Well, we are into a new year. We didn't do anything for New Years Eve but watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN and when it was midnight in New York, I turned off the TV and went to sleep. Was not awake for midnight in Davis.
I watched the New York Philharmonic concert which ended with "Ode to Joy" (4th movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony), which was an amazing concert. Some 150 in the chorus and 90 or so in the orchestra and it just brought chills down my spine listening to the music.
It did, however, remind me of one of the most embarrassing mistakes of my life. When I was working with the Lamplighters, Gilbert, who was the musical director and conductor, realized that he wanted to conduct the Beethoven symphonies, but never would. So he decided he'd invite members of the orchestra and a few other for audience (a dozen folks or so) over a few Sundays and would conduct a symphony. He started with the 8th because it's my favorite of the Beethoven symphonies.
I can't remember if he conducted all 9 but when he was doing the 9th, he invited more singers to come and be in the audience and when it got to the 4th movement, he invited anybody who wanted to sing it to come up on stage. I decided this was my one opportunity to sing on the Lamplighters stage, so went up with everyone else. He asked the chorus if they wanted to sing it in English or in German and they chose German. So there I was in the middle of a group of professionals, trying to sing a piece I'd never seen the music to, in a language I didn't understand and I wasn't even singing the melody, but the alto. What a disaster. I was sharing the music with one of the principal altos in the company and just kind of moved my mouth while she sang.
I think of that every time I hear "Ode to Joy" and remember how awful I felt trying to sing with these professionals.
Jean Ziaja and her husband
It was Jean I was trying to sing with
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