Day Sixteen - Cincinnati May Festival 2008 - Over at Last

It's over, and I think I'm in a state of withdrawal. The end-of-the-year dinner on Sunday night was a lot of fun.

I arrived just about 5:00 pm to find a small gathering drinking wine on the patio in the back of the Glendale Lyceum. Others were conversing throughout the rest of the building. I went inside and got a glass of merlot and went back out on the patio, sitting with Rosanne, the administrator of choruses (who has worked 24 x 7 on our behalf for the past two weeks) and "Brother Bob," our resident Franciscan friar. Others joined us, and soon the stories began, as those of us who went on the Yugoslavian tour 20 years ago regaled the newbies with tales of our adventures.



At six, it was time for dinner, which was delicious. As we ate, the discussions of Conlon's rudeness, our fatigue, and how great Friday night's concert was dominated the conversation. Propped up on every table was this (read the Day Fifteen blog entry if this is meaningless to you):
After dessert, it was time for the skits.

First on tap was the alto fashion show. We were attired in t-shirts that someone found on the web. They were all about Bob:

S.O.B. -- Sweet Old Bob

Got Bob?

Bob Who?

Be Still and Know -- I am Bob

It's Lonely at the Top, But You Get to Be With Bob

You Must Be the Bob You Wish to See in Robert

Bob - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Whatever You Do, Don't Piss Off Bob

We entered the stage one at a time, doing little model poses, then joined the line at the back. We held hands and raised them in the air and took a bow, like Conlon does with his soloists at the end of concerts (you know, sort of like, "The winner, and still champeen...."). Afterward, we presented him with a plaque that says:

You can fool some of the people all of the time

You can fool all of the people some of the time

But you can't fool Bob

After that craziness, three other altos sang a version of "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks that included lots of memories from the season past. The three had calculated that between them, they had 93 years of experience in the chorus.

The audience was enthralled:

The next skit is a bit complicated to explain, but I can tell you that we were visited by several Muppets, who sang our least favorite Carolfest piece, Night of Silence:

On Saturday night, during Juliet's funeral scene, the chorus had a long series of phrases, "Jetez des fleurs" ("strew flowers"). We repeated it over and over again, except once, when the entire chorus, save two (two altos in the Montagu chorus, with me as one of the two) didn't sing. It was group amnesia, or something -- we were not lost, we knew where we were, it wasn't difficult -- who knows what happened, but it was quite a moment.

So, during the end-of-the-year dinner, two male singers were seen to be quietly skipping across the stage holding carnations. When asked what they heck they were doing, we were told, "Oh, these are the "skipped fleurs."

Next, Heather MacPhail, our wonderful accompanist, played some wonderful music for us. She does that each year, allowing us to hear her shine as the wonderful pianist she is.

After all the presentations from the chorus and Heather, the chorus committee presented gifts from the chorus to various folks -- the attendance takers, the section note takers (notes are sent to those who must miss a rehearsal), those with perfect attendance, the chorus librarian, the person who creates the digital rehearsal CDs (me), the chorus administrator, our accompanist, and finally, Bob.

There were lovely speeches from all, but Bob's was the best. He loves us as much as we love him, so there's no need to quote him. It was a love feast.

Check out this review, that sings Bob's praises: http://www.musicincincinnati.com/site/reviews/Porco_a_May_Festival_Treasure.html

Day Fifteen - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

The finale of the long, hard slog of the festival is finally over. Talk about fatigue.

Saturday morning at 9:00 am was the chorus call for the dress rehearsal for the final concert. People showed up in various states of disarray, taking every last minute to sleep instead of fixing hair or dressing up. One alto wore a red ball cap instead of doing her hair. She looked great.

The final concert was the long and often exciting Romeo et Juliette of Berlioz. The famous love theme is very familiar to many people, but the piece is not often performed in its entirety. In the 135 years of the festival, it's only been performed three times -- the last was in 1981, which was my first festival.

It's sung in French, naturally, and therefore required lots of work. Only about a quarter of the singers had ever studied French, so getting their mouths around those strange vowels required some effort. I felt lucky that my French was passable, with only a few touch ups required, despite the many years since I'd used it.

The piece is referred to by Berlioz as a "dramatic symphony" with chorus, not a cantata or an opera, but it has elements of all three. He considered it his ninth symphony, meaning he'd taken inspiration from Beethoven's Ninth by using a chorus and using themes of reconciliation.

The story is a little disjointed, and it doesn't follow Shakespeare's play exactly. It sounds as if some of it is made up, as a matter of fact. The ending has Friar Lawrence, who had married Romeo and Juliet, giving the Montagus and Capulets what for, saying that they had caused the deaths of the lovers by the animosity of the two families. They resist, singing, "Friends with the Capulets (or Montagus), us? No! No!"

Eventually, they realize their error and become as one, singing, "Amis! Amis! Toujours!" ("Friends! Friends! Always!") That part is a triple chorus with the voices sometimes singing as many as 12 vocal parts as one, and is every bit as boisterous and dramatic as the ending to the Beethoven Ninth.

It's a wonderful piece that shows off the genius of Berlioz, with some sections reminiscent of his Symphonie Fantastique. There are some long repetitive sections that could have been dispensed with, particularly much of Friar Lawrence's sermon, which could have been shorter (true of most sermons, I think) and the mezzo's solo, while exquisite, had more verses than necessary.

This production had the entire chorus and orchestra in black (even the men's shirts and ties were black) with art projected over the stage. We were all in black so as not to distract from the art. The Cincinnati Art Museum chose artwork that told some of the Romeo and Juliet story, but it also illustrated themes of love, death, funerals, battles, festive occasions, and marriage. I understand it was quite lovely, but I was directly under the screen, so never saw it.

The lighting caused a tempest in a teapot that still had not simmered down by the evening of the performance.

When we got on the stage for the finale, the chorus was in the dark, and seeing our music was nearly impossible. Conlon yelled at us for not coming on time and together in one section, and a member of the chorus had the temerity to say that we couldn't see our music because it was too dark.

He had small tantrum, saying that our ears didn't need any light, and that the tech rehearsal was yesterday and that's the way it is and that there was light on him and his baton and that was all that mattered.

So there.

Rude, disrespectful.

If the orchestra (who had lights on each music stand) had been treated that way, they would have every right under their contract to get up and walk out. We should have.

It turned out that the techs had missed a switch and the lighting was wrong. Later in the rehearsal that was remedied, but Conlon never apologized.

I was ready to just leave and not come back for the performance. Admittedly, we are not professional musicians who do this for a living, but such treatment of volunteers who give hundreds of hours a year each to do the work of professionals for FREE is unconscionable. Unfortunately, it is typical Conlon behavior. During my 15th May Festival in 1995, I quit the chorus after the last concert because I had had enough of his rudeness and disrespect.

When we returned in the evening for the performance, the discussion of the event continued, with every singer I talked to as upset over the incident as I was. One singer produced a document which was passed around that showed Jesus Christ in some over-the-top Roman Catholic iconographic print, with the caption, "J.C. said that the light was on him and his baton and that was all that mattered. And the ladies of the chorus sang, 'Amen,' or something like that." Later the "something like that" was modified to a phrase with the initials, "F.Y."

There is a lot of anger, with many singers not wanting to return for the performance.

The performance is LONG. It was nowhere near as long as the Verdi of last weekend (that ended at 11:30 pm, and this was over before 10:30, but audience members said it seemed longer. Apparently, we lost many people at intermission.

Let's not do this again for another 27 years. I won't be singing then, so I won't care.

Once the concert was over, and the charming little girls trooped on the stage to deliver flowers to all and sundry, we repaired to the Music Hall ballroom for the Amen party. There we were able to drink champagne and have a lovely buffet supper and listen to the president of the May Festival Board thank everyone. Everyone (chorus, orchestra, family members, honored guests, corporate sponsors, et al) gave a standing ovation to Bob Porco (well-deserved, and his second of the day; the chorus gave him one in the morning at rehearsal), and we also gave one to Steve Monder, the retiring CEO of the symphony and the May Festival, who has kept us all solvent and alive for the past 37 years. He will be missed.

Then it was home to bed and family and laundry and getting back into the real world again.

But it's not over yet. There will be an end-of-the-year dinner for chorus members on Sunday at the Glendale Lyceum, where we will have dinner, relax and present skits for one another's enjoyment. I'll report on that in the Day Sixteen edition of The View from Greater Downtown Meridian.

Day Fourteen - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Again, the Friday night concert rated a "wow." Bob Porco conducted us in the Faure Requiem at the beginning of the program. The piece is not a fire and brimstone requiem, but instead is a peaceful acceptance of death with hope for a beautiful place "in Paradisum." We never sang better. The oboe player's duet with the soprano was exquisite.

After intermission, the chamber choir sang Vivaldi's Gloria with members of the May Festival Youth Chorus mixed in with us. It was sprightly and joyous, with the brasses exulting in the music right along with us. The finale, Bach's Cantata 191, was even more joyous, ending with an exuberant, "on earth as it is in heaven, amen." The vocal runs were precise, well-articulated and such fun to sing.

This is one of the high points in my 26 May Festivals, up there with the B Minor Mass of Bach, Walton's Balshazzar's Feast, and Mendelssohn's Elijah (all sung under Bob's baton). I'll remember this one for a long time.

The Enquirer's reviewer, who often doesn't understand what's going on (she's a pianist, not a vocal music expert) praised this performance, but I don't see how she could have done otherwise.

We had the biggest house of the festival for this concert, over 3,000 people. The ovation was the longest of the festival, as well.

Heard on the sidewalk from a concertgoer afterward: "Now, that was what a May Festival concert should be -- a choral concert!"

Day Thirteen - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Well, we're coming down to the wire. Only two more days left after Day Thirteen, and I'm finally getting my second wind.

Thursday night's dress rehearsal of Bob Porco's concert was actually quite pleasant. We began with a warmup in the large rehearsal hall with Bob, running through the rough places of the Bach. The Youth Chorus then joined the Vivaldi chamber choir members and we lined up to practice our loading of the risers.

The Vivaldi went from start to finish with no stops (except for a glare from Bob when someone in the sopranos dropped something that made a loud noise). Bob went back over a couple of things here and there, and then the kids exited stage right. Those of remaining on the stage moved own the rows into our seats for the rest of the concert and the rest of the chorus lined up and took their places.

The Bach, next on the program, went well, although there is room for improvement in the third movement. When that was over, it was time for the break.

Many of us stayed on stage, which was a good thing. It was an open rehearsal, so there was a small audience of perhaps 75 or 100 people in the hall. At the break, most of the chorus was offstage, as was most of the orchestra. There were a few people milling about, and some of us sat on the risers chatting. Then there was a disturbance of some sort as people on the stage started talking loudly, and then looking up at the screen above the stage where the supertitles are projected during the concerts. Then they were pointing up at the screen and smiling and laughing. Those of us on the risers couldn't see what was going on, but we soon learned that a marriage proposal was projected up there, and a couple sitting in one of the boxes at stage right were in the process of getting engaged.

Once everyone figured it out, there was a lot of cheering, applause, whistling and stomping of feet as we watched the surprised reaction of the newly engaged young woman as a ring was placed on her finger, and as we watched a long, long embrace and kiss.

What fun!

After the break we settled back into our work, rehearsing the Faure. It is a such a beautiful piece, and it went well.

When it was over, Bob dismissed the chorus and continued to work with the orchestra -- usually it's the other way 'round.

I was in the car and on my way home by 9:45 to sleep the sleep of the very tired. Friday is a day off for me, so I can register my cars and the motorcycle and get a new driver's license, all of which expire on Tuesday. May is entirely too busy a time.

Day Fourteen will mark the penultimate concert, with Bob conducting Faure, Vivaldi and Bach. So far more tickets have been sold for that concert than for any of the others, about which Bob wondered if James Conlon was perhaps a bit jealous. James has mentioned the fact to Bob several times over the past couple of weeks, to the extent that Bob wondered aloud last night if perhaps he should start telling people not to come.

Day Twelve – Cincinnati May Festival 2008

The days are beginning to – no scratch that – they are continuing to run together as the festival continues. Sleep deprivation is a common conversational theme at rehearsals, as we go to work each day and then to rehearsal, seldom returning home until 10:30 or 11:00 each night.

Day Twelve’s rehearsal began with some time in the rehearsal room with Bob Porco. At 6:30 we warmed up and did some work on the Berlioz Romeo et Juliette before the 7:30 pm orchestra began. We started with the third movement, which involves the entire chorus (Juliette’s funeral, the death of both of the lovers and the reconciliation of the Montagus and Capulets) and baritone Donnie Ray Albert (as Friar Lawrence). We finished that part just after the mid-rehearsal break. Next was the second movement, which involves an offstage double male chorus. The rest of the chorus, except the chamber choir women, went back to the rehearsal room to work on the third movement of the Bach (which still needs practice) as the men did their offstage thing.

Finally, the chamber choir (about thirty of us) went through the first movement. There is a tenor solo (John Aler) and an alto solo (by mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard). Miss Leonard is AMAZING. The clarity of tone, the emotion, the perfect French – we were blown away.

The next thing we knew it was 10:00 and time to leave. Day Thirteen will be the dress rehearsal for Bob Porco’s concert of Vivaldi, Fauré and Bach (my favorite of the five concerts). To get a handle on what Bob is all about, click here to read an article from a couple of years ago. We are so very lucky to have him as our chorus master. He is the best there is, and that helps us to be the best we can be.

Day Eleven – Cincinnati May Festival 2008

The Chamber Choir’s call was at 5:30 onstage. We’re singing the Vivaldi Gloria with the May Festival Youth Chorus, and have only sung it with them twice. So we went on stage and proceeded to do a terrible job. We had just a piano for this part of the rehearsal and it was hard to hear it, so we were terribly under pitch. We were also behind the beat . Bob was not happy, to put it mildly.

Back to the rehearsal room with the rest of the chorus, we did some meeting and greeting. Elaine, a former member of the chorus moved to Syracuse a few years ago, but comes back to sing one weekend every year. Michael Slon, a faculty member of the School of Music at the U. of Virginia is one of Bob’s former doctoral students from Indiana University, and he comes back to sing every year, as well. Singers lined up to greet them with hugs and warm words of welcome, and then we all sat down for a quick piano rehearsal of the Faure and the Bach before the orchestra rehearsal, which began at 7:00 pm

We started with the Vivaldi. This time it went much better. It was the first rehearsal for the orchestra for this concert, so they were getting into the pieces as well. After the Vivaldi we sang the Bach, and finished with the Fauré. We sang that in a strange order, starting at the end of the piece and working our way through it in seeming random order. The reason for that is that some pieces have more players than others, so Bob started with the movement that had all the instrumentalists involved. Then the violins left and we moved to another section. Then more instruments left. At the end I think we were down to brass, cellos, basses and organ. When we peform it, the violins will sit there and won’t play at all until, I believe, the last movement.

When all the orchestra had left, Bob kept us behind for a few minutes to work on a couple of little bits. We’re still a little under pitch, which is frustrating, and so that’s something we have to work on.

Wednesday night’s rehearsal will be the Berlioz, which will involve some choreography. It begins with a small chamber choir sitting in mixed positions in the center of the stage. Then the men from that group go to the side of the stage to meet up with the rest of the men to sing the second movement, and the chamber choir women will sneak off the other side of the stage. Then it’s intermission, and the whole shebang will file on to the risers for the third movement.

On a personal note, the May Festival requires a lot of stamina, as I’m sure you’ve figured out. My injured ankle last Thursday has created a need for even more of that rare commodity, as I’ve had to stand for long periods of time on my other foot, creating a new set of aches and pains. Here’s what the bad foot looks like on the morning of Day Twelve, over six days after I fell down those stairs (don't scroll down if you are bothered by the sight of bad bruises):

Day Ten – Cincinnati May Festival 2008

By now, you know the routine: walk in from the parking garage (last night in the pouring rain), greet the security guard, hang up the raincoat and umbrella, find your seat, talk about how exhausted you are, and then start the warmup. First backrubs, then stretching, humming, vocalizing, and then, “take a seat and let’s start with the first movement of the Fauré.”

So that we did. We sang Fauré for a while and then launched into the “Sicut erat” of the Bach cantata.

Bob paused long enough to compliment us on our performances of the weekend. He spent quite a bit of time telling us about the compliments he’d received on our behalf from concertgoers and others, telling us that, as usual, the local audiences love us and are proud of us, but that he’s been hearing wonderful things from people who don’t have any reason to like us other than from our performances. An opera coach from the Met was blown away (“The standards here are so high!” - Duh.). He said “I don’t know what they’re expecting, but they always act so surprised to find such quality, and they can’t say enough good things about you.” He heard from people from all sorts of places who were in attendance over the weekend. People come from around the world to the festival, and there was even someone from Australia in the audience (along with the family of the composer Erich Zeisl, who, Bob said, were moved by our performance – things like that are so rewarding for us).

He also made a point of thanking us for our dedication and work ethic, saying, “I don’t say that often enough. I always appreciate your efforts, but I’m usually too busy beating up on you to say it.” Hearing that from Bob is high praise, even better than all the cheering and whistling and shouting we hear from our audiences when the conductor acknowledges us.

After the Fauré and Bach, Conlon, Jennifer (his wife the diction coach), the Met opera coach and Ignacio, Conlon’s assistant, all arrived, and we separated into Montagus and Capulets to work on the Berlioz. Most of the chorus was dismissed at 9:30 and the chamber choir stayed to work with tenor John Aler on the impossibly fast Mab chorus from the first movement. I think this year is John’s 22nd May Festival. His voice is a little wobblier than it used to be, but he’s still a joy to work with.

At ten, we went back out into the rain and headed home. Day Eleven begins at 5:30 on Tuesday night, with the Chamber Choir and May Festival Youth Chorus on stage with Bob to rehearse the Vivaldi Gloria. Once that’s done, the Youth Chorus goes home and the full complement of singers will work with the orchestra on the Fauré and the Bach.

Day Nine - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

We had a little more time to ourselves on Day Nine. Only one of the three chamber choirs were involved in the Sunday performance, and we didn’t have to be at the Cathedral in Covington until 2:30. We worked with Bob in the Covington Latin School gym for nearly an hour to add breaths every three or four beats (for Conlon’s benefit – he seems to like short choppy phrasing) and then went to the Cathedral to rehearse.

The piano tuner had evidently taken longer than expected to finish his or her job, so the Youth Chorus got a late start. That meant we had a chance to listen to a part of their final rehearsal. These kids are amazingly talented. The soloists were superb (Dr. James Bagwell, head of the choral department at Bard College in New York, their director, says there’s something in the water in Cincinnati that produces great voices in adolescents).

When they were through, we ascended the risers behind the altar and started singing. It was awful. The acoustics were such that we couldn’t hear one another at all, so we shuffled ourselves around and sang in mixed positions. I was standing with a bass, a baritone, a first alto, another second alto, and a soprano. Somehow that worked and we could again sing in tune.

We’d only worked with Conlon on these pieces once, and everything he wanted on Sunday was different that what he wanted the week before. Then we had all those new breaths to remember. I did not have a good time at all (and standing on my recently injured ankle added to my misery).

The performance was better, thank goodness, and somehow we rose to the occasion. I can only say that it would have been infinitely better had Bob Porco conducted us. His phrasing – long flowing lines that insistently connect phrases – is much more beautiful. Fortunately, the church’s acoustics helped to make those frequent breaks in the line less apparent.

Day Ten will be a piano rehearsal at Music Hall, starting work on the Berlioz, Faure, Vivaldi and Bach. I look forward to the Friday concert. Bob Porco will conduct us and that means that the Friday concert will be the best of the five.

Day Eight - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Morning, 9 am.

Dragging myself out of bed was difficult today, after the excitement and energy expended at last night's opera performance, but someone how all of us made it to Music Hall.

We warmed up, woke up and worked on music in the rehearsal room backstage for a little less than an hour, and then trooped onto the risers for the rehearsal.

Conlon told the orchestra (this morning's forces were not involved in last night's program) how well it went last night and that their colleagues had been superb in the Verdi.

We began with the Zeisl, running through it once and then again after the CSO Assistant Conductor, Eric Dudley, and Bob Porco gave Conlon their notes (primarily that the chorus drowned out the orchestra during the opening section, at which the chorus cheered). Then the stage was reset for the Beethoven Ninth, and we worked our way through that, finishing up before noon.

The men and the chamber choir stayed behind while the others got out an hour ahead of schedule. The men worked on their solo stuff for next Saturday's Berlioz, and then the chamber choir ran through the Vivaldi Gloria (on next Friday's schedule, to be sung with the May Festival Youth Chorus). We left Music Hall at 12:50, many of us heading home for naps before the evening's performance.

_______________________

Later in the day, many of us dragged ourselves awake from our afternoon naps and trudged back downtown to Music Hall. We ran over the Zeisl and took notes about the Beethoven, and then marched to the stage.

The Zeisl went very well (despite the criticism of the local paper about our Hebrew), and our Hebrew coach was quite pleased. We all love the piece.

The Beethoven was a snoozer. Mistakes in the first movement set the tone -- the orchestra was obviously not in the moment. The final choral movement picked up the pace a bit and had some energy -- but it was definitely not the Beethoven Ninth we heard in September of 2005 under the baton of Paavo Jarvi. His interpretation was definitive. This was pedestrian. I probably could have conducted it as well. Conlon conducted this one without a score -- and in a couple of places, a score would have helped.

Day Seven - Cincinnati May Festival - 2008

I have only one word for the opening night of May Festival.

Wow.

The excitement was electrifying. The audience would not stop yelling, "Bravo!" at every opportunity. The soloists were incredible. The orchestra was in top form. The chorus had some shining moments. The show was stopped for bows twice -- once for tenor Salvatore Licitra, and once for baritone Marco Caria, who had to come back on stage after his exit because the audience would not stop applauding.

When it was all over, at 11:30 pm (one of the longest May Festival Concerts in memory), we were drained. The long line of soloists taking their bows with the conductor and the chorus master stretched along the front of the stage, and charming little girls came out with flowers for all (one entertained us by taking a bow herself and blowing kisses to the audience with both hands).

So The Opera-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named came off beautifully, despite the curse. Well, there were three of us in the chorus who were on the disabled list -- a bass with a broken foot, an alto with a broken toe, and me with a torn up ankle -- so maybe we had a small touch of the curse, after all.

Click here to read a review.

Day Eight will commence with a Saturday morning, 9:00 am rehearsal, and conclude with an evening performance of the Zeisl Requiem Ebraico and the Beethoven Ninth.

Day Six -- Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Catherine Keen visiting the chorus, getting ready for our "duet" with her: Rat a plan.

The dress rehearsal for The-Opera-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named went well. There is always room for improvement, of course. Bob Porco always says we can be better. Perfection is never achieved -- not that we came close last night.

Salvatore Licitra was ill the day before, and James Conlon told us that they were searching everywhere for a backup tenor, but there were none to be found. However, Licitra decided on the morning of the dress rehearsal that he was feeling better, so the panic has subsided. He didn't give his all during rehearsal, but he was there, participating. The light singing he did give told us a lot about what's there -- and I think he'll be fabulous.

The entire cast is pretty darn good. My favorites are Earle Patriarco, Marco Caria and Yohan Li, all baritones.

There were no underwear episodes on Day Six. If there are any on the Saturday morning rehearsal, I'll let you know.

My personal experience at the rehearsal was not a pleasant one. An hour before rehearsal, I slipped on some stairs and strained a ligament in my ankle. I had to sit for the entire three hours with a bag of ice draped over my foot. It is now the morning after, and the ankle is still swollen and hurting. I'm hoping the ace bandage, ibuprofen and more ice will help. Wish me luck -- I want to be able to stand for the performance.

Here are some vignettes from rehearsal:

Day Five - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Wednesday night’s rehearsal began with the Zeisl Requiem Ebraico in the large Music Hall rehearsal room. Bob told us he was pleased with our rehearsal of The Opera-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named from the night before – for a first rehearsal. He made some suggestions for improvement when we have the dress rehearsal for the opera on Day Seven.

Then it was on to the stage for the Zeisl and Beethoven rehearsal. Conlon began by explaining a little about his commitment to music suppressed by the Nazis, and connected that effort to the performance of the Zeisl. Zeilsl left Austria for the US in the 1930s, so his music wasn’t suppressed, but this piece was composed as a memorial to his father and others who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Zeisl’s daughter Barbara married the son of Arnold Schoenberg, and their son, I think (this is where it got confusing) married someone from Cincinnati. The family tree also includes the California judge who prosecuted O.J. Simpson in the civil trial (Judge Ito was the judge in the criminal trial). At any rate, some of these people will be in the audience on Saturday night.

A surprising addition (since the score doesn’t call for it) was the children’s chorus who sang the soprano part for the last few bars

We finished the rehearsal with the last movement of the Beethoven Ninth, and left the hall at 10:00 pm.

A humorous episode kept the chorus giggling wildly during much of the rehearsal. Considering the goings-on of the previous four days with the “Bucket O’Dipthongs” and all the underwear that was draped all over it, imagine our amazement when one of the soloists (who shall remain nameless) stood up to sing – with her thong underwear very obvious, since her outer garments were in close proximity, shall we say, to her undergarments. The jokes were fast and furious:

“She’s a thongstress.”

“Thing, thing a thong.”

“I, for one, will NOT volunteer to play the role of the ***** soloist during the alto skit this year.”

“She cracks me up.”

“Obviously a thongbird.”

“Isn’t this a lot like a bad auto accident? You can’t stop looking.”

And so on.

We probably should have been ashamed of our obvious glee about the situation, but we couldn’t stop ourselves. We remembered that she had been similarly attired during rehearsals at a previous May Festival.

My camera’s battery had died prior to this episode, so there are no photos. If she repeats the performance for the Saturday morning rehearsal, I may oblige the readers of this blog with a photo – despite the fact that it probably will be considered as extremely tasteless.

I hope to include some short video of the orchestra rehearsal in a later posting.

Day Four - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

Tuesday night we finally got to work with the orchestra on The-Opera-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. It was the first run-through of the music by the orchestra, and as usual, their performance was pretty good, with some mistakes here and there, as you would expect for a first take. At one point, Conlon stopped them with the acerbic comment, “There are five sharps in the signature! Have been for some time.” I think it was an attempt at humor. I’m not certain it was taken that way.

There was a lot of standing and sitting as we relaxed between little choral episodes. The trouble with opera is that the chorus can be silent for pages and pages, and then have to jump in with a quick “Eviva!” or two here and there. Once in a while there are longer passages, but there’s a lot of waiting, sort of like being on jury duty. Oh, well. All that getting up and down in rehearsal is good for the thighs. In performance, you stand most of the time, which is not good for the back.

Conlon finally introduced the soloists to us after the break, when all of them were assembled. Catherine Keen, Morris Robinson and Earle Patriarco (from Monday’s rehearsal) were there, along with Marco Caria (making his American debut), Rodrick Dixon (one of the original “Three Mo’ Tenors”), Yohan Yi, and Angela Brown. We still haven’t heard from Darren Stokes, or the mightily publicized Salvatore Licitra. I presume they’ll be here for the dress rehearsal on Thursday night.

On a personal note, I’ve had a total of nine hours of sleep over the past two nights. I’m so wired when I get home from Music Hall that it’s hard to come down from the experience enough to sleep. When I do sleep, it’s the sleep of the dead. Managing to get my eyes open in the morning requires Herculean efforts.

The schedule for Day Five is the Beethoven Ninth and Erich Zeisl’s Requiem Ebraico. I’m hoping that we’ll do the choral pieces early and have the opportunity to leave before ten o’clock.

Day Three - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

We arrived at Music Hall just before seven and quickly noticed some additions to the Bucket O’Dipthongs: ladies thong panties – from the tiniest to the largest imaginable. Also in the bucket was a package of dip, with some cooking tongs attached with rubber bands. It’s obviously getting out of hand.



We rehearsed the Zeisl for the first hour with Bob before James arrived. As we began, he made some comments about the previous day’s rehearsals. On Sunday, he sat at a table behind James Conlon, with Ignacio, Conlon’s assistant (and our Italian diction coach), looking alternately forlorn, bored, frustrated, pleased, or angry. Last night he told us he had been “alternating between wanting to help you and wanting to strangle you.”

It has to be difficult for him to be working with us on these pieces, making decisions about breaths, style and so forth to then see all that work thrown away by a conductor who tells us to breathe anywhere and who prefers that our long, sweeping phrases be broken up into short choppy ones.

But during that hour with Bob, we made music. And jokes. Someone in the soprano section sang a wrong note, and Bob commented. A soprano in the back raised her hand and said , “It was me!”


Bob, who often jokingly expounds on Catholic guilt, responded, “Oh, another Catholic. Have you met Josh?” pointing to a bass who often confesses when he makes a mistake.

A few minutes later, another soprano goofed, and said, “This time it was me. But I’m a protestant, so I know you’ll forgive me.” That brought down the house.

Bob responded, “How long have you been waiting to say that?”

Later on, he was frustrated by a lack of unity in our singing, and started in on his mantra that a chorus must be made up of leaders, with no one waiting around for someone else to start. He said that it isn’t just our chorus where this happens, but that it’s endemic, and that is “why there are so many bad, bad choruses.”

As one, the entire chorus spontaneously repeated the word “bad, bad, ba-a-a-d, b-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!” like a chorus of bleating sheep.

I guess you had to be there.

Bob was being particularly hard on the men about some pitch issues at one point, and then looked up at the rest of us with a smile, saying, “I’m after the basses because they’ve sung the most so far, but you’ll get your turn.”

That’s one of the best parts of working with Bob. He’s always making comments that I want to write down, so last night I did. Three or four years ago, I wrote down his priceless “Bob-isms” for an entire season. At the end of the year, I wrote a parody of Star Wars for our end-of-the-year dinner in which every single line was a “Bob-ism.”

Conlon arrived at eight, and we did a little more Zeisl for fifteen minutes. Then he dismissed us for fifteen minutes (so much time wasted) when some of the soloists came in to work with us on the Verdi. First in line was mezzo soprano Catherine Keen.

Next in the room was bass Morris Robinson with baritone Earle Patriarco.

Keen was in great voice, as was Robinson. I couldn’t hear Patriarco, because Robinson’s voice just plain buried him. Morris Robinson looks exactly like the linebacker he once was (at the Citadel). His voice matches. The term “basso profundo” was made for him. Last year my daughter gave me a CD of his spirituals for my birthday – wonderful.

At about 8:45 we had another break and non-chamber choir women were dismissed. The men’s choruses in Verdi were sung once again (please excuse the wandering focus -- this camera follows its instincts):

Finally, the chamber choir stayed behind to work on the Rachmaninoff Vespers with Conlon for the first time. We’ll perform them at the Cathedral Basilica in Covington on Sunday evening.

At ten o’clock we were on our way home.

Tuesday will be day four. Here's the schedule for the rest of the festival, subject, as always, to change:

Tuesday, May 13 Verdi - Chorus Call 6:30PM

Wednesday, May 14 Zeisl, Beethoven - 6:30PM Chorus Call

Thursday, May 15 Verdi (Probable overtime) Open Rehearsal - Chorus Call 6:30PM

Friday, May 16 Performance Verdi - Chorus Call TBD

Saturday, May 17 Zeisl, Beethoven - Open Rehearsal - Chorus Call 9:00AM
Zeisl, Beethoven - Performance - Chorus Call TBD

Sunday, May 18 Chamber Choir Rehearsal at Basilica from 3:30-5:00PM; Chorus Call TBD

Monday, May 19 Piano Rehearsal in LRR 7:00-10:00PM; no early call

Tuesday, May 20 Vivaldi Chamber Choir Piano rehearsal on stage from 5:30 - 6:15PM; Chorus Call for those not in Vivaldi 6:30PM
Vivaldi, Faure, Bach Open Rehearsal - Chorus Call 6:30PM

Wednesday, May 21 Berlioz - Chorus Call 6:30PM

Thursday, May 22 Vivaldi, Faure, Bach Open Rehearsal -Chorus Call 6:30PM

Friday, May 23 Performance Faure, Vivaldi, Bach (note performance order) - Chorus Call 6:30PM

Saturday, May 24 Berlioz - Open Rehearsal - Chorus Call 9:00AM
Berlioz - Performance - Chorus Call TBD

Scenes from Cincinnati's Observance of Police Memorial Day -- May 12, 2008

Day Two - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

We started at 2:00 pm with the usual warmup. James Conlon arrived and began his annual retelling of whatever opera we’re doing.

James is the Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera and former principal conductor of the Paris Opera, former Music Director of the Cologne Opera – AND the man who has conducted the third highest number of operas at the Metropolitan Opera (after Cincinnatian James Levine and former Cincinnati Symphony Music Director Thomas Schippers). Therefore, it is a given that he is mad about opera. He even thinks the stories aren’t dumb. I would like to take him aside and enlighten him, but that’s another story.

He explained that this particular opera has some sort of bad luck associated with it, and that in opera circles, saying the title of La Forza del Destino is bad luck. If you do say it, you have to make gesture with your right hand that looks like a U. of Texas “hook ‘em horns” gesture (with index and little fingers extended and the two middle fingers folded down) and touch your private parts as you say it. There’s another name for the opera that you can say instead which does not require gesturing and touching, but I don’t remember what that is.

This gesture apparently originated with Franco Corelli, the Italian tenor, who supposedly held on to his nether regions while singing in it. Wikipedia reports that an Italian director would shout obscenities if anyone even whistled anything from the work.

And the opera has had some bad luck. In 1960 at the Met in New York, Leonard Warren, a “stupendous” baritone (according to Renata Tibaldi) had completed singing a section of Act III which begins, “Morir, tremenda cosa,” (“to die, a marvelous thing”), then opened a wallet as the next stop in the action. He sang the next bit, “Gioia, o gioia,” (“Joy, oh joy!”) and then collapsed, unconscious and still. He had had a massive heart attack and was declared dead backstage.

So, I guess I won’t speak the name of the opera this week. I’m not fond of obscene gestures, anyway. I think perhaps it is dangerous to even peform the damned thing…

We worked our way through the opera, however, once James had told the ridiculous story. We were pretty much finished with it by the 5:00 pm break.

At the break, we headed upstairs to our supper in the Corbett Tower. The afternoon Pops concert was just letting up, so we were had to snake our way through the upper regions of the backstage to find our way to the second floor to get an escalator up to the third floor. Of course, the concert patrons were all coming down, so our procession had definite salmon-esque characteristics.

After supper, we were back in the rehearsal room, and finished up a couple of bits of the the Verdi and then started on the Zeisl Requiem Ebraico. The piece is lovely. The composer, Erich Zeisl, was a refugee from Austria in the 1930’s who joined many composers in southern California writing movie scores, including those for Lassie, Come Home, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.

The Requiem was composed after World War II to commemorate his father’s death in a Nazi concentration camp. The text is that of Psalm 92:

It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.

How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!

The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.

But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.

For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.

You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me.

My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, "The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."

The final fugue is fast and joyous, and quite difficult, as the exquisitely beautiful modal harmonies seem foreign to our ears. The hopefulness of the text, although incongruous considering that this is a requiem for Nazi victims, is infectious.

Once we completed the Zeisl, we went to work on the final chorus of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony. Conlon’s interpretation is the standard march-along staccato that, from my point of view, negates the joy. It sounds to me as if jack-booted Nazi soldiers were goose-stepping along the Champs Elysee, taking away joy, instead of singing an ode to it.

The performances of the Ninth we did with Paavo Jarvi a couple of years ago, as well as earlier ones with Jesus Lopez-Cobos were quite different and much more to my taste. They featured long legato lines instead of the heavy, marcato singing that we’re being instructed to do. When Paavo conducted the piece in Sptember of 2005, I felt I had never heard it before. Not only was the final choral movement truly joyous, but he produced a transparent interpretation instead of the usual dense and heavy texture that is most often the way Beethoven is conducted.

Oh, well. I’m here to follow orders and sing, letting the maestro make the artistic decisions. It’s impossible to like everything he does. Sometimes, for me, it’s impossible to like anything he does. I feel that often Conlon’s conducting is less about the composer and the music than it is about Conlon. Just my opinion.

We finished rehearsing at 9:00 pm.

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One of the problems we have in learning to sing in other languages is that American English has a lot of dipthongs. For example, if we say the word, “say,” we really are saying two vowel sounds after the letter “s.” First the long “a” sound, followed by a subtle, yet definite, “eee” at the end. Sometimes we can say/sing many more than two vowel sounds when there’s only one vowel in a word. (I think southerners are best at this, although the west side of Cincinnati can give the southerners a run for their money.)

Other languages have more pure vowels, without the multiplicity of vowel sounds that Americans use. It drives Bob Porco crazy that we do this, referring to our attempts on Saturday morning to sing the Faure Requiem as being sung in “Kentucky Latin.”

So, when we arrived at rehearsal on Saturday morning, we found a galvanized bucket behind the podium. In the bucket was a pole with a sign affixed to it:

When we arrived at rehearsal on Sunday afternoon, another wag had added a sign on the wall nearby:
Tonight we have more rehearsing to do. It appears that the chamber choir will be staying later than the rest of the clan to work on the Rachmaninoff Vespers. Russian vowels are an entirely different thing. Even their consonants are different. Wish us luck.

Day One - Cincinnati May Festival 2008

The first day of rehearsals went pretty well, I think. Things will get better and better as the rehearsals continue and we get into the groove.

I arrived about 9:15, and had a cup of tea and a couple cream cheese danish (danishes?). Our chorus administrator, Rosanne Wetzel, works hard to give us such amenities so that we can get through it all with a minimum of fuss. In the old days, we had to fend for ourselves, finding lunch or supper as needed, often making things at home and providing potluck. That was difficult to do considering the schedule, so the efforts of Rosanne and the support of our management to feed us are much appreciated.

A long conversation with Joe Hopper, the chief stagehand for the symphony, started off the morning as I finished my tea. He has been helpful to my daughter as she got into her theater career, helping her to join the stagehands union. He's an inveterate flirt, and an interesting guy. He's about to make two trips to China this summer as part of the Cincinnati Pops' appearances at the Olympics in August. One trip will be to go on ahead to scout out locations and plan the tour's logistics, and the second to go with the orchestra and make sure all the plans are followed. That's a huge responsibility, getting those priceless instruments and assorted equipment to the right place at the right time and in perfect condition.

To read more about Joe's past experiences getting the orchestra around the globe, click here.

Just before 10:00, I passed along a knitting catalog to a first-year alto, and settled into my seat. The chatter began to die down, and Robert Porco stepped on the podium to begin the warmup.

First order of business: backrubs. We turn to our right and massage the shoulders of the next chorister, until someone (usually on the far left, who's been doing all the work and getting no benefit) yells, "Switch!" Then we reverse direction and work on the singer to the left. I lucked out yesterday by being next to a massage therapist. Yum.

Then the vocal warmups began. Those are hard to describe without singing. We start by humming, which gets a buzz going in the bones in the front of the face. The hums change to "eeeee" sounds, and then to "ahhs." We work through the vowels and sing notes from low to high and back again, both legato and staccato. This gets all our vocal muscles in shape, and we start to focus on the proper breathing.

Then, it's "Have a seat and open the Bach to page 23." We worked our way through the Bach Cantata 191 (which is also the Gloria from the Mass in B Minor). We began with the Sicut erat, which goes like a bat out of hell, with long melismas (one syllable of a word that is stretched out over multiple different notes, often over many measures) to keep track of. Then we sang the Gloria. This was only the third time we'd sung the piece, and it will be the last time until the dress rehearsal with the orchestra a week from Thursday.

Just before the 11:30 break, we began the Faure Requiem. When we came back at from break we again started with the last movement and worked our way to the front. This was the second rehearsal on the piece, and again, the last one until dress rehearsal a week from Thursday.

We finished the Faure at 1:00, and it was time for lunch. We were treated to a nice catered lunch in the Corbett Tower on the third floor of Music Hall, and relaxed and chatted for a little bit, catching up. We don't often have a full hour to talk with each other, so it was a good hour. The lunch was very good, too. We ate our dessert first (Klondike bars) because we were afraid they'd melt if we waited. Someone said that you could die before dessert, so it's always a good idea to eat it first.

Then back downstairs. James Conlon had arrived from wherever he had been earlier in the week, along with his wife, Jennifer Ringo. Jennifer has been our French diction coach (via CD) this year for the upcoming performance of Berlioz' Romeo et Juliette, which we rehearsed in the afternoon session.

Bob ran through the piece, with James and Jennifer sitting at a table in the back, making comments on our French as appropriate. At one point, Bob looked back at them expectantly, and they were in deep conversation. Jennifer looked up and commented, "Oh, sorry. We were arguing over a vowel."

We began with the double and triple choruses of Part III. We were arrayed in two parts : Montagues on stage left, and Capulets on stage right. For the triple chorus, the top chorus members were scattered throughout. We got through all of that, and it was break time.

Then the women not in chamber choir were excused. As I did some work on a shawl I'm knitting, the men went through part II, which is men only, and finally, we got to part I. The men not in chamber choir were excused, and the last half an hour or so was chamber choir only, working through the introductory, chantlike scene-setting, followed by the lightning fast (152 beats per minute) "Mab chorus." Then, magically, if was five o'clock and we emerged into the blinding sunshine to head home.

I think the Sunday rehearsal will be of Verdi's opera, La forza del destino. However, we're also doing the Zeisl Requiem Ebraico and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony next weekend, so I think we should also work on those, too. We should have two orchestra rehearsals on each of those next week, as well, so that will take up most of next week.

I just show up and bring all my music, my water bottle, my knitting, and a book to read (just in case -- ha). Whatever they want us to rehearse, I'll be ready.

What We Go Through for Applause...

For 25 seasons, I've been part of the Cincinnati May Festival, the oldest choral festival in the Western Hemisphere (begun 1873) as a member of the official chorus (founded 1880). This year marks the 26th festival for me. It would have been 28 but I took a couple of breathers along the way since my first festival in 1981.

One of the aspects of the May Festival that makes it unique is that we do five completely different programs in a ten day period. We rehearse along the way during our "other season" (when we're the official chorus of the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras), but when May arrives, we're in for an intense couple of weeks.

That couple of weeks begins on this coming Saturday, with two three hour rehearsals. Sunday's schedule is pretty much the same, and there are nightly rehearsals Monday through Thursday. Friday is the first performance. Saturday morning, another rehearsal followed by a performance Saturday night. Sunday features a rehearsal and performance, as well. Then it's four more nightly rehearsals, with concerts Friday and Saturday with one final rehearsal Saturday morning.

On Sunday, we all get together and have a big dinner and perform skits for one another, singing even more. Then the withdrawal sets in, and we reacquaint ourselves with our families over the summer -- unless we choose to sing in some optional summer concerts at Riverbend Music Center.

It's difficult to communicate this experience to those who aren't part of this. Families don't get it, for sure. "Not tonight, I have rehearsal," is the common refrain.

So, over the next two weeks, starting Saturday night, I will attempt to chronicle this experience. Stayed tuned. It might be boring, but it's going to be a long haul...

While you wait for the next exciting episode, here's a video of what it's like backstage. It might keep you occupied for a few minutes.

My New Love

Koigu hand painted merino wool -- mine's color 844.

It's an exquisite lightweight yarn that I've been lusting after ever since I read their book, Knits from a Painter's Palette. I bought ten skeins and am starting on a shawl in mitred squares.

It's a good carry-along project, and should be useful to fill in idle moments during the upcoming marathon of May Festival rehearsals and performances.

It will take forever to knit, since it's a fine yarn, even though I'm using needle three sizes larger than the ones specified (I'm using size 6, which are only 4mm in diameter). The fabric I'm creating so far is wonderfully soft and light, perfect for a shawl.

Yum.

Justin and Alex are camping out with me, although they've gone to Yellow Springs today and will return tomorrow or Tuesday and then head for Florida for a week, leaving Wednesday. They're going to visit her old freshman roommate, who didn't come back for graduation. Rachel finished school in December, and has been working in Florida. While there, they'll also visit Justin's maternal grandmother.

Last night the three of us went to the final Cincinnati Symphony concert of the season after a great Thai dinner in Hyde Park. They played a world premiere by a local composer, which was followed by the Mozart 20th piano concerto with the German pianist, Lars Vogt, at the Steinway. Both were excellent.

After intermission the chairman of the players committee introduced three retiring players, all violists, one in the orchestra since 1963. He told charming stories about their history -- Juilliard, Eastman, Ithaca College, the Hungarian revolution, woodworking, bow-making. It was fun. Then the president of the board came out and extolled the virtures of Steve Monder, the CEO of the orchestra for the past 35 years, who will retire June 30. A great man who will be missed. He's kept the orchestra solvent, a rare thing for American orchestras.

The concert concluded with a riveting performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which elicited shouts and cheers from the full house.

Alex and Justin found the perfect first apartment in an old mansard-roofed Victorian row house near Eden Park and will move in on June 1. The place is a charming one-bedroom on the third floor and is just a mile or two from downtown.

Alex has submitted her resume to one local arts organization which has advertised for an administrative assistant in their marketing department. That sounded like a good way to get her foot in the door doing arts marketing. and she's waiting to hear if they're interested.

Meanwhile, when she called the artistic director of and local theater company to tell them she was available again as a venue manager for an upcoming series of plays, he responded with an invitation to talk about finding a role for her after that is over. They have an opening for an assistant development director, working with the marketing department. I have a feeling that the job is hers if she wants it. She has worked for them for three seasons on co-op and they love her.

So once again, Alex seems to have found her niche. All her hard work will likely pay off by starting her career off in her desired direction.

Tonight is the last regular chamber choir rehearsal (5-9) and Tuesday is the last regular weekly rehearsal. On Saturday we begin the long haul to the festival, with rehearsals with the maestro and the orchestra every day and every night until the festival ends on the 24th, with the only interruptions being for the five actual performances. If you're in town, maybe I'll see you in the audience.

May Festival Concerts

MAY FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT CONCERT:VERDI: La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny)Sung in Italian with English supertitlesMay 16 8:00 PM

Music Hall

Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Ellie Dehn, soprano

Set across the magnificent backdrop of mid-18th century Spain, Verdi’s sweeping masterpiece finds the beautiful Leonora agreeing to elope with Don Alvaro. Her father, the Marquis, having heard noises from Leonora’s room, runs to protect her, sword drawn. Alvaro throws his pistol to the floor as a sign of surrender, but the pistol accidentally goes off, fatally wounding the Marquis. The Force of Destiny is set into motion.

Leonora, separated from Alvaro while fleeing from the scene of her father’s death, goes to a monastery to spend the rest of her life in repentance. Her brother, Don Carlo, vows revenge on the lovers. And when the three eventually cross paths, it is for one final, fatal time.
Experience all of the drama, and find out how the story ends, during the May Festival premiere concert presentation of La Forza del Destino.

May Festival opening night is sponsored by: Harry and Linda Fath
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MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS:

ERIC ZEISL: Requiem Ebraico

Sung in Hebrew and English

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No.9

Sung in German with English supertitles

May 17 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner 5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
Pre-Concert Recital7 PM

Music Hall John Aler, tenor

Beethoven’s masterful celebration of universal brotherhood, the Symphony No. 9, is being given a record 20th May Festival performance since its debut on the first Festival in 1873. The Symphony, whose remarkable “Ode to Joy” will close this evening’s performance, is paired with a poignant work by a composer who is new to the Festival.

Eric Zeisl, who fled from Austria during the time of the Holocaust, is possibly best known for his work in Hollywood, including scores for 20 films such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lassie Come Home and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man. In a departure from his movie career, he composed the hauntingly beautiful Requiem Ebraico in memory of his father, who died in the concentration camp at Treblinka, and in honor of the countless other victims of the Holocaust.

The text, quoted from the 92nd Psalm, is the basis for the Jewish Sabbath celebration but also reflects Zeisl’s view that “...there is very much in the 92nd Psalm that suits the occasion.... With a heart full of tears they [the Jews] nevertheless hold on to God and do not cease to thank Him and do not cease to hope....”

This May Festival performance is sponsored by: Chavez Properties

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MAY FESTIVAL SPECIAL CONCERT:

RACHMANINOFF: Excerpts from Vespers

SCARLATTI: Exultate Deo

DES PREZ: El Grillo

PALESTRINA: Sicut Cervus

FAURÉ: Cantique de Jean Racine

WILLIAM DUCKWORTH: Hebrew Children

SCHUBERT: Des Tages Weihe

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Turtle Dove

THOMPSON: The Last Words of Davidarr.

DAWSON: Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

May 18 8:00 PM

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

The Festival’s annual sojourn to the exquisite Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is this year taken in celebration of James Bagwell’s tenth anniversary as director of the May Festival Youth Chorus. The works he has selected represent highlights from his time with the group, which he has shaped into an acclaimed ensemble that, just last season, was featured on NPR’s From the Top, a program that showcases the best of the best of today’s young performers.

The May Festival Chorus will perform one of the most sublime works in all of choral literature, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. This socalled All-Night Vigil Service evokes the Death and Resurrection of Christ through its symbolic descent into darkness and return to light. The Vespers remained among Rachmaninoff’s favorite compositions, so much so that he requested that the work’s “Nunc dimittis” be sung at his funeral.

The May Festival Youth Chorus is proudly sponsored by Scripps Howard Foundation.
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MAY FESTIVAL PRESENTS:

FAURÉ: Requiem

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

VIVALDI: Gloria

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

BACH: Cantata No.191(Gloria in excelsis Deo)

Sung in Latin with English supertitles

May 23 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall

Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Donnie Ray Albert, baritone

Fauré’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria are two of the best loved works of the choral literature — for good reason. Each is strikingly beautiful in its own way. Fauré’s sublime Requiem, intimate in scale and consoling in content, gracefully and gently expresses human grief, as Fauré himself said, “[My Requiem] is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” Vivaldi’s Gloria, with its awe-inspiring waves of musical notes, its energy and rhythmic drive, and its achingly beautiful “Et in Terra Pax,” compellingly communicate the work’s message of spiritual joy.

Bach’s Cantata Gloria in excelsis Deo, which will receive its May Festival premiere at this concert, is listed among the composer’s cantatas for the Christmas season. The Cantata’s music, borrowed from movements of Bach’s celebrated B Minor Mass, vividly communicates the familiar message: “Glory be to God on high, and on Earth peace to men of good will.”
A memorable evening of exquisite and spiritual music awaits!

This May Festival performance is sponsord by: Neyer Holdings Corporation

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MAY FESTIVAL 2008 FINALE:

BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette

Sung in French with English supertitles

with projected artwork from around the world, curated by the Cincinnati Art Museum

May 24 8:00 PM

Music Hall
Pre-Concert Dinner

5:45 - 7:30 Corbett Tower, Music Hall
Pre-Concert Recital

7 PM Music Hall

Catherine Keen, mezzo-soprano

Great music and great art combine for this multimedia presentation of one of the most romantic, and tragic, stories in the English language -- Romeo and Juliette

With extraordinary beauty, Berlioz’s self-titled “dramatic symphony” tells us in music and words of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets, the elation and melancholy of the young lovers’ allconsuming passion, the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and the eventual reconciliation of the families.

Berlioz’s breathtaking music will unite with the visual, as artists’ depictions of themes represented in the music are projected above the stage, thanks in part to the Cincinnati Art Museum.

The May Festival finale is sponsored by: Macy's Foundation