Steve and I attended the performance today at First United Methodist Church; the First Methodist Chamber Choir, the Centenary College Choir, and orchestra were simply superb.
The story behind this piece of music is fascinating. The work is unfinished and is believed to have been written by Mozart in celebration of his wedding and also to appease his father with whom Mozart had a difficult relationship. The piece was written in 1782-1783 and is technically very challenging, but also shows Mozart's creativity. It's just beautiful.
The choirs were simply angelic in voice and Soprano I Lori Lusted was pitch perfect. I'm no operatic expert by any means but Miss Lusted's voice was beautiful to hear.
Kudos to Centenary and First Methodist for the free public event.
On the way out Steve and I were behind two of the musicians, one of whom said to his friend, "Wow - four months of work and it's all over, just like that!"
It was worth it, my friend. Job well done.
A YouTube performance of the Benedictus:
(Photo credit: Steve and his Blackberry)
(Thanks to Robert Trudeau for the tip on the event.)
3 comments:
Pat,
Thank you for sharing, we were not able to attend. I am very proud of the FUMC Chancel Choir and the Centenary College Choir. We have a rich musical heritage in our community.
Cindy Gleason Johnson
Cindy,
You are so right! It was glorious today! No words, really.
Interesting to watch the faces of the soloists. Perhaps it is a function of the mechanics of singing, but both of the women display lightness and joy, smiling while they are singing, while both men are deadpan or even frowning all of the time. I've noticed that before, and it seems not to be uncommon.
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