by Anura Guruge
on May 5, 2023
Follow Anura Guruge on WordPress.com
Click images to ENLARGE.
Well I now know what a professional choir sounds like. WOW. They sounded beyond good. Incredible would go some way towards describing what they were like. ‘WOW!’ always captures it.
Their opening ‘bar’ soared towards the domed ceiling & came echoing back. It was powerful, profound but equally ethereal. The young lady seated next to me & I looked at each other in AMAZEMENT. This was like nothing I had expected — & obviously her too. {I later found out that she had sung in many a choir & currently belonged to the Dartmouth ‘Handel Society‘. So, she knew a music & what choirs were supposed to sound like. Her partner, seated next to on the other side, was a high school & church music director. They (unlike I) knew the technical stuff & they were impressed.
Oh, I happened to be sitting in the front row. It was ‘general admittance’. I wasn’t in the first wave of folks to enter but the entire front row (split by the center aisle) was empty. I am not that. So, I went & sat right up front. It was sold out & towards the end others, including the two music scholars, were forced to sit up front — with I.
Well, I am now kind of spoilt. Ametuer choirs are never going to sound ‘right’. Basically, I got to see ‘The Light’. Here something that was pretty close to ‘divine’ — if not so, already. It was special.
I am GLAD I made the effort. My latest ‘resolution’ as I approach 70. I am going to try & catch as many ‘things’ as possible. No point postponing. I might die regretting all the things I should have gone to.
This was first Dartmouth performance in 5 or 6 years. It has been a long time & PARTLY it was due to COVID. I used to go multiple times a year. Maybe I will start doing that again.
This really was an eye opener. Dartmouth only hosts ‘the BEST’ — or close to it. These folks were up there. WOW. Kudos. Bravo.
