What exciting things we do as Weston Choral members....

After a 7.5 hour flight a gruelling 3 hour wait to process through US immigration and a further 2 hours to battle along the 6 lane highway we finally made it to New York City! All that was left was to collapse into the absolutely massive bed and get some much needed shut-eye... Thursday dawned and we were off exploring! Spent much of my time that first day in the city trying hard not to look as gobsmacked as I truly felt. NYC can really feel like an assault on the senses - especially anywhere in the vicinity of Times Square where whole skyscrapers flash with the biggest and most intense media show ever and every other person on the street is intent on selling you a tour of the city.... Captivating in one sense but very quickly becoming overwhelming.

Friday dawned and we had an early rehearsal call for 8.30am. After preliminaries and issue of lanyards / security passes we met the Musical Director for our section of the concert Dr James Meaders. Due to my lack of inches I ended up in the front row... bang in front of Dr Meaders!  No need to worry though - an excellent and tough but brilliant and charismatic MD, he really showed us how to bring out the best in the music. The choir itself was fabulous - around 250 voices producing a super sound.  When towards the end of the intensive morning's rehearsal, Will Todd our composer entered the room, the younger members of the American choirs present might have been welcoming a rock star!

On Saturday we settled in well to our afternoon rehearsal call and did an amazing warm-up routine directed by Will Todd which energized everyone for the session. These rehearsals will live in my memory - so special and the music full of emotion.

The day of the concert was the first time anyone in our choir had seen the inside of David Geffen Hall - a cavernous space in warm wood tones. Filing onto the stage risers and rehearsing was thrilling - now I could understand why the 250 singers were appropriate... I had to keep mentally pinching myself to think that here we were, onstage in a famous hall in New York City singing with an amazing composer and musicians...


Later that day, waiting our turn in the Green rooms backstage the familiar excitement and nervous anticipation seemed to stretch the brief wait to climb to the stage... but finally there we were - front and centre facing a huge audience and singing Will Todd's fabulous music. We remembered what we could of Dr. Meaders’ advice "the expression on your face will come out in the music" and followed his direction to our best ability... We sang with all the joy and hope that we all felt.

The emotion in the hall was incredible and despite a programme instruction not to applaud until the end of the set of pieces, the audience responded to each movement. At the end we received rapturous applause and a standing ovation. The whole experience lived up to and went beyond my expectation and I wouldn't hesitate to do something similar again given the opportunity.  The DCINY organisers were really brilliant and they organised a reception banquet after the concert to round things off and give everyone time to come down from the musical high... it took a while!