Istanbul concert

Well, that concert alone was worth the effort. It was a little dicey at first because the rehearsals were a little stressful. Howard Dyck rehearsed with the orchestra last night and then we had several rehearsals today. They had their challenges. I suppose most of them were sightreading although we had sent them the music ahead of time. It's amazing how a bit of intensive rehearsal can make a difference. It worked out better for the choir too when we were put on risers for the concert. We were able to stay together much better.

So the concert was amazing. The energy from the audience really drove us. The organizers of this concert really know how to put one on. They obviously advertised well because the cathedral was packed. Standing room only with people hanging over the balcony! There was a little wine and hors d'oeuvres reception beforehand in the courtyard. I had a conversation with the mother of one of the violinists. She was telling me that she's Atheist but grew up Muslim and is interested in learning about different religions. She finds going to Christian churches and hearing the music very exotic. I thought that was very cool since here we are in Istanbul visiting mosques, listening to their music and feeling that it's all so exotic.

The church is this cathedral hidden away in Istanbul, hidden away behind a row of buildings. After passing through a doorway and entering the courtyard you come upon the church.

The audience loved us. They cheered and applauded and called for more. We had to give them an encore so we repeated our finale number (the drinking song from La Traviata) After the concert the priest took us down to the crypt, very cool, because the brother of the composer of the piece the tenor soloist sang is buried there. How's that for confusing? And his name escapes me. The beautiful little old man who spoke at the concert and took us down to the crypt talked about the unifying power of music and asked us to spread to the world the message of peace, ecumenism and taking care of each other.

It was a great time and wonderful to end the concert touring on a high. We finished off with all having watery Turkish beer on the rooftop of our hotel looking out over the wonderful city and sea.