A Magical Day

It's corny sounding, but it's true. We had a good breakfast and went in a herd of 10 or so friends to the Berlin Zoo, located a 10 minute walk from our hotel. I think I've always loved zoos, and the Berlin zoo is just beautiful. We spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon there, after which we went to visit the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, which we actually saw on our first trip to Berlin in 2003, but it made such a powerful impression on us that we had to go back again. It's just as beautiful now as it was then.

From there to capitalistic KaDeWe, shopping Mecca and standard for all things West before (and even after) the Wall came down. We had a lovely lunch on the top level cafeteria, and then straggled back to the hotel to decompress a bit before our opening night concert.

The concert went extremely well. The most difficult thing we've experienced so far in translating our experience with the piece in Atlanta to the new environments (acoustical, positional, orchestral, etc.al) here in Berlin has been getting a group of 200 people to relax into the flow of the music-making going on between our conductor Donald Runnicles (whom we all adore most fervently) and the Berlin Phil (a staggering group of musicians who have welcomed us with open arms twice now), which means not clutching so tightly to the motion of the stick and listening to the interpretation being delivered in real time, and adjusting our own sense of timing and rhythmic precision into that context. In each rehearsal we've learned a little bit more about how to do it, and this was our best effort yet. This isn't to say there weren't issues (the hall is so bright and warm and lively, which is wonderful for us, but it also exposes us to a degree to which we are not accustomed), such as a bit of seam pulling during the rollicking Lacrymosa, or some random intonation lapses (I believe due mostly to fatigue, vocally and otherwise).

In all, however, the energy and expressiveness of the conductor and the intimate responsiveness of the orchestra serves to guide and inspire us to commit to the fullest extent our passion for delivering our own brand of perfection. We are the best chorus in the world, singing with the best orchestra in the world, in one of the best acoustics in the world. What's not to love? And for the most part, we delivered. We sang the demonically difficult a-capella "Quarens Me" movement to perfection. We shook the heavens during the "Dies Irae". The tenor was brilliant during the Sanctus, and our women sang like angels backing him up. When all was said and done, the audience rained applause down on us, and broke into a bedlam of cheering when we stood for our bows. Three times we stood, and each time the cheers were louder. For us, the amateur chorus, there is no other, better payment we could possibly receive. We can be better, however, and we will get better as we settle in even more to the task. I look greatly forward to the next few nights.

The best thing of all is that you can listen to our Saturday night concert live on the web! It starts at 8 PM local time (2 PM EDT). The information (in German) is here:

http://www.kulturradio.de/_/beitrag_jsp/key=1431556.html

I think you listen to the stream here:

http://www.kulturradio.de/_/beitrag_jsp/key=1209227.html