Nostalgia and a small world

So, based on my last posting, you can imagine I am feeling nostaligic about my children's choir days. So, I decided to look them up on the web. I had heard that a handful of years ago the children's choir split from the symphony and became an independent organization, the Columbus Childrens Choir. It has grown from the one choir it was in my days to NINE choirs. They are still under the direction of Dr. Sandra Mathias, who conducted my first audition and was the only director the CSOCC ever had.

Even cooler, the CCC website has an alumni section where they list what the alums are up to. I have, of course, just submitted my info. In the meanwhile, however, I found the names of dozens of people I remember. Of course, in my memory, they are all still 8 to 13 years old, so reading about their accomplishments is mind-boggling. One of my fellow charter members, David Ayers, played Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway!

But it gets weirder... in Googling David to find out what he's up to, I found that he is co-founder of Broadway in Boulder....he freakin' lives in Colorado now! I think I will try to call him tomorrow and see if he remembers me. He used to sit right behind me, and I've never been a wallflower, right?

A personal loss

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Columbus Symphony may be closing its doors:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/05/08/picnic.html

The article begins:

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"After 57 years of music making, including a triumphant concert in New York's Carnegie Hall, the Columbus Symphony says it will shut down June 1.

Out of money and having failed to reach a new labor agreement with the musicians, the orchestra's board of trustees said today that it is canceling the summer Picnic With the Pops and Popcorn Pops series and most likely its 2008-09 season, scheduled to begin in October.

Columbus would become one of the nation's largest cities without a full-time professional orchestra."

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Now, why does a Denver soprano care what happens to the Columbus Symphony? Flashback 20 years to a 10-year-old piano student in Grandview Heights, a suburb of Columbus. Her piano teacher hears that the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is creating a children's chorus and suggests that the young girl audition for it. The girl does (along with 500 other children) and becomes one of the 75 charter members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Children's Chorus. During the three years she sang with this first-rate ensemble, as she performed with the symphony orchestra and a handful of renowned conductors, she gained an appreciation for classical music, learned how to sing "correctly," and learned how to sightsing.

Minus the experiences she acquired in the CSOCC, odds are 50 to 1 she would not have majored in music and would therefore not be a music teacher and performing musician today. Anyone who knows me would consider music an integral part of my spirit - it's part of who I am - I am not ME without it. It should now be easy to see why the potential demise of the CSO is a great personal loss for me.

And it was only a couple of weeks ago, I was recalling these 20-year-old memories with the CSOCC here in my blog in response to similar new experiences. Remember?

I really hope the managers and musicians are able to reach a suitable agreement.

Opera Colorado - excerpts from my diary

The sitzprobe went well and I found the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to be a fascinating place. They call it “The Ellie” for short [as you saw in my previous posting], and they even shorten that to just “Ellie” in many cases, so all of the trash cans and music stands have “Ellie” stenciled on them. It’s funny to see my name stenciled on a trash can. And there are signs that say “Ellie Stage Door,” like they are there specifically to tell me where to go. And they have a marvelous PA system to corral all the performers – “gentlemen of the chorus, stage right in five minutes, please.” “ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra to the stage, please.” “Maestro Lord, stage right, please.” “The rehearsal will begin in 30 minutes.” Etc. It’s so FORMAL!

I had been in the theater before in the audience. It is really a beautiful hall. As the women are not in the first act, I was able to enjoy the first act from the first balcony of the audience, and in doing so, I got a much better view of the hall than I had from the floor when I saw Carmen there with Denyce Graves at the beginning of The Ellie’s opening season. I really enjoyed the first act – it’s such a fine opera [The Flying Dutchman].

I spent the second act on stage. The women sing a little in the beginning of the 2nd act, and then sit there for an hour. This would have been marvelous if we were in front of the soloists and able to hear them better. In any case, it was a very different view of the theater, equally breathtaking, with its three balconies. And I was constantly enjoying the swell of emotions I always feel with a full orchestra, choir & soloists in collaboration with a world-class conductor (here, Stephen Lord). It is a magical scenario to me. The music was so dramatic and emotional and, well, there’s just no way to describe it really – it’s just magical to me – I love it. And this was just a dress rehearsal! Friday night we’ll all be in concert black and the hall will be full of people. While I have been in situations like this a number of times as an adult, it particularly reminded me of the concert-version operas in which I participated while singing in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Children’s Chorus [in the late 80s and early 90s].

Sometimes I feel a little sheepish being so enthralled with this stuff. I’ve been around it all for more than two decades, but I marvel at it as though it is my first time. A small part of me thinks it’s probably more “cool” to be ambivalent, but the never-ending magic reminds me why I became a musician to begin with and makes me thankful for the line of work I have chosen and been privileged to pursue.

The third act is quite short and has the most chorus music. It is the only time both the men’s and women’s choruses are on stage together. I am particularly fond of the men’s chorus music in this opera. I get a thrill listening to them sing it. It has a magical quality of its own, especially the way they sing it. I also love it whenever the men’s chorus applauds the women’s chorus – I don’t know why. I like thinking they are impressed by us and proud of us. Must be that “words of affirmation” love language thing again.