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.