Cincinnati is having a bad weather day. Last night's commute was hell, from all indications. I had only to drive 11 blocks to Music Hall, and that took over 20 minutes. When I left there before nine, after the salt trucks and plows had had time to do their magic, it still took 40 minutes to drive the 12 miles home in no traffic. It was slushy, slippery, and dangerous.
Rehearsal with John Adams went well, despite the missing singers. Singers were still drifting in around 8 PM, when rehearsal had been scheduled for 6:15. He's a delightful conductor, very clear in his direction. His personality is upbeat and fun, and he uses tact to get the results he wants.
His music is extremely difficult to sing, primarily because of its rhythmic complexity, so I'm sure he has to deal with choirs that don't do it well. We're better than most but we're still having a hard time. He handles it all with aplomb. He told us last night about how On the Transmigration of Souls was a flop in London because the British chorus didn't understand how to sing the ordinary language of the piece.
The texts were taken from missing posters on the streets of NY after 9/11 and from remembrances of the victims that were published in the NY Times.
"He was extremely good looking. Girls never talked to me when he was around."
"He called me every day. I'm still waiting."
"I wanted to dig him out. I know just where he is."
"It's been three months, but it feels like yesterday since I saw your beautiful face, saying 'I love you to the moon and back.'"
It's hard to sing those lines without tearing up. You have to suck it up and concentrate on the performance, not the emotion.
The second half of the concert will feature Leila Josefowicz playing the electric violin in Adams' The Dharma at Big Sur. I'm looking forward to hearing it. The array of percussion at the back of the stage is a hint that it's going to have big sonic impact.
Showing posts with label John Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Adams. Show all posts
22 February 2008
12 February 2008
Freeze
Cincinnati has succumbed to another episode of freezing rain, exactly 363 days since the last time the city shut down for ice. Most of my office is working from home today.
The past weekend featured the Fine Arts Fund sampler, a weekend of over 100 performances/exhibitions by the many arts groups that benefit from the largesse of the city's citizens who contribute millions to the fund each year.
On Saturday, I was privileged to attend "Origami Meets the Price is Right," Jonathan Heart's delightful show for children, at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which was followed by "Long Lost Stories," a production of the Madcap Puppets. A quick tour of the Cincinnati Wing of the museum followed, as my companion had not yet been there. The Rookwood pottery collection, as well as the marvelous furniture hand-carved by 19th Century Cincinnati women were the highlights of the visit.
Sunday's performane of the Cincinnati May Festival Youth Chorus and the May Festival Chamber Choir went well. We (the Chamber Choir) sang 8 of the 15 pieces of Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil.
Tonight the full May Festival Chorus will rehearse John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, for which Adams won the Pulitzer prize. It is a reminiscence of those lost in the devastation of New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Adams will conduct the chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the work on February 22 and 23 at Cincinnati's Music Hall.
The piece is moving and will be devastating for the audience. The text is taken from memories of the lost, printed in the New York Times, and from posters seen on the street in the weeks following the tragedy.
It will be especially poignant for many members of the Chorus and Orchestra, who performed Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at Carnegie Hall 3 weeks after September 11. That performance, planned months in advance of the concert, left the hall in near silence upon its completion. Some of the audience members could be heard crying. It had been only two days since American forces had invaded Afghanistan.
This just in: the word has arrived that tonight's rehearsal has been cancelled due to the weather, and our director, Robert Porco, halfway here from Cleveland, is turning around and heading home. Next week will be a busy one, with extra rehearsals so that we can work with the Cincinnati Children's Choir before Mr. Adams arrives.
The past weekend featured the Fine Arts Fund sampler, a weekend of over 100 performances/exhibitions by the many arts groups that benefit from the largesse of the city's citizens who contribute millions to the fund each year.
On Saturday, I was privileged to attend "Origami Meets the Price is Right," Jonathan Heart's delightful show for children, at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which was followed by "Long Lost Stories," a production of the Madcap Puppets. A quick tour of the Cincinnati Wing of the museum followed, as my companion had not yet been there. The Rookwood pottery collection, as well as the marvelous furniture hand-carved by 19th Century Cincinnati women were the highlights of the visit.
Sunday's performane of the Cincinnati May Festival Youth Chorus and the May Festival Chamber Choir went well. We (the Chamber Choir) sang 8 of the 15 pieces of Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil.
Tonight the full May Festival Chorus will rehearse John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, for which Adams won the Pulitzer prize. It is a reminiscence of those lost in the devastation of New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Adams will conduct the chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the work on February 22 and 23 at Cincinnati's Music Hall.
The piece is moving and will be devastating for the audience. The text is taken from memories of the lost, printed in the New York Times, and from posters seen on the street in the weeks following the tragedy.
It will be especially poignant for many members of the Chorus and Orchestra, who performed Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at Carnegie Hall 3 weeks after September 11. That performance, planned months in advance of the concert, left the hall in near silence upon its completion. Some of the audience members could be heard crying. It had been only two days since American forces had invaded Afghanistan.
This just in: the word has arrived that tonight's rehearsal has been cancelled due to the weather, and our director, Robert Porco, halfway here from Cleveland, is turning around and heading home. Next week will be a busy one, with extra rehearsals so that we can work with the Cincinnati Children's Choir before Mr. Adams arrives.
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