bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2004-07-27 10:32 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2004-07-27 10:32 pm
Montreal, part deux
Sunday, July 18
In which we see a lot of Gianluca from Ottawa, eat poutine, and cry just a little (not that any one has anything to do with the others).
Went to le centre Sheraton with Gary (
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gmjambear), so he could pick up his badge and I could go to Festival Choruses rehearsal. Was pleasantly surprised to see Gianluca, a big ol' bear from the Ottawa GMC we'd met in San Jose, at this rehearsal. Caught up with Dennis after rehearsal. On the way out I saw Bob Feiertag, a fellow from the Columbus GMC whom I also corresponded with on soc.motss and had met years before in Pittsburgh. I mentioned to Bob that we were premiering a piece I wrote and another written by "the fellow you just met, Dennis" -- and with a flourish of my hand pointed out a different Dennis altogether, Dennis Nance, composer-in-residence of the Atlanta GMC.
Upstairs, the two Dennises and I caught up with Gary and the four of us had lunch at Noria, a Syrian restaurant on rue Stanley, where we sat in the open window watching the boys go by, as Dennis N. put it.
After lunch we hurried to Place-des-Arts for the first of three concert blocks. The Boston GMC did an excellent job segueing from one piece to the next in a seamless set. Ottawa did a cute set of sea shanties ending with "Sick of the Songs of the Sea", in which Gianluca nearly threw his fisherman's hat out into the orchestra. ;-) OurSong from Atlanta did a piece called "The Songbirds" with tuned plastic tubes and birdcalls. GMC of Washington (DC) did a wonderful commissioned work about how choruses change lives.
Between concerts we checked out the Expo at Complexe Desjardins, where we met Jacques (and introduced Dennis to him) and caught up with Van (
vaneramos) and Danny (djjo).Van and Tim (RGMC's accompanist) sat with us for the second concert block. We were originally going to skip it but saw Gianluca was also appearing in Tone Cluster, a mixed chorus from Ottawa. Damn were they good! After their set we switched theaters and Van returned to his hotel. We saw New Orleans' GMC -- their director is quite the bear (think Paul Prudhomme) and man does he have pipes, as evidenced by his solo performance on "You Raise Me Up" (as popularized by Josh Groban). They also did a rousing rendition of "Mickey" with cheerleaders vs. what some of my fellow chorines call SMQ's (Serious Music Queens). Hilarious! Following them were Diverse Harmony, a GSA (gay-straight alliance) youth choir from Seattle. They did "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin and I thought of friends who have passed who loved that song, and quietly wept. "Arms Around the World", their closing number, had much the same effect. As most of the group left the stage, one of their number traded costumes, in effect "graduating" to join the Seattle Men's Chorus who took the stage next. They did a piece from the score of The Mission by Ennio Morricone, also "Past Life Melodies" (that odd Australian number we did in San Jose), and "Favorite Son" (which we were about to do on Tuesday). Their rendition of "Favorite Son" included a flip-chart with pictures of Bush, Kerry, Nader, The Scream by Munch, Bart Simpson, Oprah Winfrey, and the Gerber baby. Of these, I think Kerry got the most positive reaction, with Oprah a close second.
During the next intermission we had barely enough time for dinner as every place in Complexe Desjardins was mobbed. We had poutine or plain fries from a place that had already run out of everything else and so was less of a mob scene.
The third set, Melodivas did a splendid rendition of "Rhapsody of New York", an a cappella arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue set to lyrics about the bustling streets of New York City. This piece opens with a solo soprano vocalizing the original oboe cadenza, who was just fabulous on what must have been a two octave slide. They also did a funny piece about their breasts and other physical attributes, insisting they were the originals; and also a touching piece from One True Thing which had Gary bawling. We also saw VocalPoint, Steve Milloy's ensemble from Cincinnati, who were quite good, and the Connecticut GMC who did a cowboy act including the "Sodomy Hoedown".
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"Sodomy Hoedown"?????
Does it contain the lyrics "I wanna hear you squeal like a pig"?
Naah...
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The good news is, with global warming, Rochester's climate may change sufficiently to become almost earth-normal. That might help.
Meanwhile, would still love an in-choral-season visit, so I could show all of you guys off to Larry, and vice-versa.
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I was not bawling! I was not crying! I was not feeling emotions! I had something stuck in my eye. Yeah, that's it. Something in my eye.
[And if you believe that, I have several bridges in Brooklyn to sell to ya....cheap....]