BSO Report

I had to leave work a little early to get to the BSO by 5:15. As I walked in, there were two desks moved together with a staff lady at each. At the right desk there was a sign: Basses /Altos, at the left - Tenors/ Sopranos. So I walked up to the right desk, paid the registration fee in the amount of $10.00 ( also the ticket price for the event) and got a cool sticker with the word CHOIR on it for just in case I wanted to step out during the break.

The foyer was decorated very festively and I made time taking pictures and being photographed with all that beauty. Then I looked around. Nice crowd, lots of nice, laid back people of all different ages. Many were leafing through their sheet music, others just socialized. Some ladies looked like an experienced church choir crowd, but the majority were total amateurs.

I met another alto there. She asked me if I sang in the choir, to which I replied no, but I sing to my son. She seemed to be happy with my answer and said" Oh, OK, I don't sing in a choir either, but I do sing in the shower!" So we stuck together. A baby singer and a shower singer.

Soon staff members came out and directed us to our seats. They explained to us that the choir was sitting in the audience, told us where each of the 4 voice types sat and said that we had to sit among them.

The choir turned out to be college students. They wore red Santa hats and purple shirts. So we sat among them.

Then onto the stage came the maestra, Marin Alsop (for those of you who are not from the area - she is the leading BSO conductor). She made brief introductions of herself and the the soloists and started the rehearsal.

Every once in a while she would praise us, but one could tell by her expression that she was not that pleased. We started the rehearsal with the original Hallelujah ( oh joy!) and Ms. Alsop emphasized that at all times we have to put an accent to the syllable lu, not the syllable jah!

I guess, many people were driven by the momentum of the piece and did sing it with the accent on the last syllable.

Then she commented on us not putting enough deepness in the quiet part

the kingdom of his world is become.

She said that when there is little voice used, the music should be sung with a special deepness.

Then we rehearsed other pieces, which were a combination of jazz and gospel. Not a fan of either.

After the rehearsal was over, it turned out that we, the choir's community part are not going to perform on the stage. We were supposed to stay in the audience and sing from there, rising every time it was our turn to sing.

In the intermission my wonderful husband came to support me at the show. We spent some time taking pictures together and chatting. Unfortunately, photography and videotaping were strictly prohibited, so my husband could not take any pictures or videos of me performing.

They were serving free cookies and fruit punch in the foyer and everybody was eating so much of that stuff. Doesn't anyone know that you can't eat too much before you sing? Opera singers never do.

Anyway, the show was fine. We sang fine. For amateurs who never had a rehearsal. Many people had no idea how to read the music and were lost in the pages. Some people did not know the lyrics and just stood there silent. The soloists did fine, the choir was wonderful and the full orchestra was there and it was fabulous.

Because, to my great disappointment, we did not perform the original Hallelujah, I figured out that Ms. Alsop really hated the way it sounded at the rehearsal.

Overall, it was quite a nice evening.

Would I do it again?

Probably not.

This is good enough done once. However, I am open to new music adventures!

Let's see where the music will take me next.