awesome concerts

See - all it takes is some uplifting classical music to bring the spirits up. "My" choir just had their first concert of the holiday season, and it was truly something special. Our program of motets, progressing through the centuries, was well attended and well sung.

The opening piece, "Spem in Alium," written about 1567, was sung by eight small groups of 10 members each, with the groups surrounding the hall and the concert-goers, putting the listener inside the sound.

Next, "Laetatus Sum," by Monteverdi (1640), swapped the small choirs for 8 soloists and full choir, along with strings and harpsichord. The soloists were at the front of the hall, while the choir entered quietly into the back. As we do not sing until measure 180 or so, the effect was amazing - most of the audience didn't even know we had entered the hall until our first "Gloria!" hit the rafters.

We followed that with "Singet dem Herrn"(1722) (Sing to the Lord), by Bach. A unique double-choir piece, with counterpoints, call and response sections, and a fast fugue.

After a short pause for the cause, we returned to the stage for the second half of the presentation with "Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen?" by Brahms, 1877 (Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery). A beautiful a capella piece for the full choir, this pleading motet really lifted the program to its fullest of the night.

We finished with two motets from the 20th century - first, "For lo, I raise Up," by Charles Stanford, opens with some serious anger issues from the composer, but finally shows the compassion of the Lord by the end of the piece. Finally, an unusual piece, "Motetum Archangeli Michaelis" by Swedish composer Bengt Hambraeus, showcases the church organ, with the lyrics almost secondary to the music.

We were lucky to perform these twice in the past weekend. If you live in San Diego, I urge you to check out our website, www.lajollasymphony.com, for our upcoming performances. Next up:

our very popular Messiah Sing-Along. Even if you've never sung before, you can make music with us. We seed the audience with the entire choir and sing the Christmas portion of the Messiah with you! This community performance takes place December 14th, at 4:00 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Seaton Catholic Church in Carlsbad. Call 858-534-4637 for ticket information and reservations. We'll even rent you a score for the evening.