NYC Day 4: Carnegie Debute

Our reason for gathering in New York this weekend was Bob's Carnegie debut.

His wonderful church choir sang tonight with a mass chorus under the direction of Andre Taylor. They sang Taylor's compositions, which the conductor said was a lot of fun since usually he conducted the music of dead people. The whole weekend was like a choral workshop for them with rehearsals while we did our glavanting around the city. Bob joined us today for 9/11, but while we relaxed, showered and ate dinner, he was at a final dress rehearsal with the orchestra.

Don't bother to look for Bob. He's behind the cello on the right.

The concert included a high school choir from Florida and a mass children's choir. I had kind of dreaded them wondering what kind of quality we would get, but both were excellent. Bob's adult mass choir, of course, had a much more mature sound, and they were the only ones with the orchestra. During the intermission I could see the kids filing into the balcony, so I kept thinking how neat it was for young singers to get to hear the adult choir, although the adult choir also included some high schoolers. The music was very interesting with a gospel flair. We laughed that one of the best was "Keep Your Lamps" accompanied only by drums--which they ran out of time to rehearse in the afternoon so they had NEVER been over it with the musician.

The hall was packed with families like us who had come to hear their friend/relative sing in Carnegie Hall.

I had my Carnegie Hall singing debut as well. Today was Erika's birthday. I called her at intermission and sang Happy Birthday for her answering machine even though it was already Monday morning in Seoul. But I now HAVE sung in Carnegie Hall.

Walking home after another exciting night out