Choir Festival Time
For an extended period we were tucked away in a quiet residential neighborhood of Stuttgart, Germany. We have had this apartment rented for a long time because we had made plans to spend a lot of time getting ready for our big choir festival this coming weekend. We are living in a huge apartment (actually two apartments connected by an outside dining area) with a piano in one section, and in the other an area where you can do score preparation without hearing the person at the piano in the other part of the apartment. This was supposed to be a week of serious musical and academic work.
Then the stomach bug hit! It began with me getting the bug and being incredibly sick for a few days. Then poor Tommy got it even worse than me. Sarah, being the rock star she is, did not get it. And in fact, she practiced the piano a lot while also being an amazing nurse to Tommy and me.
Just before the festival weekend was to begin we moved out of our apartment and into a beautiful hotel in the heart of the city. Tommy was not yet over the sickness so he and Sarah walked the 45 minutes so that he could stop and be sick and not have to worry about it happening on the metro or in a cab. I felt so bad for him. He made it to the hotel and fell back into bed exhausted. I am supposed to run some notes for the choir tonight but one of us has to stay with Tommy. Since we are terrified that Sarah is going to get sick, she ran the night rehearsal so that I could be enclosed with Tommy and keep her from being even more exposed.
Sarah ran an amazing session with the choir, and the next morning Tommy and I were both up, our sickness totally gone, and we are ready to make music!
Ok, I think I know how to rebuild the culture of singing back home. We need to adopt the German idea of a “Choir Club House”! Yes, we are rehearsing in the choir club here Stuttgart. It is a building owned by one choir, but rented by the other choirs. There is BEER ON DRAFT! Tables for sitting around eating. A commercial kitchen. Outside flower gardens with tables and chair for hanging out. One member acts as bartender before rehearsal, during breaks, and after rehearsal. They have non-alcoholic drinks as well as two kinds of beer. Oh, and they also have a space for rehearsing. I asked them if I could just come be their permanent conductor!
The rehearsals were great and the people were very warm and friendly. They really seemed to like the music and although Howard Goodall did not end up being able to attend, the choir was very happy that he sent a personal message to them. In general, the event went as well as it could given the “challenges” of American Department of Defense actions and the challenges of of American/European Relations. Nevertheless, we were able to pull together a chamber orchestra of very talented players (rather than American Military it ended up being German professionals and advanced students) and the choir, although much smaller than planned, was really strong and did a great job. I was especially pleased to have one piece played by student string players. I loved the idea of a concert of professional players allowing a piece that included aspiring young students! And, Tommy was the soprano soloist with them.
Speaking of soloists, I was delighted that UMass Dartmouth supported our efforts and allowed me to bring over Patrice Tiedemann to reprise her work with me as soloist on Unconditional Love. She is a fabulous singer to work with and has the ideal voice for this work. It is always an honor to work with her. And, she and Tommy make a perfect pair as guest soloists!
You can learn more about Patrice here.
https://www.patricetiedemann.com/biography.html
Anyway, it was a fun week and we are excited to be moving on to our next city. After we have a snack and beer with the choir!
