TOSVA's Gala Concert

Last week was insane-- I had three-hour choir rehearsals on Monday, Wednesday & Thursday.  And in the middle of that, Tuesday I drove my Mom to the airport (sniff, sniff).  And then Friday was the concert!

This concert was a bigger deal than usual, because it was the culmination of The Oratorio Society's 50th anniversary celebration (which has been going on for a while, to commemorate both its formation and its first concert).  I guess the board members felt we needed to do something truly spectacular, so they commissioned an original piece of music to be performed at the concert. 

Charlottesville is home to Rita Dove, who was named poet laureate in 1992.  One of her poems, "Testimonial," was recently made into a mural at the Downtown mall, so this same poem was chosen as the text.  And then they contracted with composer Adolphus Hailstork (I LOVE his last name, by the way) to set it to music.  We've been working on it since January, and it's been interesting to see our director turn into a complete stress case over this.  He always drives us really hard, but this was beyond that-- and it all made sense when he explained, "You know, if you mess up singing Mozart, Mozart probably won't care.  But Hailstork is going to be SITTING HERE LISTENING and he will KNOW if you don't get his music right!"  So, yes, there was an added tension to the whole process that I don't think anyone was really anticipating.  (That's also why we had so many extra hours of rehearsals!)

But it was also just a ton of fun.  Singing beautiful music with talented people is always fun!

For this concert, we had a full orchestra, so that was awesome.  And the Wednesday rehearsal was the first time we had Hailstork there with us, and he was so nice and gracious and complimentary about how we sounded.  He put everyone at ease.  And the soloist was INCREDIBLE. 

We started out singing "And the Glory of the Lord" from Handel's Messiah.  This was the first song the Oratorio Society performed 50 years ago, so that was a fitting tribute.  Then they invited alumni members to join us on stage and sing "He Watching Over Israel" from Mendelssohn's Elijah and the Hallelujah Chorus.  The alumnus sat back down and they showed a video of Rita Dove reading her poem and chatting with our director about its meaning, and then we sang it.  And it went wonderfully!  Then there was an intermission, during which they showed this bit that was on the local news about us (if you watch it, just skip the first half and go straight to the commercial break in the middle).  And then after intermission we performed Mozart's C-minor Mass, which I hadn't known before, but which I now absolutely love.  We did mess up a little on that-- hopefully Mozart didn't mind.  It was still wonderful.  (I don't think Craig noticed any mistakes, so there wasn't anything too obvious, I think.)

There I am, hiding behind my friend Rachel!

Good action shot of Michael

And (some of) the orchestra!

After the concert, they had a Champagne Reception held at UVA's Collonade Club.  I don't usually gets invited to fancy parties, so this was kind of exciting for me, even if I was only sipping water and snacking on crackers and brie!

They had toasts for the composer, for the conductor, for the board members, for the soloists, for the musicians, and finally for the choir members.  By the time we got out there it had cooled down just enough to be comfortable and it was a lovely evening.

Joining the Oratorio Society has been one of my favorite things in Charlottesville.



On Monday I completely lost my voice and I've spent the entire week whispering.  It's aggravating, but I am so glad I made it through the concert before this hit!