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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Verdi Requiem!

Behind the scenes in rehearsal with the LPO, NOVA Chorale, The Jefferson Chorale, and the Newman School Choir. Wow, it's going to be a FABULOUS concert! 

1. Friday at 7:30 PM in Covington, LA at First Baptist Church
2. Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts in New Orleans, LA

This requiem is my favorite piece of music, EVER. I first sang it on Thursday, April 22,1989, at 8:00 PM, with the Charleston Symphony Singers Guild and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (conductor: David Stahl). I was eighteen years old. The Singers Guild is now called the CSO Chorus. When I was in it, it was directed by Ms. Emily Remington, one of my first mentors and truly amazing woman. Through the years, both she and David Stahl were major influences  and role models for me. This first and formative experience singing the requiem was sooooooooo magnificent! I was simply transfixed. It's interesting for me to remember that the work is actually the reason why I went into music. Since 1989, I've had the great fortune to sing it with several different orchestras and choirs. I do believe this is my eighth or ninth time singing it. Now THAT is lucky! :-) Robert Shaw, Larry Wyatt, Richard Conant, Robert Lyall, and Yoel Levi were a few of the conductors. I also use this piece when I teach choral literature and occasionally a movement or two when teaching conducting. 
By the way....I made sure to wait until after the break and when Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto was working on a passage with orchestra only before I snapped these photos!

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