Highs and Lows

Wow. So much has happened just in the last two weeks.

The UCO choir had the concert with the Angeles Chorale the second weekend of school, which was an amazing concert and time of ministry to the family of Justin Carr. The Angeles Chorale gave their first concert of the season, and UCO joined near the end of the concert, in a flash-mob in the middle of a piece. It was fantastic. After standing up and singing "I believe!" in the middle of the Credo of Robert Ray's Gospel Mass, we made our way down out of the audience onto the stage, where we finished the Gospel Mass with the Angeles Chorale and an ensemble of top-notch, highly sought-after musicians.

This past week was the fourth week of school, and over the weekend, UCO had our debut concert as UCO/34. It was fun to be on the "other side" of being a UCO member; last year I was so nervous about remembering all of the music and singing while standing amidst the audience, but this year I was able to enjoy it more because I knew what to expect.

My dad was able to come to our concert. It was the first actual UCO concert that he was able to attend. My parents were both able to go to Celebrate Christmas last year, which is the APU School of Music's yearly Christmas concert, but UCO usually goes out to churches on Sunday evening and ministers there. The debut concert was much more similar to one of our normal concerts, so I was very glad that my dad got to be part of that.

My mom was supposed to come as well, but my grandfather's health has been quickly failing over the past couple of weeks, so she flew to Missouri the prior weekend. She and my dad we able to come for dinner the night before she flew out, so we celebrated both our birthdays that night. I am glad she did fly out, because yesterday morning my grandfather died peacefully at his home in Missouri with my grandmother by his side. I desperately wish I had been able to visit my grandparents one more time before his passing. I am flying to Missouri tonight at 11 o'clock for the funeral that is taking place tomorrow afternoon. I will have the rest of the week to spend time with my family, which I am grateful for.

So the high, and the reason I couldn't fly to Missouri sooner this week: On Thursday night I got a text message from my choir director, John Sutton, saying that he had been asked to find some singers to accompany the LA Children's Choir at the opening concert for the 2014-2015 Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. The concert is a John Williams celebration, and all of the music being performed is by him. We had a piano rehearsal yesterday with the children's choir and Dudamel, with John Williams himself there giving notes on the performance of the piece we were working on. There are 20 of us, from a few of the choirs Dr. Sutton directs, to give support and added depth to the piece the children's choir is performing. I am truly honored and amazed at this opportunity. Right now I am sitting in Starbucks, working on homework (sort of) in the in-between time of this morning's dress rehearsal and tonight's performance. They have worked in several surprises, which I am not allowed to disclose ;) but I am so excited for tonight's concert. We are sitting in the first two rows directly behind the orchestra, so we get to watch Dudamel conduct. Watching him in the hour-long rehearsal this morning brought me so much joy already, and I cannot wait to see and hear the rest of the program.

After tonight's concert, I am going straight to the airport to catch a red-eye flight to Missouri. The juxtaposition of these two events in my life is astounding. I am going from what is quite possibly the greatest amount of joy someone could experience apart from God, to the deepest sadness that a person could possibly experience. I see this concert as a wonderful opportunity, but also as a gift from God, saying, "My child, I love you so. For just a little while set aside your sorrow and allow me to bless you." And for that, I am truly grateful.

The link to the information about tonight's concert is here.

Members of APU choirs and the Angeles Chorale with Dr. Sutton last night at the rehearsal. Dr. Sutton chose this spot because of the epic photo of Dudamel in the back.

This is my life! How immensely blessed I feel!

Someday I will have a phone with a better camera on it. Until then, this is just going to have to do. This is John Williams, conducting the LA Phil on one of his pieces from Star Wars.

Grace and Peace,

Suzannah

First Week

This week is the first full week of classes. It has been quite a long time coming, because I have been at school for three full weeks already.

I moved in early to get music ready for UCO's choir camp. It took me two full days and two half days to sort through unfiled music from last year, file what we aren't using this year, pull all the music for camp this year, count and record it (and renumber it when necessary), and then put together 90 folders. It was actually kind of amazing. Once I got into the organizational zone, I was UNstoppable. It was great. And fun, I'm not gonna lie. Once I finished I had a chance to relax before heading to Dr. Sutton's house for a leadership meeting. It was a wonderful chance to get to know the leadership team for UCO this year. We have a great team! And when camp started, it soon became clear that there is a lot of potential in the choir this year. We had a fantastic choir last year, but there is potential for an even better choir this year. Since camp, we have added four new choir members. Right now we are getting ready for our first performance, which is THIS SATURDAY! With memorized music! We are singing with the Angeles Chorale, and there is a surprise involved. I'm not telling! I'll talk about it after it has happened. It is going to be fantastic.

The other big thing I have done is audition for Chamber Singers. This is an a capella mixed choir made up of the best of the best singers on campus. Michelle Jensen, the director, only takes about 30 people each year. Two summers ago, she took the group to an international competition in Austria where Chamber Singers represented the United States and swept all three competition categories, as well as won an additional award. By that standard, Chamber Singers is not only the best group on campus, but the best choir in the world. Because she wants the best of the best, the audition process is quite intensive.

I auditioned the day before classes started. I found out on Friday that I had made it into callbacks, and then Friday and Saturday had a D-Group Leaders retreat at a local church. The callback process involves learning a packet of music and then singing it in a rehearsal to the best of your ability. It also involves singing in quartets or octets (depending on the piece), switching when she tells you to and not missing a note while doing so. So I got the music for callbacks on Friday afternoon, but I couldn't start working on it until Saturday afternoon, unfortunately. It was a crazy weekend. There were two rehearsals organized by Chamber alums, and they were very helpful for getting an idea of what the piece is supposed to sound like with all of the parts. The assistant conductor also found us all of the recordings for the pieces, which was very helpful. In spite of being unable to practice the music until late Saturday afternoon, I felt very ready for callbacks when they happened Monday (last night). And it was so much fun! Because Michelle makes a point to select the best singers that she can find, most of the pieces already sounded fantastic at what was technically the first rehearsal of them. Not only does she select excellent singers, but she also selects wonderful music that is rich with color and rhythmic variations and picture-painting words. It's amazing. Now that I know those composers, I want to look into more of their works and their contemporaries' works.

The results of callbacks were posted this morning, which means Michelle and the Chamber Singers' leadership must have been in the music building after callbacks last night until they had a final list of this year's Chamber Singers. That or she did it early this morning. I suppose you would want to make decisions while the impressions of different people are still fresh in your mind. Unfortunately, I didn't make it into Chamber Singers this year. Honestly, I am thrilled that I even made it into callbacks. That at least tells me (as she said at the beginning of the rehearsal last night) that I at least have what it takes to get in. But Chamber Singers wouldn't be considered a chamber group if it was big. She can only let in so many people. Sure, I'm disappointed that I didn't make it, but its okay. Callbacks was an amazing experience, and so much fun. I don't regret trying. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me instead, and I can't wait for Chamber Singers' first concert, to hear what I got a chance to learn and what other repertoire has been selected for this year!

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah