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Dear FCO colleagues,
Well, now a week has gone by since our concert, and I'm having to admit that the term is actually over! Last Tuesday my son Rob was in town from England, and we spent the day on the coast, so that evening we were sandy and exhausted. I didn't miss choir. But this coming Tuesday you and I will not be together and it feels strange, not in a good way. At least for me the term was so long that it became a way of life rather than the university term that it's meant to resemble. Oh, there's no doubt that we've earned the rest, though!
My older son Pete was in the mezzanine with a party of six and at the conclusion he overheard a fellow concert-goer (not a relative) complain with surprise that the concert was too short! I must admit that I felt that way myself: the time seemed to just fly by. That said, I don't know that we could have done justice to any more pieces, right? We had our hands (brains and voices) full as it was.
I'm so grateful to you for the unrelenting work you put in, largely due to the weekly lists of corrections that your section leaders provided. Week by week we peeled away the confusion, until we really knew what each piece was communicating. That assignment was particularly challenging in the 18 Brahms waltzes, where we would just perform a demanding one with its involving emotional message before turning to the next one! I'm especially proud of your accomplishments in that set.
Special thanks go to our amazing and hard-working accompanists, who literally worked together every day to become the astonishing unit that turned on a dime from mood to mood! Word has it that they're thinking of scheduling a performance on their own, to demonstrate Brahms' original intent. If that happens, I hope we'll be notified so that we can attend. We just have to vow that we won't sing along from our seats.....
And weren't Nicole and Will perfect with their solos? I'm so grateful for that unique talent and their smoothly confident poise.
Thanks and acknowledgements would not be complete without kudos to the crews of volunteers who set everything up and took it all down under the guidance of Rebecca Payne and President Rebekah Wozniak-Gelzer. That's what's unique about FCO: we're certainly not spoiled! If we're to have a concert, we have to be our own stage hands, getting physically exhausted in the process before assembling onstage to become artists! I never take that for granted. Please thank your Board of Directors for all of the months of planning that precede our every performance.
So now we anticipate meeting in a new place, with its gratifying acoustics, grand piano, and flexibility of arrangement! That change alone should motivate you to be part of Fall term, but we will also be experiencing one of the major masterpieces of choral music, the Brahms Requiem! I cannot express how deeply I love this work. Please plan to take part, and do encourage past FCO members whom you might know, as well as other friends who love to sing unbelievably rich harmony.
And please have fun this summer, and take care of yourselves. I can't wait for September!
With love and gratitude,
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