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Thursday, May 15, 2008
GUEST BLOG: ASO chorus lands in Berlin
Chorus member Kathleen V. Poe gives a first-hand look at the ASO's trip to Germany
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Being a member of the all-volunteer Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus has its perks. Sure, we sacrifice our Monday nights from August through April to rehearse, and we may not see our friends and family during performance weeks, but it all pays off. This week is proof, as the chorus makes its second trip to Berlin as a guest of the renowned orchestra Berliner Philharmoniker (the groups’ first collaboration took place in December 2003).
There has been a lot of reminiscing about that first engagement at the Philharmonie and, in the long-timer crowd, memories of previous occasions they sang the work we’ll perform Thursday through Saturday: Hector Berlioz’s Requiem. (The ASOC’s earlier recordings of this won the Grammy for best choral performance under Robert Shaw in 1985 and again under current music director Robert Spano in 2005; the Shaw recording also scored a Grammy for best classical album.) A handful of us were either not in the chorus or couldn’t make the trip in 2003, so we are experiencing all of this for the first time.
Aside from poking around in Berlin, eating schnitzel and gelato and trying to get our body clocks on the right time zone, the nearly 200 ASOC singers have spent several hours in rehearsal with the exceptional Philharmoniker musicians. The first alto section has decided that, in addition to tenor soloist, Joseph Kaiser, we want to kidnap a few of the instrumentalists from Berlin and bring them home to Atlanta.
Actually, the Philharmonie — the hall itself — is an amazing instrument. It’s bowl-shaped, like two cupped hands considering the ceiling, and its acoustics create a completely different singing and listening experience from our hall at home. The audience surrounds the orchestra, with seats situated at various angles. This is the sort of tiered vineyard seating that the ASO envisions for its future Symphony Center. Somehow it’s easier to sing in these spaces — or maybe it’s just harder to oversing — in such a sympathetic environment. Add an enormous top-tier international orchestra (eight sets of timpani! 16 trumpets!), top it all off with ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles, and… well, you’ll have to wait and hear what happens.
Live performance is naturally unpredictable — but I’m pretty confident that the opening-night after-party on Thursday with our friends, family members, ASO subscribers and patrons who have traveled to Berlin and the Philharmoniker musicians will get stellar reviews.
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Update: Listing for Jack Whitten Artist Talk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jack Whitten Artist Talk. Lecture in conjunction with his show titled “Memorial Paintings.” In the Hill Auditorium. 7 p.m. May 15.
Free with museum admission: $18; $15 senior citizens and college students with ID; $11 ages 6-17; ages 5 and younger free.
High Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-4444, 404-688-1970, www.thecontemporary.org.
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