Wednesday January 18, 2006

Veni Creator Spiritus!

Rehearsals have begun for the 2nd half of the 2005/2006 San Francisco Symphony Chorus program. Last night we began rehearsing Mahler's 8th symphony, which opens with the Latin text "Come Creator Spirit". Dedicated to "Meiner lieben Frau Alma Maria", the 8th symphony is one of the more challenging choral works. Like Mahler's 2nd symphony, he demands an incredible vocal range (the basses go from B below the bass clef to G above middle C - nearly three octaves!), and does so across a huge dynamic range (ppp through fff, and every step in between). Thankfully when we're down the gravelly parts of our range (the low B) its ppp - the most sound we could possibly make down there anyway, and likewise the high G is ff (since we couldn't do that quietly no matter how good our falsetto).

I've performed Mahler's 8th symphony with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus on two previous occasions, so last night felt like renewing an acquaintance with an old friend. Another old friend I'm looking forward to a renewed acquaintance with is the Verdi Requiem, which we perform in June.

If you are interested in attending any of these performances, now is a great time to get tickets! Today through Tuesday evening January 24th the Symphony Box Office is running a sale - all seats that cost less than $50 are available for $25, and everything else is available for $50 (including their very best, $107 seats). Details available here. (2006-01-18 14:48:51.0) Permalink