Getting ready for this piece was quite an adventure. Anything composed by Mozart is easy to learn and such a pleasure to perform. There's such an air of familiarity about his pieces even if you've never heard it before. Once you've performed it, it just settles into your very being and becomes a part of you DNA. I guess that's part of his genius.
NPC is worlds apart from other groups that I've sung in. First of all, everyone learns the notes so quickly! In other groups, we spent more time learning the notes, and only a few rehearsals on polishing and making the piece sound like music. There's also a lot less yelling from the director in NPC. Go figure. Also, the concert hall is HUGE! I could not see a darn thing out in the audience. Apparently, my mother was waving quite energetically at me, but I didn't notice a thing even though I was staring in their general direction during intermission.
It's incredible to me how everything gets thrown together at the last minute and still ends up sounding amazing. We had our first rehearsal with the orchestra and the soloists the night before the event. When I got there, about a third of the choir was down by the orchestra and the rest were squeezed up on the second tier because the hydraulics on the choir risers had broken. No one made any fuss and we went on with dress rehearsal with the idea the the choir might be performing in less than optimal conditions. That's another amazing thing about musicians - they just pull together and make the best of a situation and concentrate on making a great performance. I've never seen any musician act like a "prima donna". Perhaps it's because I don't spend all day with them but I've sure seen prima donnas in other places outside of music.
The soloists were beautiful as usual. However, when you're performing, you can't listen as intently as you'd like because then you'll forget to come in on your own part. The best thing about being a soloist, I think, is that they get to wear whatever they want. The female choir members have to wear a simple black dress and the men wear a tux. I have to say though that I'm very glad that I joined as late as I did because the earlier versions of the concert dress are not very flattering. I mean, we all look like nuns but there were at least 3 different versions of concert dresses running around that night. The concert dress from the other choir I was in was so voluminous, it was like walking around with a tent strapped to your waist. I think there was enough fabric in the skirt for three more people.
Anyway, the next concert is Rachmaninoff's Vespers which is really cool since I'll actually be able to use my Russian again. That is, if I don't get cut during the next round of auditions. Pedja says that we have to reaudition sometime in May so I'm not looking forward to that ordeal again. I wonder what he'll be checking for this time? Well, no sense worrying about that now. I've made it this far and I got to sing Mozart's Requiem with the NPC!!!
