July 11 - 12, 2012: Siros (Practice with John Rutter)

July 11, 2012: July 11th was spent doing the usual -- going to downtown Hermoupolis. Here are pictures of some of the things we saw/did when in the "city":

lunch

Greek sweets

July 12, 2012: The day finally arrived when we began practice with the conductor and composer of Magnificat for our second concert, Sir John Rutter. 

Maestro John Rutter

John Rutter is one of the most prolific composers in music history (even though he is still alive and relatively young -- 66). As mentioned earlier, we sang his Requiem several years ago with him conducting in Carnegie Hall. And now, I had the honor and pleasure of singing with him again! John Rutter's music is ethereal -- I can't imagine how a composer can think of linking chordal progressions going from one key to another to yet others -- like ascending into paradise. Although most of the music wasn't difficult to sing technically, it was difficult to sing at the performance because it is so beautiful to hear, that I became overwhelmed by the beauty of the sound and couldn't sing my notes. Unfortunately for me, I did not have the opportunity to thoroughly learn the music to Magnificat during choir practices before leaving the US (although I regularly practiced by myself at my piano) and was therefore unable to participate fully in one movement (Fecit Potentiam) that had tempi that changed every other measure. John Rutter explained during rehearsal that the music critics were always critiquing his music saying that it was all "honey and rainbows", and he wanted to show them there was another side to him by writing a movement that was for the devil. That he did in that movement.

Maestro Rutter's rehearsals were the best I've attended as a singer in many choirs -- he accomplished three times more than any other conductor could produce during his rehearsal time. He was not only an outstanding teacher of music, but also supportive, enthusiastic, encouraging, and demanding. Not only that, but he spoke in both English and French to direct the choir (recall that the overall choir consisted of choirs from the US, Canada, France, and Greece). And perhaps the greatest attribute about him is that he is very approachable -- during breaks, all the singers stood in line to get his autograph, picture with him, etc. I was among them:

Sir John Rutter talking with Ruth and me

Sir John Rutter autographing my music

Maestro Rutter not only signed his autograph with us, but he also spent time talking with us about his life, what he was working on (a ballet which he has never done before), the fact that he was about to move to a new house (He complained that his wife was "encouraging" him to toss all of his old clothes when they moved but he was reluctant to do so with "perfectly good clothes" -- just like I would have said), and the state of his children. We also commented that he looks very much like my father to which he retorted "I would have preferred that I look more like his grandson." It was truly a pleasure to have sung under his direction and known him as a colleague. As we parted several days later, I told him again how much I enjoyed singing under his directorship and said that I look forward to singing under his direction again in his next major choral work to which he replied "I plan on retiring!". I certainly hope not.