Dear listers:
I'm reposting a "lost post" that I sent to the list in December. Hope you like
it, even
though it's untimely!
Peggy
I had as much singing fun as I've ever had last night, singing in the on-stage
chorus of
the annual Messiah Sing-in at the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center
for the
Performing Arts in Washington, DC. I thought some might enjoy reading a little
about it.
My choir director at Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria (NOVA
Community
Chorus), Dr. Mark Whitmire, was asked to be one of the three conductors for the
annual
Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-in, and NOVA choristers who could sing the Messiah
Part 2 & 3
choruses with only one Monday night rehearsal were able to come sing in the
on-stage
chorus.
After a rehearsal with two of the three conductors and pianist last Monday
night, we had a
7 pm call backstage at the Concert Hall (7:30 pm start time) yesterday evening
(December
23). I car-pooled to the Kennedy Center with a fellow NOVA chorister, and
after parking
in the Kennedy Center garage, we walked through the hallway backstage, and then
downstairs
to the Musician's Lounge, a large room with the lowest ceiling I've ever seen.
I could
touch it with my hand without standing on tip-toe, and I'm only 5'2"! I think
the tallest
basses had to stoop a bit in there. Warm-up, thank goodness, was just singing
through the
first chorus, "And the Glory of the Lord" a capella a couple of times (I
dislike most
choral warm-ups - I'm spoiled by the ones we do at NOVA, which are just like
the simple
vocaleses sung at the beginning of a voice lesson.)
Usually, lining up a chorus and walking upstairs to go on stage is a complicated
undertaking, but this one was pure simplicity. We went on from two sides -
altos and
tenors stage left; sopranos and basses stage right - men on first, then ladies,
took the
first available seat on the choral risers (really bleachers). No one told us
which hand to
hold our music in (which I think is silly, as if the audience notices or cares
- after
all, nobody tells orchestras how to walk out on stage: they come on one at a
time and
carry their music however they want). We NOVA sopranos managed to sit near
each other -
we wanted to be in a block so our director could see us when it was his turn to
conduct.
The Kennedy Center Concert Hall is so gorgeous since it was renovated. What a
thrill to
walk onto the stage, seeing the Hall's gold-bronze beauty and all those happy
people in
the seats. It was so cool before the concert, coming up from the garage and
walking in
the Hall of Nations, to see hundreds of people holding orange and white Novello
Messiah
scores! These people went through a lot of trouble to get tickets. They're
free, but are
given away on a particular morning several weeks earlier at 10 am, and people
start lining
up 4 hours beforehand for the tickets, outside in the cold. They get let into
the
building when it opens (I guess around 9 am), and they get only two tickets
apiece. The
Concert Hall opens at 7:00 pm the night of the sing-in, and seats are held
until 7:15 pm
for ticket-holders; after that, they seat the people without tickets who are
lined up
waiting. (A fringe benefit for being in the on-stage chorus is a ticket to
give to a
friend, which I took advantage of!)
So these folks are psyched and ready to sing and have fun. The first
conductor, and
organizer of the event for the past few years, Barry Hemphill of the
Metropolitan Chorus
in Arlington, talked to the audience a bit, talked about this year's sing-in
being
dedicated to the late Paul Hill (who organized it for many years, until his
health forced
his to quite), warmed up the audience with a little bit of "And the Glorry of
the Lord",
then he walked off stage. The concertmistress came out, tuned the orchestra,
then Maestro
Hemphill, the soloists, and the "sign singer" walked out (this man was
incredible to
watch, even from the back where we were - he got as big a hand as the soloists
at the
end). The orchestra played the overture, the tenor sang "Comfort Ye" and
"Every Valley".
Then the Maestro motioned for the stage chorus and audience to stand, and we
started
singing "And the Glory of the Lord". What a thrill! The recent renovation of
the Concert
Hall has made the sound so terrific, on stage as well as in the hall. Singing
great music
while looking out at the audience - I can't describe the wonderful feeling it
gave me!
Maestro Hemphill conducted through "For Unto Us a Child is Born". All the
soloists were
good, but I was most impressed with our baritone, Gene Galvin, who put tons of
personality
into his arias, which was evident to us through his voice, since his back was
to us! Then
the second conductor, Sondra Proctor, (long-time accompanist to the Paul Hill
Chorale and
leader of her own local chorus) took over and led us through the rest of Part
I, through
"His Yoke is Easy". This, by the way, is a famously HARD chorus to sing, with
every voice
at one time or another having to make an ascending piano octave leap onto the
word "easy"
- Handel's joke on choristers everywhere for all time! How could a singer not
love this
guy? That's the definition of immortality!!!
Then it was intermission - by the time the large (about 180 people) chorus got
offstage,
there was barely time to get to the ladies' room before we started filing back
on stage.
My choir director, Dr. Whitmire, led us through the next four Part II choruses,
which are
less familiar to me (and the audience, I could tell) than the part I choruses:
"Behold
the Lamb of God," "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs," "And with his Stripes",
and (last but
not least) "All We Like Sheep". I'm surely biased, but I like my director's
conducting
the best, though all the conducting was good. My director is so intense about
everything
he does, and always brings the music to life. It was a joy to watch him do that
with these
great choruses, especially "All We Like Sheep". At the moment, that's my very
favorite
Messiah chorus. I adore what Handel does with the word painting, with the
sheep going
"astray" in a wandering, ascending eight-note melody, and "turning" with tons
of turning
sixteenth notes, moving among the voices and the orchestra, and coming all
together at the
end of the piece. When I'm singing a chorus like that, with other good singers
& a great
orchestra, in a wonderful hall, with a terrific conductor, I feel that life
doesn't get
better than this!
Martin Feinstein, the retired Director of the Washington Opera, and one of the
founders of
this annual sing-in, conducted the Hallalujah Chorus. Before he started
conducting, he
read quotes by famous composers about the wonderfulness of Handel! It was SO
cool to sing
the Hallelujah Chorus, with the audience singing in full voice, and all that
sound coming
back at me. I couldn't stop smiling up there, and looking at the audience
having such a
good time (while also keeping in view Mr. Feinstein - who did everything very
simply and
straightforwardly).
Then Maestro Hemphill came back on and led us through "Since by Man Came Death"
and
"Worthy is the Lamb". That last one is an amazing piece, also, and is probably
my
second-favorite Messiah chorus. At the very end, we sang the Hallelujah Chorus
again,
with Sondra Proctor at the organ, all the soloists singing along, and my
director came out
with his orchestra score to sing as well. There was twice as much sound back
at us as the
first time it was sung! This gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. I
was so wired
that when I got home (after a half-price late-night burger at Clyde's in
Alexandria with
my chorus buddies), I couldn't get to sleep for several hours.
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
|
