in bocca al lupo

How to Make Atheists « Vinoth Ramachandra

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:10:50 +0000

How to Make Atheists « Vinoth Ramachandra

via Mark Meynell’s blog: Quaerentia

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:49:37 +0000

via Mark Meynell’s blog: Quaerentia

Just discovered that there are a few recordings from the...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:53:00 +0000

Just discovered that there are a few recordings from the General Probe of Kaimakan (final dress rehearsal) on the Staatstheater Website. The first voice on this one is mine.

What's Your Workout with Nathan Gunn

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:23:00 +0000

What's Your Workout with Nathan Gunn:

“Nathan Gunn is an opera buff – quite literally.”

Good Christmas songs #2

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:23:05 +0000

Joy has dawned

by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Keith Getty and I wrote “Joy has dawned” as part of a project we’ve been working on entitled “Creed” – a collection of new hymns and songs based on the themes of the Apostles’ Creed. Keith and I both share a passion to see churches singing songs full of truth, compositions that not only express our love and devotion to God, but also declare the wonderful truths of the faith – truths that form the foundation of our lives.

With that in mind, we realised that there was shortage on new material on a number of key themes – one being the Incarnation. We therefore set about trying to write what is essentially a Christmas carol, telling the story and significance of Christ’s birth, and this is the result.

There are parts of the Christmas story that are so familiar to us, we tend not to appreciate how extraordinary they are: the humble circumstances of the birth of the King of kings; His choosing to come into the world as a helpless, vulnerable baby; the prophetic significance of gifts from traveling astrologers; the list goes on…

It’s a song that lends itself to a variety of musical styles, from a worship band setting to a choral piece, perhaps even a Salvation Army band arrangement, and I hope it’s a useful addition to a church’s Christmas repertoire.

Read the lyrics, & buy the sheet music and mp3 here

jkaranka: 433 Sunday | What The Duck

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:42:43 +0000

jkaranka:

433 Sunday | What The Duck

Pixar - Tennis Commercial (via rOdRigOO7)

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:37:18 +0000

Pixar - Tennis Commercial (via rOdRigOO7)

Stéphane Degout & Natalie Dessay - Vous ne savez pas où je...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:19:26 +0000

Stéphane Degout & Natalie Dessay - Vous ne savez pas où je vous ai menée - LIVE Vienna 2009 (via DessayBestSinger)

I mentioned recently that Pelléas is a role I would love to sing. Stephane Degout is also fast becoming one of my favourite baritones, based solely on YouTube clips (I think I saw him sing Dandini at Covent Garden a few years back). I hope to see him perform something live in the near future. I performed this scene during my studies at the Guildhall. It is such wonderful, evocative music, filled with rich symbolism and such an enigmatic story.

12 Days of Christmas (via boymongoose)

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:49:26 +0000

12 Days of Christmas (via boymongoose)

The Bishop of Croydon has suggested that a number of Christmas...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:05:52 +0000

The Bishop of Croydon has suggested that a number of Christmas carols are’nonsense’. I tend to agree with some of his examples. Lest I be simply critical, here is a new series of posts to celebrate advent - some great Christmas Songs

On Christmas Day

by Matt Osgood

The incarnation is full of seeming paradoxes and contradictions - the uncontainable God contained within a stable, the eternal God being born to a young girl, and so on. This song is an attempt to paint a picture of the amazing truth that “God is with us” through various Christmas images, and to respond to that in worship.

Download the mp3 and sheet music here

The Powerbook Prank: He wanted a Powerbook. We gave him a P-P-P-Powerbook!

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:46:52 +0000

The Powerbook Prank: He wanted a Powerbook. We gave him a P-P-P-Powerbook!:

This is a little humorous…

Reading Wishlist

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:25:38 +0000

In case anyone had the desire to get me a book for Christmas…

Professor Martin Hengel This interview is just great.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:04:48 +0000

Professor Martin Hengel

This interview is just great.

"How do you know when sour cream has gone off?"

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:55:43 +0000

“How do you know when sour cream has gone off?”

- Peta

jkaranka: TWO LOOKS: Trent and Narelle «

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:47:27 +0000

jkaranka:

TWO LOOKS: Trent and Narelle «

Facebook | Your Videos: New espresso cups [HQ] Peta got me some...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:38:58 +0000

Facebook | Your Videos: New espresso cups [HQ]

Peta got me some really cool (and coffee-geeky) double-walled espresso cups for my birthday. Here is one in action.

Five: #2 - Roles

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:42:56 +0000

I’ve begun a new series of posts called five, which are simply a list of five things, anything subject at all, that I like, or would like. The first was my five favourite baritones, and this is a list of five roles I would like to perform at some stage in my career. There’s a lot more than five roles which I hope to perform, so I’ve added a further consideration. These are roles which I would like to perform, but will not necessarily get the opportunity to. Papageno, for example, is a role that I would like to perform, and if I spend a year or two more in Germany it’s almost certain that it will present itself. These roles however, are no so mainstream:

Siegfried Jerusalem - Als flotter Geist (Der Zigeunerbaron)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Siegfried Jerusalem - Als flotter Geist (Der Zigeunerbaron)

Yankeediva: Perspective!

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:36:05 +0000

Yankeediva: Perspective!:

Another great post from Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano extradordinaire!

Tumblr debates...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:25:00 +0000

Perhaps against my better judgement, yesterday I got into a bit of a debate via ~~tumblr~~ twitter. Making a point in 140 characters is both helpful and unhelpful. It’s helpful in that it forces you to cut down on the fluff and get to the point, but unhelpful in that sometimes the point needs more than 140. It’s often easier just to make an insult in 140 characters!

Given the obvious prejudice of my opponent, it was not surprising that a reasonable argument would not ensue. Given the nature of twitter, it’s difficult to link back to the discussion, but you can see my posts, and the links to what they respond to on my twitter page.

The basic premise was whether Jesus as described in the New Testament was a fictional character. My opponent dismissed the NT documents a priori as propaganda and then challenged me to prove that Jesus said anything at all - a classic case of shifting the goal-posts. When I pointed this out, and asked for evidence to back up his claim of mythology (which I should note is mostly unsupported in historical scholarship) the general reply was either forms of ad hominem or red herrings. Eventually after continual pointing out the fallacy of his textual approach and dismissal of the ad hominem and red herrings he ignored me and found some easier prey.

I must confess the process was somewhat amusing, and I must be careful not to let my pride get in the way! But on the other hand, it is quite unsettling, as so many people blindly accept this kind of approach, which is promoted in most of the recent atheist best-sellers.

I agree with Nathan’s guest blogger Dave who writes:

I don’t equate skepticism with examining evidence… I don’t think skepticism per se gives a philosopher any advantageous edge in her examination of evidence.

And how much more so for one who is prejudiced against the New Testament documents to begin with? The motivation for wanting to dismiss not just the resurrection, but the whole person of Christ should not come as a surprise:

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light…”

Now that reminds me - we need to get ein Adventskranz!