I have to admit it, I'm pretty much written out. Yesterday I took the easy way out. Tuesday I have something planned, and I there is a good chance that running tomorrow doing last minute chores will supply ample fodder. Today…I got nothing…so I asked my wife what she thought, and she suggested that I write about the concert we attended tonight. A good idea, and so I shall.
This evening we attended the yearly holiday concert of the Pacific Chorale. We've had tickets for this for months, but only yesterday we remembered. Toni spent a good part of the afternoon looking for the tickets (one thing about the carpeting, nothing is where it is supposed to be). Frankly, I was hoping that the tickets wouldn't be found, as I looked forward to a night staying at home, but she located them and off we went.
The Segerstrom Concert Hall is a very beautiful building. It is designed primarily for choral performances, with tiered choral seats behind the orchestra and a massive organ acting as backdrop. Our seats were very close, and we were a bit afraid that the sound wouldn't be good, going over us, but it was great. This evening there was an orchestra, an inevitable guest children's choir (the director talked about how important it was to have children there, but a children's choir also increases the crowd with parents and relatives), and the Pacific Chorale, a semi professional group.
The concert was wonderful. There is nothing like choral music during the holidays, and the selections they chose included the familiar and some new to me. The kids were integrated well into the evening, and soloists were all good. The did sing “I Saw Three Ships” and the version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” I don't like, but everything was wonderful, most of all the audience. Strangers is all versions of Christmas finery greeted each other and shared in the musical celebration. Santa Claus arrived to share a few somewhat tired puns and some candy canes (we didn't get one). At one point the director displayed his light up tie and glasses, which seemed to particularly amuse the choir who had probably seen his Scroogey side during rehearsals.
The evening culminated with the Hallelujah Chorus at which point the entire audience rose and most sang along.
Again, no point or lesson, just a wonderful evening full of warmth, music and Christmas spirit.
More tomorrow.
Image: 'Dickens Village 2010'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12836528@N00/5270600203 Found on flickrcc.net
Posted with Blogsy
Back home, we stood up when someone put a quarter in the juke box and Elvis sang “Blue Christmas.”