Anticipation!

The Christmas rehearsal break is always welcome.  It’s a time to rest, relax, enjoy the holiday and the fruits of bathing in so much delightful Christmas music.  For singers and conductors, the holidays just can’t be beat in terms of sheer musical indulgence!

But I always experience a sense of anticipation as we begin a new rehearsal season in January, for several reasons.

For one, I love my singers and always look forward to seeing them again.  In fact, there is a mutual respect and affection that exists across the board in MCE, and that’s a bit unusual.  It makes our rehearsals and concerts especially human and supportive.  Because of that affection and respect, there is laughter during rehearsals, a feeling of working together, and a willingness to tackle challenges.  I enjoy watching the intense concentration that comes over the faces of the singers as they wrestle with something demanding, but it’s a concentration based on confidence in the support of those around them, a concentration that says, “I’m going to get this!”  It fires up my own rehearsal engine!

And my sense of anticipation is bolstered by the music.  This quarter is a particularly good mix of appealing melodies, rich harmonies, and passionate expressiveness.  Celtic music seems to naturally grow out of the combined poetry of tunes and words, and it is a joy to rehearse and sing.  Plus, I am overlapping some Verdi Requiem rehearsing in preparation for our April appearance in Benaroya Hall.  It’s always challenging to prepare for two concerts at once, but we are working on the Sanctus from the Requiem, and it is musically meaty and absolutely glorious—well worth the extra effort!  Words can’t describe it.

So after bathing in holiday music, the bathing continues in a whole new genre; in fact, a mix of genres!  Italian and Celtic, the best of both worlds!

Should be a great quarter, and a great Erin Go Bragh concert in March!

Dr. Linda Gingrich, D.M.A
Artistic Director/Conductor

Master Chorus Eastside