Conflicts Between the Evite Invitation and This Page
Kimball Halsey, James Mitchell, Naomi Stephen and Heather Peterson regularly invite people to attend Musica Sacra concerts. Many of the people reading this page may be on Kimball's invitation list or James' invitation list.
Read James' essays.
We now have sections for Business, Computers, and Dating & Romance.
See photos from previous parties.
This page is written generically for all of the Musica Sacra concerts that we publicizie. If there are any conflicts between the information contained in the Evite invitation we sent to you and this page, the information in the Evite invitation supercedes the information contained in this page.
For these concerts, we ask that people RSVP, even if they are not attending. You can tell that a response is expected because the invitation begins with "RSVP --". If you don't know whether you can attend, please RSVP "Maybe." If you don't respond, you will continue to receive reminders until you do. See our RSVP policy.
From a choral repertoire spanning five centuries, Musica Sacra performs works both familiar and rare, with a crisp passion that awakens the listener to yearnings and joys, sorrows and delights — all that defines and inspires the best in human lives. Since 1959, Musica Sacra has been performing choral music with the highest standards of musical excellence and a sound that has been called "breathtaking," "gifted," and "uncommonly fresh and direct." Director Mary Beekman, now in her 27th season, continues to thrill Musica Sacra's singers and audiences with a varied and engaging repertoire.
The group has performed at the invitation of institutions such as the Boston Early Music Festival; WGBH Radio; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University. In 2003, Musica Sacra released their much-anticipated studio recording, Love, Lust, and Laudations: Flemish Choral Music of the High Renaissance. In 2004, Musica Sacra premièred Boston composer Daniel Pinkham's Magnificat for chorus, soprano and wind quintet — a new work written especially for Mary Beekman and Musica Sacra.
Firmly committed to reaching under-served audiences, Musica Sacra has performed for various charities and charitable events in the Boston area. The group's "Four-Part Harmony" fundraiser for the homeless has raised over fifty thousand dollars since 1998. Other efforts have included performances at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Youville Hospital and at the annual AIDS Walk in Boston.
Performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt in 2003
Unless otherwise indicated, all concerts are given at:
First Church Congregational
11 Garden Street
(Harvard Square)
Cambridge, MA
(617) 547-2724
Free parking is available at the Harvard Law School garage at the corner of Everett Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Garage hours are from 5:30 to 11:00 p.m. on the evening of the performance. Your vehicle must be out by 11:00 as the garage will close and your car will not be accessible after that time.
If you're coming to the pre-party at the Inn at Harvard, you may want to park there. The Inn charges $20 for parking.
When you arrive at the First Church Congregational, there will be a separate ticket table for "Kimball Halsey / James Mitchell." Our group is seated at the back of the middle row. There will be signs on the seats to indicate where.
As you face the stage, there is a door on the far right. Go through the door and make an immediate right for the restrooms.
At 2 p.m. the day of the concert, we will telephone Musica Sacra with the names and numbers of tickets that we are ordering for the concert that evening. If you don't show up or pay for the ticket afterwards, we are out-of-pocket for any unpaid tickets, so please don't RSVP "Yes" unless you're able to attend or otherwise are willing to pay for a ticket. Thanks!
We encourage you to bring several guests to the concert, preferably the most interesting people you know. The most appropriate guests are those who would be eligible to join James' invitation list as members. The kind of people James is looking for is explained here, and his expectations of his members are described here. If you have doubts about whether you should bring a particular person, we've learned the hard way that it's best to err on the side of caution and to not bring them, as our experience has been that when members have doubts about a particular guest, such doubts are well-founded. Our invitation list is already quite large and is growing at an increasing rate, so it's more important to focus on keeping the quality of the invitation list high than adding even more people. If you have any questions about what we look for in guests, please give James a call at (781) 647-0136, which is good day and night.
If you know ahead of time that you're going to invite someone, we strongly encourage you to e-mail James their name and e-mail address. That way, we can add them to the general invitation list and we'll print a nametag for them. If you don't know, you're free to just bring them to the party.
There will be no pre-party for the May 1 concert, since the concert begins at 7 p.m.
Before each concert, we have a pre-party at:
Henrietta's Table
One Bennett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 661-5005
www.henriettastable.com
Henrietta's Table is on the second floor of the Charles Hotel. We'll meet in the bar area. Call James on his mobile phone if you cannot find us. For directions, see their Web site.
We'll have a pre-party before the concert at the Inn at Harvard. The pre-party starts at 6 p.m. If at all possible, please arrive as close to 6 at possible, but if that is not possible, that is OK. We'll leave for First Church Congregational at 7:40 prompt.
If you're on James' invitation list, you'll receive an invitation to the pre-party if you're on the Classical Music (B-1) list and/or the Other Party — Inexpensive (A-3 (a)) list. You're welcome to come to the pre-party even if you're not attending the concert.
-->Kimball will not be attending the pre-party, since as a member of the choir he has to warm-up with the choir. He will be attending the post-party. James, of course, will be at the pre-party, and Naomi and Heather attend almost all of the pre-parties.
We always have a post-parties after each concert. We'll meet in the back of the church and go over together. If you can't find us, call James on his mobile phone.
The post-parties are held at:
Upstairs on the Square
91 Winthrop Street
(aka JFK Street)
Cambridge, MA
(617) 864-1933
www.UpstairsontheSquare.com
As you enter on Winthrop Street, go up the stairs one flight. We'll meet around the bar. If you're unable to find us, call James on his mobile phone.
Kimball can be reached at (617) 661-1970, which is his home/mobile number.
Kimball has an invitation list for concerts, dancing and cross-country skiing. If you want to be placed on any of these lists, send him an e-mail.
During the pre- and post-party, you can reach James on his mobile phone (781 718-1301). Except when you know for certain that he is out (i.e., he is hosting a party), the best number to reach him at is (781) 647-0136, which is good day and night. When he is out, he transfers the 647-0136 number to his mobile phone.
If you want to be placed on James' invitation list, see how to apply and then send him an e-mail.
If you have not already done so, please create an Evite account. This will allow you to view all of your Evite invitations — whether sent by us or someone else — in one place. If you delete an Evite invitation sent to you, you can log into Evite and it will be there. It costs nothing to create an Evite account.
Some anti-spam programs incorrectly identify the invitations we send as spam (a false positive). In your e-mail package, please add info@evite.com to your white or approved list. Your company's technical support department should be able to tell you how to do this.
If you're om James' invitation list and you're currently busy and wish to not receive invitations for a certain period of time, you can suspend your membership for X months or X years. Simply write to James and tell him what X is.
If you're on James' invitation list and you wish to no longer receive invitations for any parties going forward (as opposed to suspending your membership), simply write to James. Before you do, please read this page and this page.