Blog: News and Views

Singing, Eating and Drinking, what a rough day!

Been on tour for a few days and have not actually had to sing too much yet, until today. Big day starting off with mass choir for men 18 and over. First we worked on a very cool  Czech piece with Robert Sund by a composer named Cricka. This is my first time working with Mr. Sund although I know CL has worked with him before. His love for the music is obvious within the first minute of the rehearsal, you can just see it in his face and hear it in his voice. There are a few thing that are little different and maybe slightly frustrating in the mass rehearsals. One is the short amount of time that we have to work on the music as a massed choir. Another is that we as Chor Leoni members are so used to having a very relaxed rehearsal style where we can speak up and ask questions, make comments or suggestions, even an occasional joke, and in these rehearsals we are but another voice in the (very large) crowd. I guess it makes me realize how lucky we are as choristers to have an active role in the rehearsal process. I am really looking forward to the GALA concerts where we will be performing all this music.

This was followed by the second Festival Concert. The first part was a performance of the Children's Opera "Brundibar" by Krása who was one of the many composers put into the Jewish concentration camp at Terezín. It was staged by Boni Pueri, the the Czech Boy's Choir. They told us some of the history about Terezín before the show so it was cool to witness the show knowing the context and conditions in which it was performed. I wish I could go into more details but l?ike I said, it was a big day and I still have a lot to blog.

The second part of the concert was performed by Amarcord. The repertoire chosen for this performance was a lot lighter than last night but executed no less expertly.

Then another rehearsal just Chor Leoni this time, followed by a Masterclass by Amarcord. It was more a demonstration workshop where they performed examples of the different styles in their repertoire with some talking in between pieces, followed by a short question period. Some of the Chor Leoni men descended on them after the class to pepper them with further questions. It was great to hear them, having missed them at Festival Vancouver last summer since we we're on tour. I was a little disappointed that they didn't  have a full concert to themselves, I might have to discuss this with the organizers hahaha.

Another mass choir rehearsal which thankfully we we're excused from as we were performing in the evening. Each of the evening Festival concerts are performed twice, in one church then half an hour later in one down the street. CL was last on the program and it was nice to get a chance to sing more than 2 songs. The acoustic in the second venue was amazing! Immortal Bach and Choose Something Like A Star were my highlights.

We topped off the day with a few pivo (beer) at one of the pubs across the street with a contingent from Amabile. Our group just kept absorbing table after table, a little like Trapper Keeper 2000 from South Park. Unfortunately the merrymaking had could not last long due to a 7:15 call for breakfast (BOO!).

Byron Hanson

Posted by Byron Hanson on July 2, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Filed in: Tour Diaries | Permanent Link

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