My name is Kathy Derby, and I sing in the soprano section of the Seattle Choral Company. I also do almost all of SCC's print graphic design (posters, season brochure, postcards, invitations etc...) Anyway, how did we (meaning me) get to this blog, you might ask? During a recent meeting that I had with our wonderful artistic director, Fred Coleman, I brought up the idea of blogging, of having an SCC blog. The next thing I knew, this idea, this vague concept, had morphed into me running our SCC blog shindig. So, I am now happy to be your friendly blog admin and occasional blog contributor! Ta-Da! I'm very excited to be here, and to be sharing with the blogosphere my particular experiences with SCC.
I thought that I would start with posting from not only a performer's perspective, but an audience member's perspective as well because that is how the fall season found me...
Unfortunately for me, I had to take this fall off from singing with the Seattle Choral Company, but I had the pleasure of attending the first concert of the season; “A Cathedral Christmas”, which was presented at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. Just as a point of reference, St. Mark's is located on Seattle’s Capitol Hill and the concert dates were December 12 and 13, 2008.
You know, watching a concert of a group that you love and normally are in is a very strange position to be in. On one hand, you are just happy to see your friends up there making great music, on the other hand, you have this intense, visceral desire for them to simply be amazing. Like a slightly crazed stage Mom, you sit on the edge of your seat just willing them to be incredible. Of course, they don't fail you, and they deliver that amazing experience in spades.
Now on to my discussion of the concert...
This was the first time that the choir presented our holiday concert in Saint Mark’s Cathedral. For those of you who have never been to St. Mark's, it's an amazing space. The space feels almost Spartan when you walk in, with stark concrete walls, and soaring ceilings that make you feel very small indeed. What you don't realize before the music starts is that the space positively fills with sound, engulfing you entirely. It makes for a very moving and memorable concert experience. I know I'm not the only member of the choir who knows how lucky we are to perform there.
This concert did not disappoint in any respect, IMO, and with this difficult holiday season, it put many of us who were struggling to be there, well, it put us "in the mood" for the holidays. The repertoire included music for divided choirs, harp, string orchestra and the famed Flentrop Pipe Organ played by the incomparable Clint Kraus.
For me though, the most stirring moments of this concert were the quiet ones, the ones that allowed the multitude of voices to fill the space slowly with sound. It gave me chills, feeling this beautiful sound wash over you and surround you. The rendition of Lo' How a Rose E'er Blooming in particular is the kind of thing that, for me, really revs my engine as a singer. It started out impossibly quiet, just caressing you with the music, and then built upon itself as the song came forth. It was one of the pieces with divided choirs, one smaller choir was physically moved to the back of the space, allowing the music to come from what seemed like all angles over the audience. The song had such amazing dissonance and difficult harmonics that allowed the voices to layer over one another, none truly competing, only complimenting.
THAT is the kind of thing that gets me excited as a singer.
The concert put me very much "in the mood" for when my brief, self-imposed hiatus would end. It made me so happy to think about singing with the group again, and miss it terribly all at the same time. Which is why I'm so thrilled to be back singing in the Mozart Concert this spring.
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Don't forget to check back here often for all kinds of stories, perspectives, thoughts etc. on our upcoming concerts, things we have done and our experiences. And if you have some love for SCC, please feel FREE to link to us here at our blog, this online community is all about connection and reaching out to each other. We'd love to be connected to you!
If you do connect to us, go ahead and drop me a line by clicking on the "contact us" in the sidebar and let me know.
Take care and keep the music going!
Kathy
