Saturday, April 23, 2011

Mendelssohn ist Vergangen

The choir of First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg has completed their Mendelssohn Symphony No. 2 Lobgesang and is on a high!  The performance went well, it was majestic, and emotional.  The orchestra was superb. 
I am so grateful that in 2011, when so many local Mennonite churches no longer have a choir, our choir can continue to perform these wonderful works.  The Lobgesang, being new to all of us in the choir, was a risky and unconventional choice for Good Friday but we did it justice.
      There were some dramatics leading up to Good Friday's performance.  On Wednesday the soprano soloist called our conductor, Yuri Klaz (pictured above), to say she had no voice.  Hmm , what to do?  Yuri calls our de facto General Manager, but who in fact is a very dedicated volunteer who pulls these concerts together with rarely any recognition, (and her name is INGRID.)who manages to fly in a gifted soprano from Montreal who has ties to our congregation, Ellen Wieser who does an admirable job of rescuing us at this late hour.   
     Our conductor was visibly emotional at the post-concert reception and was grateful to the choir for the concert's success.  The post-concert high continues.

1 comment:

  1. I missed this post, you were busy.
    oh I did not know anything about this soprano soloist panic. That Ingrid she is amazing and I mean amazing not the overused kind. One certainly needs people with connections and actions and means to "make things happen".
    uh-oh I still haven't listened to all of this Lobegesang, priority this week. Of course the video you posted, "ist nicht verfügbar in meinem Land". "Wiet die".
    You will just have to keep writing and posting here about Lobegesang and Bach so that you can continue the emotional post high and low of no more rehearsals for awhile.
    When a conductor is moved, that is more than pure satisfaction. It is affirmation to a beautiful work and given glory to God as the composer intended.

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