chorus public performance after 3 years

Subject: chorus public performance after 3 years
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 May 22 - 08:42 PM

This afternoon, coronavirus or no coronavirus, a scheduled performance took place with an amateur chorus, vocal soloists, and an orchestra.

The program included:
Ave Verum Corpus                         Mozart
"Laudate Dominum"
from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore      Mozart
Schicksallied
(lyrics by Hölderlin)                Brahms
Requiem                                  Mozart


The last time that that concert hall had previously hosted a performance
was in 2019, three years ago.

Choral performances in public, since COVID-19, have earned
a reputation for being dangerous to life, super-spreader events;
and choruses everywhere have had to resort to
creativity with virtual technology in order to even rehearse together.
That was the case with this amateur chorus,
and the conductor nearly lost his mind,
trying to lead a choral rehearsal ONLINE. (Don't ask ...)

In fact, between then and now, a reduced version of this very chorus
gave an Advent/Christmas public performance,
this past December --
and they sang through facemasks.
The singers wore their concert black apparel, and
the facemasks were solid black cloth to match.
On that earlier occasion, the audience was required,
inside the church sanctuary venue,
to social-distance, sitting apart from each other,
which limited the size of the audience for obvious reasons.
Each member of the audience had to pay for their ticket,
even the advance-reserved tickets,
at the door on the eve of the performance,
and the personnel would accept the payment
ONLY on the condition that
each attendee could show proof of vaccination, and wear a facemask.
So all the audience were masked, inside the venue.


Today as well,
proof of vaccination was required of every attendee, as were facemasks.
No social distancing today, however,
as we sat right next to each other in the concert hall with masks on.
And the chorus and orchestra
did not social-distance onstage,
and this time they sang/played without facemasks, unlike December.

While the venue was not sold out,
the turn-out was good, and
the applause was loud and heartfelt.
It means a lot to have choral concerts of great music again.