First Choral Performance Complete!

Well, I did it! My first live choral performance completed. Nothing like being on stage in front of hundreds of seats. On April 25th, Deanna and I sang "Carmina Burana" at the Surrey Bell Centre for performing arts with the Willan Choir. The Bell centre was pretty interesting. A large theatre, dressing rooms, the whole deal. It sure was different the first time we started singing and we were in a big auditorium instead of the much smaller VCC theatre. It felt like our voice just left the stage, and there was very little feedback. I'm told that's good for performances. I really quite enjoyed the experience, both singing the piece and participating with Deanna.

I also learned more than I cared about music politics. I guess I heard about the politics and so I shouldn't have been surprised. Politics notwithstanding, the music was simply a blast to perform.

I've loved Carmina Burana ever since I heard it in the movie Excalibur and was delighted to hear the Deanna's choir was going to perform it. You've almost certainly heard Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. It's been used in numerous TV adds (potato chips!) and movies (Excalibur, 2001, Glory, Natural Born Killers). You can get a sample of the music from amazon. A description of Carmina Burana is available.

The latin lyrics and translation can be found online. Some highlights are "O Fortuna", "In Taberna quando sumus" (When we are in the Tavern) and "Amor Volat undique" (Cupid Flies Everywhere). With lines like "Young men and women are rightly coupled" and "the bishop drinks, the mistress drinks, the priest drinks and the deacon", and a swan singing "Misery me! Now black and roasting fiercely!", these monks had clearly lapsed into partying and having fun.

I also really enjoyed learning to sing. I'm certainly not there, but my ability to hit notes really improved by the end of all that practicing. Not sure if I'll do a choral performance again, but that can be left for the future.