Memorable Music

Chamber Choir is in the process of preparing a concert that I think will be one of the great highlights of my choral experience. After a very successful rehearsal last night, I got to thinking about the other concert experiences that had a profound and lasting impact on me, both as a performer and an audience member. They felt like blog-worthy material, so here we go...

Identifying two favourite performing experiences is easy. The first is Ein Deutches Requiem, or more commonly, the Brahms Requiem. This was my first concert with Orchestral Choir, and only my second concert ever with orchestra. The conductor was Montreal phenom Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who was able to glean such power and expression and subtlety from the choir that when the last notes of the final movement faded away at the end of the performance, none of the 1,500 people in the audience moved. There was a full 10 or 15 seconds of silence before anyone dared clap. It was an exhausting experience, but the concert is a highlight I will remember for the rest of my life.

The second was a performance of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil last year with Chamber Choir. Several factors combined to make this project memorable. First, the All-Night Vigil has one of the greatest alto parts ever written in the choral repertoire. I would sing it again and again and again, if I could. Second, the choir was lucky to have a resident bass with a vast knowledge of both the Russian language and the Eastern Orthodox tradition, knowledge from which we benefitted greatly. It was also a treat to see his joy at being able to share so much of what was clearly so dear to him. Lastly, the choir really came together on performance day with an energy and a passion that we hadn't really seen in the rehearsal process. The result was astonishing, for all of us, and made us all so proud of the work we had done.

Others that have stuck in my mind include Messiah, both performing it for the first time, and being in the audience a year or two ago to see the whole thing (no cuts) conducted from the harpsichord, and my very first concert with orchestra, which was a performance of Dvorak's Te Deum.

And one particular concert of the many Chamber Choir performed on tour in England and Scotland this last summer. On our second full day on tour, we performed in Dunblane Cathedral in Scotland. Dunblane is a beautiful town, but you can feel the weight of devastating tragedy, and see the fragility in the faces of the people there, who were so kind and welcoming to us. In the Cathedral, there is a monument to the child victims of the shooting in 1996. One side of the memorial reads, "But still I dream that somewhere there must be the spirit of a child that waits for me." - from The Poet's Journal Third Evening by Bayard Taylor (1825-78).

I have so much to thank music for, not the least of which these few amazing experiences through which my world and perspective were permanently altered.

A few short words...

Last night, WH and I were at the church for a concert, which WH was recording. Midway through the 2nd half of the concert, several breakers in the church blew. While the rest of us were madly running around trying to find breaker boxes so that power could be restored, somebody took advantage of the situation to remove $60 from my purse, which I'd (stupidly) left in the (open) choir office.

To that person, I say, "Bite me."

A Favourite Story

One of my favourite pictures taken at our wedding this summer was a candid shot taken during the first dance. But the figures of my new husband and I enjoying this peaceful moment (accompanied by Etta James) is not why I love the picture. The background features a very clear shot of my mother and father, heads bent towards one another, deep in conversation.

My parents have been divorced now for about 10 years, after almost 30 years of marriage. Their current relationship is a difficult one to characterize; I suppose I might say that they are not quite friends, but nor is there anything in the way of active animosity. They really just let each other be, and that seems to work just fine. We were careful at the wedding to ensure that each parent had their own space and responsibility. My mom, an Anglican priest, performed our wedding ceremony; my dad walked me down the aisle and welcomed WH to the family at the reception. It was all moving and lovely. I am eternally grateful that both my mom and my dad approached the event, which could have been so stressful for either of them, with such grace.

It wasn't until some time after the wedding day itself that I found out what was said in the conversation so beautifully captured on film. My father asked my mother to dance. And she declined, but asked if he would sit it out with her. So he sat. And my mother looked at him and said, "Tell me something. Have you ever in your life seen anything as beautiful as our daughter?"

And my father said, "No."

But what about the gin?

The Recipe For Chorus

3 parts Charisma 2 parts Superiority 1 part Humor Splash of Happiness Finish off with a squeeze of lime juice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Excuse me, have you seen my brain?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

My brain fell out.

Have you seen it?

I'm back at work today, facing an absolutely astonishing to-do list, and struggling entirely to develop some kind of action plan to deal with it all. Solution: bloggity bloggity blog blog.

My biggest brain fart moment thus far has been forgetting that I was supposed to sit in for my boss's executive assistant this week to ensure that phones get answered, schedules get adhered to, etc. It wasn't until I was sitting in a meeting with my boss that I realized where I was supposed to be. He was very gracious, and allowed as how there hadn't been much activity and I could stay at my own desk until needed. I have, however, remembered to print some agendas and related items for him, and as soon as I find the file in which those items are supposed to be placed, I'll be laughing.

WH is at home today spending some time with Handel and Bach. Not literally (that would be smelly), but musically. WH is preparing for a big Chamber Choir concert coming up in February: Handel's Dixit Dominus and Bach's cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden. These are both fantastic pieces of music, and will be immensely challenging for the choir. But with great challenge comes great reward, and the process of putting these pieces together will be rewarding, both for WH and for the singers. I am just as excited to see WH conduct the pieces as I am to sing them. Huzzah for Bach and Handel!

Alright... no choice but to attack the list with full force now. Wish me luck!

Not the start we'd been hoping for...

...I seem to have the flu.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I didn't feel great, but that was not particularly surprising, given the New Years Eve excitement. About midday, I started to have flu-like symptoms (I'll spare you the details). I checked my temp, and it was up, and kept rising as the day went on, peaking at about 100.2 late in the day.

So I'm at home today, wrapped in blankets on the couch, with Mama Cat and Baby Cat providing excellent TLC. I slept almost a full 12 hours last night, and am pretty sure that I could do that again without much encouragement. At last check, the temperature is back close to normal, and a bowl of cereal has stayed down so far today. I am beginning to consider the possibilities of soup for lunch.

WH has been lovely, providing appropriate amounts of gentle soda, and crackers, and gentle words. He shall have stars in his crown.

Back to work tomorrow, I hope!

2008!

Happy New Year Everybody! We've arrived! And what an arrival...

Last night, WH and a group of long-time friends sang their annual New Year's Eve concert, and then everybody trouped back to our house to ring in 2008. It was an epic party. At the height of the celebration, there were probably 30 people here, wine glasses and finger food in hand, singing Barrett's Privateers at the top of their lungs. It was wild. Suffice to say that WH and I are having a very quiet day today, eating leftover party food and trying to talk Mama Cat and Baby Cat down out of the rafters.

Wishing you all a wonderful and happy 2008!