Choir Concerts

I just had my first choir concert in Germany. We sang a Brahms requiem and we got to perform it two nights in a row in two different German churches. The first night went off without too many problems. Most of the people showed up pretty close to on time, except for the baritone soloist who showed up about 45 minutes late. That wasn’t too much of a problem seeing as the church was downtown Landau and we all had to come an hour and fifteen minutes early. We sang well and got plenty of applause afterwards.

Our second concert was a slightly different story... For one, this concert was not in Landau, rather it was in a town about an hour away by car. Kathy and I got a ride with someone who comes from that area (smart move on our part), but others were not as lucky. Maybe it would have helped if the choir director had printed off maps or given some kind of verbal directions, or maybe if we had all tried to get there together somehow, but it was not to be. We arrived on time and after waiting about fifteen or twenty minutes, our choir director decided that we should warm up, but because our piano accompanists along with the soprano and baritone soloists had not arrived yet, we were unable to practice any part of the music. Slowly, more and more students showed up and eventually the piano accompanists along with the soprano soloist found the church. We were able to practice a little and then were we went into a back room to wait until it was time to perform at 8:00. At about 7:45 we learned that our choir director had talked to the baritone soloist (who still hadn’t shown up), and found out that he was in the church in Landau. I couldn’t believe it! We ended up having to delay the concert almost a half-hour just for him to get there. At least the rest of the evening went well. The audience seemed to like the concert and afterwards, Kathy and I went out for drinks with some of the other choir members. A good evening all in all.