which unfortunately disbanded after giving their last concert on May 26th of this year. The group was founded in 1948. Maybe Libera can inspire some people in the Tulsa area to start a new group. Here's the link to the article: http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/scene/a ... 61ce2.html
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Re: Libera to tour USA

Post by Emily_kr »

Dear everyone who is planning to be there at Libera's US tour,

My process preparing for travelling to the US with 3 others from here seemed to be finalised by yesterday, but our flights situation's got into another problem, :x which will be the final one.

I wanted to ask to see if I could get some recommendations for few things about :
- where to stay(for each states), We have three
- flights for travelling between states

Please wish us luck that our travel to the states to be confirmed ASAP.
We've been waiting for over a month, but we are still clinging on HOPE.

Thank you! :D
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Surpinto
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Hi Emily,

I am not sure that I can give you detailed suggestions about flights and accommodations because I will not be doing this sort of travelling myself. So without doing the research myself, I am unable to offer concrete suggestions. However, the best way that I have found to book travel has been by using Google Flights and entering in the information and comparing times/prices. I have had a lot of success with this booking both international and domestic travel. Sometimes there are flights which are cheaper but which are not listed there but that seems to be rather rare. So this will at least give you a starting point from which you can look for, perhaps, cheaper flights using Trip Advisor or a different site.

Accommodations are more tricky. I like using Google Map search to get an idea of the place I am travelling to and then search for hotels on Google Maps in the area by searching things like "Hotels near Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis" and then entering in my dates of travel. This gives a price as well. This allows you to see what the prices are in different parts of a city. I then use Hotels.com to complete the booking.

My flight will be very different than yours and I am only attending a single concert so I can't offer you any suggestions there, but in Saint Louis I will be staying at "The Parkway Hotel" which is near the Cathedral and near the metro. Aside from that I wish you the best of luck.
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chris17
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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Regarding accommodations, if you want to save money and don't mind staying somewhere that's not very fancy, there are two motel chains which can be found almost everywhere in the US, namely Super 8 and Motel 6. They can be money-savers compared to staying in hotels, especially for a longer trip. Super 8s typically have a free breakfast (usually some small muffins and cinnamon rolls, a couple types of cereal, maybe some bananas, and a few things like that), as well as free coffee. Motel 6s do not have free breakfast, but they do have free coffee. If that doesn't sound appealing, though, there are many other options - I would follow Surpinto's advice. :)

I'm only going to one concert too, the first one in LA, but I'll be staying in a Motel 6 along with my dad and my two sisters. (When I mentioned the Libera concert to my dad and told him I planned to go, he wanted to make it into a small trip to go to Disneyland and visit friends he has in the area. Unfortunately, because of his work schedule, I won't be able to go to the second concert, but I'm not going to complain since he's driving us all down there. :) ) I've stayed at the Super 8 in Anaheim two or three times when my family has gone to Disneyland, and it's fine too - nothing fancy, as I mentioned, but it's a money-saver. There are also a multitude of hotels near Disneyland (which is very close to the location of the first concert), but they can be a little more pricey because of the location.
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Re: Libera to tour USA

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chris17 wrote: <span title="Tue Jul 04, 2017 8:33 pm">6 years ago</span> Disneyland (which is very close to the location of the first concert)
I predict a photoshoot... :D
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