YAY! Wish come true, I did get the invitation to sing in the Messiah with the WSO this year. Though, nothing is the same as it once was. Yes, it is true that we have sung the Messiah before, but never like this. The following is a list of what is different this time around.
1. Standing far from other choristers. What's good about it? I have space to breathe. What's bad about it? I have so much space to breathe I can't feel my neighbour inhaling thereby reminding me to get ready to sing.
2. Wearing masks. Good because conductor cannot see if I remembered to come in or not, and also I can yawn mid performance and nobody will know. Also I find masks to be a great wrinkle remover. Bad because the audience will certainly hear muffled words and how will they know I am smiling broadly during 'WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR"?
3. My Cousin, Matthew Dalen is singing the tenor solo part! Ok, actually my cousin's husband, if you want to get technical. The beauty of this is that there will be many family members in the audience and I can pretend they came to hear me!
Alto soloist is Kirsten Schellenberg, she of the velvet let-me-wallow-in-it voice. Soprano is Jessica Kos-Wicher and bass is Neil Whitehead.4. Dr. Janet Brenneman is the first local woman to conduct the WSO! She is rehearsing us and performing with us. I have sung under her baton many a time, for various works, and certainly the Messiah is one of them but I have NEVER performed under her baton. It will be interesting to see how performance Janet compares with rehearsal Janet.
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| Dr. Janet Brenneman (photo from CMU website) |
Rehearsal Janet is well organized, efficient and relaxed. She is in her element. What I do know about performance Janet is that she will look like a million bucks, and will sport a commanding lipstick shade. Hopefully she will be unmasked. I am looking forward to experiencing all these firsts on performance night which is December 5th at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg. Get your tickets from the WSO Box Office.
