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phineasjonesso, camilla calls me as i'm driving home from rehearsal and i screech, omg! camilla! i have a new boyfriend!! and she, wisely, says, alastair willis? and i screech yyesss!!!omgsqueee!!!
which is to say, hallelujah, the conductor is fabulous. he knows the movies well, has discussed the music with howard shore, and is an all around fun and adorable person. yay! tonight's rehearsal was fantastic. and it became clear through his enthusiasm that, in fact, there are other people in the choir who know the movies. they must have all felt beaten down like it did. but tonight there were shared jokes and many references to scenes. and it was fun and involving and everything it should have been the whole time.
and now, details:
-first cute thing alastair did was sing along while the accompanist warmed us up. awww.
-he's young. and kind of cute. hee.
-he's british! with cute accent and all. though i heard a rumor that he was born in massachusetts. hmmm... dunno.
-someone's cell phone rang during the rehearsal and he looked up and gasped and said, "it's bilbo!" cute.
-he is primarily an orchestral conductor as far as i know but he knew exactly how to handle a chorus. i'll be curious to see how different - or not - he is on friday with the orchestra there. also, he mentioned the time delay issue - choruses tend to be exactly with the conductor's beat while orchestras have anywhere from a slight to an extreme delay. this can be problematic and he won points with me for bringing it up preemptively.
-he pointed out the russian-choir-like sound of the moria music and dude, exactly.
-the most exciting thing for me all night was that he added the women to the "hu!... hu!" part in the moria music - you know, the grunted sound that punctuates the singing. the tenors just weren't cutting it. whee!
-and, referring to that, he made a monty python reference. life of brian nonetheless, which has sealed him in my heart forever more. (are there any women here today?)
-i noticed at one point that we were all sitting up taller than usual. he's the kind of conductor that makes you want to do that. also the kind people crush on and become devoted to.
-the boy! is tiny! like, wee. very wee. his voice is beautiful and clear but rather quiet. he'll be mic'ed though, so i will not worry about that.
-the rest of the 'boys' are actually girls. and they're pretty good. at one point though, they were flat and a little lifeless and he stopped to have a chat about how they were singing about boromir's death and the next time they sang it, it was 1,000 times better. clever man.
-he did kind of think the whole thing was in elvish. but no one's perfect.
and that is my happy report of the evening. and now, i must prepare to go to boston tomorrow. to bed!
which is to say, hallelujah, the conductor is fabulous. he knows the movies well, has discussed the music with howard shore, and is an all around fun and adorable person. yay! tonight's rehearsal was fantastic. and it became clear through his enthusiasm that, in fact, there are other people in the choir who know the movies. they must have all felt beaten down like it did. but tonight there were shared jokes and many references to scenes. and it was fun and involving and everything it should have been the whole time.
and now, details:
-first cute thing alastair did was sing along while the accompanist warmed us up. awww.
-he's young. and kind of cute. hee.
-he's british! with cute accent and all. though i heard a rumor that he was born in massachusetts. hmmm... dunno.
-someone's cell phone rang during the rehearsal and he looked up and gasped and said, "it's bilbo!" cute.
-he is primarily an orchestral conductor as far as i know but he knew exactly how to handle a chorus. i'll be curious to see how different - or not - he is on friday with the orchestra there. also, he mentioned the time delay issue - choruses tend to be exactly with the conductor's beat while orchestras have anywhere from a slight to an extreme delay. this can be problematic and he won points with me for bringing it up preemptively.
-he pointed out the russian-choir-like sound of the moria music and dude, exactly.
-the most exciting thing for me all night was that he added the women to the "hu!... hu!" part in the moria music - you know, the grunted sound that punctuates the singing. the tenors just weren't cutting it. whee!
-and, referring to that, he made a monty python reference. life of brian nonetheless, which has sealed him in my heart forever more. (are there any women here today?)
-i noticed at one point that we were all sitting up taller than usual. he's the kind of conductor that makes you want to do that. also the kind people crush on and become devoted to.
-the boy! is tiny! like, wee. very wee. his voice is beautiful and clear but rather quiet. he'll be mic'ed though, so i will not worry about that.
-the rest of the 'boys' are actually girls. and they're pretty good. at one point though, they were flat and a little lifeless and he stopped to have a chat about how they were singing about boromir's death and the next time they sang it, it was 1,000 times better. clever man.
-he did kind of think the whole thing was in elvish. but no one's perfect.
and that is my happy report of the evening. and now, i must prepare to go to boston tomorrow. to bed!
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-15 09:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 12:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 01:11 am (UTC)i love watching people who are good at their jobs.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 03:36 am (UTC)And dude, you are making me really want to come to this concert. Hm.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 01:48 pm (UTC):)
because rach has a ticket for sunday but it's turning out that it would work better for her to come tomorrow. so we need a buyer for her sunday ticket. would you be interested? the seat is with
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 01:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-17 02:08 pm (UTC)Plus, I think my husband would be really sad if I went without him. Hee.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 07:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-16 01:23 pm (UTC)only three more days to wait ...