Wow what a week. We’ve been rehearsing for todays concert since January with three evening rehearsals this week. It was well worth it. I think we sounded great! The Apollo Male Chorus is just a dynamite group of 45 men who love music and singing together and step down some of the formality of choral singing. We still wear tuxes though. We sing acapella for 50% of the music and memorized (no music) 100% of the time. One of the things that make this choir so much fun for me and I think makes the blends work well is that after of few weeks of learning the parts in sections we mix up into quartets to rehearse the rest of the season so you really learn and hear all the different voices around you and how you fit it in. We did that years ago when I sang with the Adelphian Choir at UPS and it had the same effect.
My folks, Rita & Jerry came to town for the concert as well as two of my dear friends Valerie and Claudette. The Apollo Male Chorus (my chorus) was joined by an astonishingly polished group of 8 high schools guys from Hopkins High called G.E.O.F.F.
The two pieces that seemed to move people were first the Prayer For The Children which was written for and about the children in former Yugoslavia who at night would pray to wake the next day. The second was the encore of Les Miserable’s "Do You Here The People Sing"
What fun. I am off to Gunflint Lodge tomorrow for a few days of R&R while my floors are sanded and revarnished.
Then I am off to Milwaukee for business and pleasure. I will be checking out the Quest For Immortality Treasures of Ancient Egypt at the Milwaukee Public Museum while I am there. This is the largest Egyptian collection ever to come to N America and Milwaukee is its only midwest destination. Yeah Milwaukee and the Public Museum.
Enjoy the week and treat life well this week. ~Matthew
