The "Under the Stars Concert" consisted of a fairly lengthy and varied program. First, the Albanian Orchestra was led by their own conductor and played two overtures. Then Maestro Rutter conducted us in his Magnificat. The place where I stood for this concert was in the center of the first row just behind the platform where the soloists and the ballet dancer were to perform so it was a focal point of the performance. As such, a spotlight shined on the platform from below, and the intense light prevented me from seeing the conductor very well (The soloists had the same problem). Nevertheless, the performance went well. As usual, Maestro Rutter had thorough command of every voice and instrument that played and the audience reception of the work was appreciative.
After Magnificat, Peter Tiboris, the main conductor of the Festival, conducted the orchestra in Ravel's Bolero in which there was a ballet dancer performing just in front of where I was seated. Her dance was quite reflective of the music, starting out slowly with little movement but becoming ever more lively and acrobatic as the piece played on. At the very end of the work, we members of the choir were part of the ballet routine when we raised our arms in beat to the music and at the very end of the work, we pointed at the collapsed dancer. It was really quite a dramatic performance, and now, I guess, I can say that I have participated in a ballet! Here is a video of her practicing for the performance (Sorry that it's sideways -- I can't rotate videos in blogspot!)
The final work in the concert was the final movement of Beethoven's 9th conducted by Peter Tiboris. For this, too, the spotlight shined brightly in my eyes and unfortunately also in the eyes of the four soloists who stood just in front of me. According to attendees of the performance, the four soloists did not blend well, and I even heard that the soprano entered one section of the music one measure early throwing the others off, although they must have corrected themselves quickly because it wasn't too noticeable by me.
At the end of the concert, I met several attendees who congratulated us on the performance. I also met the father of the Greek baritone who stood next to me and whom I got to know as we sat next to each other during rehearsal. He had graduated from a music school in piano but was currently working on a degree in civil engineering. He had a very good voice and he was a source of comfort to me in the Rutter because he had obviously prepared for the work for some time. He said that it was only recently that he joined a choir and asked me how American singers first learned the music they were singing. He explained to me that at first, Greeks don't sing the words to the works, but rather sing the corresponding note "do, re mi fa sol la or ti" depending on what note in the scale the word is. He said that this forced the singers to concentrate on the notes even more. A very interesting concept, but one where I later wondered how they would pronounce a sharp or flatted note (I sent him an e-mail about this question but he hasn't answered me yet.) At any rate, he introduced me to his father after the concert, and in our discussion, the father told me he was "quite worried about his son being on the stage behind that 'exotic' dancer" -- he was afraid that during the performance, his son would put money in her costume!
After the concert, we were treated to pizza and drinks at a nearby outdoor restaurant. Even though the concert ended after midnight, it looked like the social life on Sirus was just beginning. On the whole, it was an enjoyable evening, although I felt that the concert had some issues. I guess I wasn't alone in my opinions; one of my co-singers happened to meet someone who had attended many of the events in the Festival of the Aegean and she learned that this person is the music critic for an Athens newspaper. When she heard this, she told him that she was in the choir and wondered what he was going to report about the events he had attended. Without stopping to think about his answer, he responded that the orchestra needed a few more stronger players, but according to him "the best part of everything he had attended was the full, rich sound of the choir." He mentioned that the overall impression of him was of seeing so many amateur musicians, orchestra and choir singers alike, who earnestly participated in the Festival and how much they seemed to enjoy what they were performing. I guess that's high praise for a musician -- really enjoying what were were doing, and that we did.
 |
| a view of the rear of the orchestra seating and audience below them from where I was sitting |
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment