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RACHMANINOFF VESPERS Fresh from their triumphant performance in New York, Perth Symphonic Chorus is now preparing for their next concert of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers on Saturday September 24th, 3pm [All Saints Church, Floreat] & Sunday 25th, 3pm [Government House Ballroom.] But before chatting about this exquisitely beautiful unaccompanied choral work, we’d like to share some of our wonderful experiences at Carnegie Hall. Miraculously, considering the rampant cold & flu season in Perth, all our singers attended every rehearsal and were able to stand on stage and perform in the Isaac Stern Auditorium of this great venue. Our choir received the prize for the greatest distance travelled, [no-one could compete with half way around the world!]. We rehearsed with similarly excellent ensembles, including the chamber choir which recently won the World Choral Championships in Europe. To be part of such an outstanding ensemble performing on one of the world’s greatest stages was a very rare privilege. The overall result was one of a disciplined choir with Dr Jonathan Griffith being demanding in his expectations of the singers. Vowels were finely tuned, breaths were correctly placed, dynamic shapes were insisted upon and diction was emphasized. Outside the rehearsals singers took full advantage of the city they were visiting. Of course, we all made it to the top of the Freedom Tower, the Empire State Building and/or the Rockefeller Centre to gasp at the views. But most of us also indulged in one or more of the Broadway shows [Gershwin’s ‘American in Paris, Something Rotten [a send up of Shakespeare’s life and that of his contemporaries], Book of Mormon etc. . Other musical highlights included witnessing first hand the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Ballet, the Rockettes in Radio City Hall and Jazz at the Lincoln Centre. Fortunately, [or unfortunately!] there wasn’t much time for retail shopping as we didn’t see any lovely little blue wrapped packages from Tiffany’s being exhibited at rehearsal! So after this wonderful experience we’re back home settling down into our regular routine of rehearsals and concerts. The Vespers are particularly challenging, the choir frequently dividing into anything up to 11 parts. And of course, there’s the difficulty of singing in Russian, or to be more precise, in Liturgical Slavonic. Fortunately we have some singers that speak Russian fluently, so with a little practice we should be able to conquer this quite well. To enhance our work on this fabulous opus, the choir recently went on a retreat for a full weekend, checking notes in difficult passages, working on vocal technique, practising their Russian and in general having a good time. In spite of a really effective couple of days of rehearsing, the highlight of the weekend, however, was a Russian dinner complete with appropriate decorations, expert folk dancers and a wonderful balalaika player. If you’d like to share some of our fun, log onto our website www.perthsymphonicchorus.com.au to view videos & photos.
