Concert

 

June 16, 2023

25th Anniversary concert last night at Montford Amphitheater was a social if not entirely an artistic success. We pleased our audience and felt good about ourselves, and maybe my inquiries should have stopped there. Both the Mayor and the Governor sent anniversary greetings, Mayor Esther proclaiming yesterday “AVLGMC Day.”One Facebook comment read: “Guys I am astounded at how lovely this is,  Simone and Rob, Bravo.  I love hearing the wonderful vocal bookends of David Hopes Basso Profundo and Will's angelic Tenor floating out of the chorus at the perfect moments. “ Nevertheless, acoustics there are not right for the sort of thing we do, and, as we had no rehearsal in the venue, there was no opportunity to address the problem. I apparently had a microphone shoved down my throat, and however gratifying that might be in the abstract, in application it played havoc with balance. 

Coffee with our founder D this morning. He was critical, blaming it on the director, especially her antics at the podium, which he thought unbecoming. “The director doesn’t perform; the choir does.” I’m amazed sometimes by my tolerance of things I think are wrong, my simply assuming nobody else notices and I’m being an old crab. He observed, “You almost lost it a couple of times, but miraculously got it back and managed to end together.” Not especially high praise. MM remarked, “The acoustics were not in your favor.” 

WLOS was there interviewing, and interviewed me as one of the “founding members.” I thought no more about it until I turned on the late local news and there I was, looking not bad and (thanks to judicious editing) sounding wise and eloquent. I wonder if they’ll send me a tape. One of my Cambridge students attended, and she cried out “You look wonderful!,” which I took to mean I looked much less decayed than one might expect. 

Over coffee caught up on D’s jagged life, much less rewarding than his mind and talents would seem to have deserved. The surprising revelation that his father died of gangrene. 

M and A are getting a divorce. She told him she hadn’t been in love with him for years. Sometimes I consider what heartache my solitary life has shielded me from.