So I'm doing a thing....

[Belushi TD]

Come 7:30 PM on November 6, at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, I'll be singing Mozart's requiem with a couple of groups and a selection of soloists. As I understand it, the suggested donation for tickets is 50 bucks.

Last time I did something like this it was in Carnegie Hall, which I am certain was worth the cost of admission.

Having never entered St. Pats, I have no idea if the concert will be worth the money, but I do know that from a singer's perspective, its going to be really cool because how frequently do you get the chance to sing in Saint Patrick's Cathedral?

Belushi TD

[Nightwatch2]

Bravo!!!

[warshipadmin]

Lovely piece of music, and singing in cathedrals is fun.

[Belushi TD]

We had our rehearsal in the cathedral last night. The reverberation is amazing.

I realize virtually no one lives near enough to make it, but I think I will be able to get a few comped tickets. Shoot me a PM if you have interest and will be around.

Starts at (about) 7 PM tomorrow, Thursday, 11/6.

I say about because there's apparently a mass at 6 PM, and while masses there normally take a little less than an hour, who knows?

Belushi TD

[Belushi TD]

Here's the link to the youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIz9cwL5VoQ

The concert starts about 37 minutes into the video. No, I have no idea why. I was told the conductor is from Italy, and therefore we should assume that he would start late, but 37 minutes is a bit much, in my opinion.

I am on the right, in front of the shrubbery, second from the outside.

Belushi TD

[Nightwatch2]

Here's the link to the youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIz9cwL5VoQ

The concert starts about 37 minutes into the video. No, I have no idea why. I was told the conductor is from Italy, and therefore we should assume that he would start late, but 37 minutes is a bit much, in my opinion.

I am on the right, in front of the shrubbery, second from the outside.

Belushi TD

[David Newton]

Were a concert that I was attending that late starting then I would have words with the conductor afterwards. Words like "arrogant", "entitled" and "unprofessional".

Were a concert that I was performing in that late starting then words like "who in the hell do you think you are?" would be more likely.

Utterly unacceptable for the conductor to do that.

[warshipadmin]

That was very enjoyable. Was this conductor shipped in for the night ? If so he's just theatrics, which i guess suits the NY frame of mind. Who ran the rehearsals? I thought the sound balance favored the instruments more than usual especially the brass/woodwinds - not bad just different.

[Simon Darkshade]

Well done and well sung sir.

[Belushi TD]

That was very enjoyable. Was this conductor shipped in for the night ? If so he's just theatrics, which i guess suits the NY frame of mind. Who ran the rehearsals? I thought the sound balance favored the instruments more than usual especially the brass/woodwinds - not bad just different.

The conductor was shipped in from Italy. The soloists were shipped in from Europe. The soprano is from St. Petersburg and I don't remember where the rest of them are from. Apparently, the soloists, the conductor, the concertmaster and a few of the other instruments have been doing this piece on tour, if I understand what was being said correctly.

The choir had 3 rehearsals, two without the orchestra. The guy standing to my left was the guy who ran the first rehearsal. The conductor ran the second rehearsal. The conductor also ran the third rehearsal, which was the one with the orchestra.

I've only listened to it while I was working, so I was just enjoying it as background noise, not critically listening to it. I am really unable to truly judge if the instruments were favored. It may be just be due to the fact that the choir was about 25 or 30 feet back from the orchestra. There was a fairly large gap between us.

I'm glad you enjoyed! I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I enjoyed singing it!

Belushi TD

[Belushi TD]

Well done and well sung sir.

Thank you, Simon. I'm glad you enjoyed.

To misquote some animated subterranean New Yorkers, "I LOVE BEING A TENOR!".

Belushi TD

[Belushi TD]

Were a concert that I was attending that late starting then I would have words with the conductor afterwards. Words like "arrogant", "entitled" and "unprofessional".

Were a concert that I was performing in that late starting then words like "who in the hell do you think you are?" would be more likely.

Utterly unacceptable for the conductor to do that.

Ehhhh... If he had left everyone sitting/standing in position, I'd have to agree with you. Since he didn't stand people up until only a few moments before he came out, I don't feel as displeased with him as you would have been. It was more than a little bit surreal to be sitting in the choir seats in Saint Patrick's cathedral getting ready to sing.

In his defense, at least part of the reason he started late is that there was a private mass going on in the small chapel behind the high altar where we were standing, and that didn't end until 7:00 or 7:10.

I also suspect he was asked to hold because some of the dignitaries and VIPs were late as well, but that's speculation on my part, based on the fact that people were still filing into the first 36 rows up until we started singing. (My wife and my good friend's wife were seated in the first row, and the ushers moved them back 36 rows, once they started seating people.)

Belushi TD

[David Newton]

The mass therefore ended at least 20 minutes before the concert. That's plenty of time to get into position on time, even in a cathedral.

Usual practice for the choir I sang in until a year ago was to get to the church by 7pm for a concert starting at 7:30pm. We'd head up to the song school in the church which is the room that the parish choirs use for rehearsals. Then we'd have a short warm-up before heading downstairs to the vestry to be ready to come on right at 7:30 pm.

Collegium.jpg

That's a final rehearsal before a concert of said choir and I can be seen on the back row as the tallest there. St. Mary's in Warwick which is where that photo was taken is a parish church rather than cathedral, but in both scale of the church building and its musical establishment it very much is like a small cathedral. That choir both rehearsed and performed in the church and was conducted by the director of music of the church. So I'm not simply thinking about this in the abstract: I've performed in dozens of concerts with various choirs, including singing that Mozart requiem mass.

As for the VIPs? Tough for them if they're late is my view. They need to learn their place, and that place does NOT include holding everyone else up for over 30 minutes. Certainly not politic, but then I'm very much of the respect is earned rather than automatically given point of view.

It's a very different attitude to a lot of people, and not particularly forgiving. My point of view is that in both UK and US culture things start on time. Therefore if you perform in either of those countries you start on time.

[warshipadmin]

I used to sing tenor in the school and church choirs, we had the most fun other than the sopranos. My schoolfriends then decided to sing bass, so I did as well, but it doesn't suit my voice. Now I sing in a small choir, I'm in the altos because I'm mainly there to keep my (new singer) wife company, tho sometimes our choirmistress (?) moves us around between parts. Here's her website, lovely lady and very talented, https://tiffanyeckhardt.com.au . If you look at the choir photos you get a special bonus picture of my knees. And you can also see why the posh residents of a nearby town call us the Hill People.

I'm glad you got to rehearse with the actual conductor, that's pretty important.

[Belushi TD]

Yeah, it gave us some valuable experience with his idiocnycracies, and we really needed it towards the end. In the last movement, some of the basses came in about a half measure early, but the rest of us were able to override them when we came in.

The conductor was an interesting guy. The two guys who direct their own choirs in the group were NOT complimentary to his directing style.

Belushi TD