Hallelujah

I forgot to say anything on Sunday about our concert on Saturday night. The Champlain Valley Voices, F.K.A. the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society, presented portions of Handel's Messiah oratorio. We did the whole first section, virtually nothing from the 2d section, and much of the last section. We had a 20-piece orchestra and 90 voices plus 4 soloists. The soprano had a glorious voice, pure, clear and effortless. She's a local girl, the 23-yr-old daughter of a pediatrician and she's studying currently at Mcgill University in Montreal. Just an angel of a voice. The alto soloist was the former director of CVV (when it was CVOS), the tenor was a college student currently in NYC, and the bass sang the part his dad had sung 20 years ago with CVOS. I'm pretty sure that performance was the one I sang in; I very vaguely remember it but it would've been the first time I ever heard the whole Messiah.

The chorus sounded pretty good from where I was and I actually bought the CD so I could hear what 90 voices sounded like in the college's auditorium with the worst acoustics. Here's the PSU Web site's image of E. Glenn Giltz Auditorium:



It's pretty but you have to work to get the sound out to the audience. We were onstage--all of us--so it was a bit crowded. And the orchestra was, of course, in front of the chorus, so we really had to work! But I think it went well.

And the Messiah was certainly a good way to get me into the holiday spirit, anyway, so tomorrow I'll get out the house decorations and probably do the tree on the weekend. Let the holidays begin!