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!"