You can email me! I always answer unless you’re rude or scary.
Or you can follow me on Twitter. I make an effort to be amusing.
A blog about New York City, my books, and my cats. Mostly.
You can email me! I always answer unless you’re rude or scary.
Or you can follow me on Twitter. I make an effort to be amusing.
I was noticing that Amazon has every item in my order history that I’ve ever purchased!! I look back at my very first Amazon order in 1998. It was the Cyberville book! How great is that for a first Amazon purchase. Glad to se you are still avant-garde!!
For some reason I haven’t been getting email for months to approve comments so I’m sorry I’ve been so late to respond!
Thank you so so so so much for making Cyberville (my first book!) your first Amazon purchase!!
Hi there. You have such a beautiful soul and loving heart that I love visiting your site. Hoping to get into your writing once my work schedule slows down. I “discovered” you through your writings about the Sodder family. Truly a mystery for our times.
Cheers
Bob
What a nice thing to say, thank you.
Hi,
I teach a NYC History class at Stuyvesant High School and was hoping you’d consider coming to give a book talk! I’m really intrigued by your book Damnation Island! The class is fromm2:55-3:35 M-F. Let me know.
Robert Sandler
I would absolutely love to come talk to your class!
Dear Miss,
I attend Raul Proença High School, in Caldas da Rainha.
I’m in class in 10º grade in a vocational course.
I’m doing a school project work about you and I was wondering if you could send me a Photo with 300dpi of quality
with the copyright.
Best Regards.
Hello! What is the project about exactly?
Hi Stacy!
The project is about Woman in STEM. We are doing a biography about women who were important in STEM field. We are planning to do an exhibition with roll-ups with this biography and a photo.
Do you want us to translate to English the biography we have done about you?
Best regards,
João Fernandes
Hi! I’m sorry for not responding sooner. I’m having a problem emailing people with gmail addresses. My email to them goes into their spam folder. In order for me to email you with a photograph, you need to do the following:
Go to Settings
Select: Filters and Blocked Addresses
Select: Create a new filter
Where it says From at the top, put: horn@echonyc.com
Select: Create filter
Click: Never send it to spam
Select: Create filter
It’s done.
One of the weird things about singing in Choral Arts is the wide spectrum of privilege that pervades the group. Longtime alto Candy Stroud who works in public relations and political communications is a walking buddy of former MD lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Such a shock when KKT’s daughter Maeve and grandson Gideon drowned after their canoe capsized In Chesapeake Bay. [I love Ordinary People by Judith Guest–somewhat similar in plot; situation also somewhat resemlant of Michael Cunningham’s novel Flesh and Blood. ] Maeve’s sister Kerry (an emergency room physician in New York City) left New York to be with her mother and family at this time of loss in the midst of COVID19. It’s an unwelcome break for her from the nonstop action of the emergency room–not the sort of break anyone wants.
Hello. Welcome to my blog.
Choral rehearsal by Zoom–not a fan. Has your group attempted this in our COVID19 lockdown state? I think independent score study with a good recording may be a better way to learn music.
Good Morning,
I was wondering if you would be interested in giving a virtua lecture on your book “Damnation Island” to our library system.
Maybe in May 2021?
May I ask how much yuo woud charge fro an hour’s virtual lecture.
Thank you
I would love to give a lecture to your library, thank you for asking me. I will email you.
Dear Ms. Horn
Having just completed your riveting investigative tale of Damnation Island, I felt compelled to write to you. I was hoping to plant a seed of a sequel that would take place in the early twentieth century. This could follow patients who were sent from Blackwell’s Island onto Letchworth Village. Letchworth Village seems to be another example of a well-meaning Institution that can’t live up to its intention. Perhaps this subject might intrigue you enough for a follow up; telling the stories of those who get caught up in the system with no hope of ever getting out. My Grandmother was one of many such persons who came to the US and unfortunate circumstances lead to a life that was unforeseen.
Thank you for taking the time to read my request. Your work opens minds and sheds light on subjects that need to be known.
Kind Regards, Kathleen
It’s a great idea. I don’t know if my publisher would want a book so similar, but I agree it’s a story that should be told. Maybe even more so because Letchworth Village is less well known, and I’m guessing less is known about it.
Hello Ms. Horn,
I’ve been checking out blogs and found yours which I’m excited about. We lived in NYC and it’s such a treat to see random things going on. It’s quite special and a bit nostalgic!! I will definitely be following you, probably will also learn some things as well, being a new blogger.
Yasmin
Just a note. We are from east 84st right next to the oke doke bar I was talking with my mom about it and when we were kids my parents would sit at the bar and Elsie would let us kids play shuffleboard. Hard to find the pins through all the cigarette smoke. Brought back memories reading your story. My mother got a kick out of the pictures. Thx
You are most welcome, thanks for stopping by. I wish her bar was still there, maybe run by people who once knew her.
I have some information for you on our son Richard Sale. Please send me your email address. Rick Sale
I’m sorry I haven’t responded sooner, my email is: horn@echonyc.com. I will email you as well.
Hi,
What is your chorus singing these days? The Choral Arts Society of Washington sang 2 performances of Mahler Symphony no.2 with the National Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas followed by the annual Singing the Dream choral tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (the performance was rescheduled due to the omicron surge during the winter). Now, the chorus is working on Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem and Christopher Tin’s To Shiver the Sky.
Wow. Great programming!!
The African American Requiem was recorded. I think Damien Geter is remarkable, maybe the most significant singer/composer since Samuel Barber. The post performance patch session was mostly painless, likely because of the terms of the contract the Choral Arts Society had with the Kennedy Center. (“Vacate the Concert Hall by stipulated time, or be prepared to pay big $!”) So, now we’ll see what happens next. Maestro Scott Tucker is stepping down as the artistic director of Choral Arts at the end of the season. His successor hasn’t been selected yet, but three candidates have led mock rehearsals with the singers. Scott’s final concert as director of Choral Arts is an all Brahms program, the shorter works including Nanie and the Alto Rhapsody. The venue is the Washington Cathedral (at Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenues, NW). The performance of Damien’s African American Requiem was May 23rd, and the Brahms program is the evening of June 16th–so we’re scrambling. Most of us have sung the German Requiem, but these other Choral works (also beautiful) are new to most of us!
Congratulations, Gregg. I’d love to hear the African American Requiem. You said it was recorded, was a video also made?
Thanks, Stacy,
To my knowledge, this performance wasn’t recorded in video . I’ve found sections of it on YouTube, although not the complete work. The Agnus Dei (which I found on YouTube) was recorded by the Resonance Ensemble of Portland; it’s excellent.
Scott Tucker is now director emeritus of the Choral Arts Society of Washington. On Wednesday, I attended an optional get together with the new director, Jace Saplan. Jace is native Hawaiian, and holds a BMus in Hawaiian music from the University of Hawaii , several masters degrees including a MMus in Choral conducting from the University of Oregon, and a DMA in Choral conducting from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Jace has led Choral activities at the University of Hawaii and has accepted an appointment as director of choral activities at Arizona State. Jace will be a very busy conductor splitting their time between Tempe and Washington DC! For the Wednesday event, Jace led the members of Choral Arts in a sing through of the Faure and Durufle Requiems. I could almost sing the Faure in my sleep! I’m not nearly as familiar with the Durufle. Jace introduced the Durufle by telling us that their late professor and mentor Dr. Karen Kennedy had asked Jace to conduct the Durufle at her memorial service. Fortunately, this Wednesday sing through was very casual–it would take multiple rehearsals to get the Durufle ready for the Kennedy Center! It is an amazing work.
Hi Stacy, I love your blog and will certainly look up your book. I am researching the New York Foundling Home and saw your post from 2016 on letters left with babies that you were able to view at the New York Historical Society. Do you remember how many letters they have in their archives there? Do you know what years the letters were from that are available for viewing? I wondered if you took research notes during your visit and what other things they may have available on the Foundling Home and Hospital for researchers. Thank you!
Hi Julie, and thank you! I linked to the collection in my post.
It’s: http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/ms347_foundling_hospital/
I just looked and it says there are 1,000 letters from 1869-1884 in the collection. And they have lots of other materials from the Foundling Hospital, which you’ll see if you follow that link. It’s a gold mine for your research, good luck!
Hi,
Choral Arts Society of Washington is preparing for its first performance under the new music director, Jace Saplan. The program is an anthology of shorter works under the umbrella title of O What a Beautiful City. It includes works by multiple composers. If I were going to choose an anchor piece, I’d say it’s Five Emily Dickinson poems set for chorus with mezzo soloist by Gwyneth Walker. They are exquisite; published by E. C. Schirmer. I’m not sure who the mezzo soloist is –to be announced.
Best wishes for a great season and welcome to your new director!
Thanks so much, Stacy! And best wishes to Jace (who identifies as nonbinary) as they divide their week between Washington DC and Tempe, where they serve as director of choral activities at Arizona State.
The first concert of the 2022-23 Choral Arts Society of Washington season was held Saturday night at the Washington Cathedral. I thought it went well. Since the concert wasn’t held at the Kennedy Center, it was recorded and has been posted on YouTube. It will be available for viewing through mid December. To retrieve it, enter the terms Choral Arts Society Washington What a Beautiful City. I really like Gwyneth Walker’s setting of Emily Dickinson poems, A Heart in Hiding. The guest soloist is soprano Millicent Scarlett.
Congratulations on your first concert of the season!
Thanks Stacy! The next concerts are Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony under the baton of Fabio Biondi, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Dec. 15-18. These concerts are using historically informed performance practice with a relatively small ensemble of about 40 singers. I enjoy singing with the National Symphony. Mixed feelings about this work–great music, outrageous text.
Dear Stacy,
In your book Unbelievable I came across “What we are dealing with is a vast and half-lit area, where nothing seems believable but everything is possible” by Carl Jung. Unfortunately, I could find the source of the quote. Would you tell me the the source! Thank you very much in advance.
Best wishes
Alex
Dear Stacy,
I found your book on singing by chance today, when I was doing some internet searches, and I ordered a copy. I am writing a book on Morten Lauridsen, and so I am very interested in reading your section on his signature piece, _O Magnum Mysterium_. I’m looking forward to reading your book. I thought you might be interested in my website. Here is the specific link to my scholarly article on _O Magnum Mysterium_, which came out in the _Choral Journal_ in 2018:
https://timelessmusicandpoetry.org/project-detail-with-description/
–The download button can be challenging to see on a smart phone (it is just below the image of the painting), but you’ll see it easily on a laptop or desktop.
My regards,
Jim
Hi Jim! I’m so glad to hear you are working on a book about Morten Lauridsen. I love his work and he should have a book written about him. Thank you for buying my book. My chapter on Lauridsen in a personal favorite of mine. It was one of those rare occasions where I feel like I communicated exactly what I wanted to communicate.