My adventure as a groupie continued last night with the first performance of the year of the Voices of Ohio. They performed in a beautiful Lutheran church in Toledo. The indoor setting is always a little different than the fairs and outdoor festivals. Some of the music is different and the sound is usually more concentrated. For this concert the chorus members were all in tuxes...resplendent in the off white sanctuary with stained glass windows behind them, and the quiet, elegant beauty of church pews, altar rails,dark red carpet and various symbols of the Christian faith all around them. The sang a few of the favorite songs from the 60's and 70's, then launched into several new additions with a Zac Brown (Knee Deep) song and the title song from the movie Frozen, along with a funny song singing the praises of "doin nuthin."
The second half of the program was all patriotic and religious. I don't know for sure, but I think the conductor was a teacher at one time...he uses the concerts as a means of teaching something or at least giving enough of an introduction to a topic that you want to immediately go home and check Google. And that is the sign of a good teacher...this night he introduced "Natalie" from the Cincinnati area who sang an old American Negro Spiritual - " Steal Away. Before hearing the clear, strong soprano voice of Natalie, he talked a little about slavery and how the slaves communicated with one another about family and about escape. I've always been interested in the underground railroad - maybe because one of the most famous abolitionist to be put to death was from Akron - where I grew up and there was a station in Akron for runaway slaves. I also have a great interest in quilting and the markings and patterns that were reported to signal passage for run aways through the quilts hanging near safe points along the trip from the south to the northern part of the Civil War United States.
Song praising God were sung by the whole chorus, a new member entertained the audience in her home church with "Broken Hallelujah." One of the bass' provided a stirring rendition of "The Tribute" and the chorus sang a medley of praise songs before moving into the patriotic salute. My step son Zac come over for the concert and asked, "how long will it be?"..."Oh, about an hour or so" I said....Two and a half hours after he joined me, he looked at his smart phone and said...long hour or so.. (Haha). But he was impressed. People stayed around and visited with family and friends before the evening was over and everything packed up and sent on its way.
Getting there and home again was a goodly part of the adventure. Weather forecasters predicted rain, sleet, snow and blustery winds for this end of March day. (We are in Ohio, after all!) We started out in a driving rain with the winds buffeting the car on the highway. Bob is vigilant when he's driving and we listened to his practice tape as we drove for a while. Once north of Delaware, we drove into the wind but also found some sunshine. He had a 3:30 call so we left home before noon and were at the church in plenty of time for a 7:00 concert...the stage crew was already setting up tiers, speakers and the tangle of wires that keep the sound system running. Every one was checking their phones and calling friends back in their home towns to check on the progress of this late March snowstorm. After a practice run through and a break for dinner, the concert took place to an audience of about 100 folks...never know how big the audience is going to be and this was a free concert with a free will offering. The other folks who could have filled St. John's Lutheran Church this Saturday evening missed a super opening performance for the Voices. And it was good to see my fellow groupies. We drove home through areas that had seen snow or rain but the roads were clear and as we got closer to Columbus, there was more snow and slush. However, it was 2:15 a.m. when we pulled into our driveway, let out the dog and dropped into bed.
Sunday after a concert is usually pretty quiet. Bob is tired both from practice and singing and from the stress of performing. He told me he was not as stressed this year as in the past two seasons...because there were a number of newbies in the chorus who needed to be reassured...just as he was in the past. So for a quiet Sunday, we visited grandkids, snoozed, and generally took it easy. Tux and shirt went to the cleaners today to get ready for the next show. You're gonna have to join us one of these times. Ta!
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