I have grown dependent. Working (or not) from home as we do, many of our connections with the outside world occur by phone or computer, which is wonderful. I love it, really. But now that I have been a part of the Music in the Mountains Festival Chorale for a little more than a year, I find that my facing a break from the group and the music for a couple of months, is more difficult than I would have predicted before I joined.Our last concert of the season was yesterday, so we must let everyone have a bit of a rest, now, I suppose (especially after five days straight). During the season, I love having the music bouncing around in my brain all week. I enjoy the challenge of the difficult pieces and the amazing variety of music chosen for us. Almost all of it is new to me. In a year and a half, we've performed Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms is coming up soon. There has been contemporary high church to Christmas carols. Modern dissonant composition to opera choruses. We've sung in Latin, German, Hebrew and Italian-a lot of Italian.
The Music in the Mountains organization includes an orchestra, chorus and auxiliary group and has been active (beginning with the chorus), year-round for 30 years. It was, for most of that time, under the direction of the founding conductor, who retired mid-08, just before I joined up in the fall. He, among others, had set the bar very high for a rural music organization. The chorus is now under the direction of Ryan Murray, and the artistic director/orchestra conductor, brand-new to us since summer, is Gregory Vajda (Hungarian). Both are young and brilliant and fun. Ryan, pictured here as I snapped it after yesterday's performance, is 24. Is that crazy?
Besides the music, the people are great. They're interesting folks, fun to be with and also terrific musicians. Some quite amazing, indeed. I had only a few minutes to click three or four shots of the chorus during intermission yesterday, Tom having been told on Friday (the night he attended) that he couldn't use his camera while we were singing. I think we're pretty cute in our black outfits. Especially fellow tenors David and Fred, seen here in their tuxes and discussing, I don't know, B flat, or something.
One other things about it is, that it is a place where I can go that has creative energy and momentum that I don't provide. I just show up and happily go along with the flow. I love that. Just for a change, since I'm working every day to generate my own flow, which is wonderful, but difficult sometimes.
So, I'm addicted. February 3rd seems a long time from now. But it isn't. I plan to learn all the German lyrics to the Brahms Liebeslieder before we meet again, but I have a feeling that along about the end of January, I'll wonder how the time went so fast and I learned so little of it. That part's predictable.
(ps. I've included a photo of the gorgeous roses brought to me by our fabulous neighbors, Lorri and Scott the night they came to the concert with Tom--is that the coolest, or what?!)
