The Afterglow

July 15, 2006

With satisfying success, Spartanburg Festival Chorus, along with 110+ other voices, sang Carmina Burana in Prague on July 15th! It was a thrilling experience and though this next post is two weeks after the moment, the sights and sounds are still fresh within me and will certainly remain in my memory forever. Even now, little details pop into my mind about the concert that I failed to mention before, such as:

Maestro Gutierrez conducted the orchestra, chorus and soloists that evening ALL FROM MEMORY! He did not have a stand with the score in front of him, as is typical. It was so impressive to watch him realizing he knew exactly where a certain instrument was highlighted, when the music changed time, and he even mouthed all of the difficult text along with us!! It was truly an amazing show of talent and ability. His students at TCU are very fortunate to have him as their leader on a daily basis, and I can promise that should he conduct anything near me again, I will make the attempt to go, so much respect I have for this man!

At the VERY last minute, we had six Czech men join our group to sing with us. They showed up at the dress rehearsal two hours before the concert, and then performed with us. It was a bit scary, because as I said early, this was a MAN peice and there are some very tricky parts. So to add six men to the mix so close to showtime made some of us nervous. They spoke no English, so communicating with them was interesting. I was near three of the new singers, and they had no idea of the little things like entering/exiting the stage protocol or other things Dr. Walders went over with us earlier. Niether did they match the other men exactly in terms of attire, small things really, like some were wearing short sleeves when they were supposed to wear long. Still, during final rehearsal, these men did well. Tthey spat out the text with clear enunciation, and did not slow the pace of In Tabernum, which could have been the nail-biting section. I don't know any of their names, but it turned out that they blended in nicely to our eclectic group.

After the concert and once the audience departed, all festival people (that was us), congregated in the seating area to be led to our evening's after concert dinner. According to our itinerary, we were expecting a twenty minute walk to have a cold buffet dinner near the Vltava River. It didn't sound all that exciting, a cold buffet, but by this point we were just thrilled with everything and excited to continue the evening. I am sure a large group of dapperly dressed singers walking through Old Town Square caused some heads to turn. (But more heads turned when a group of girls wearing bunny ears (reminiscent of Playboy I suppose) walked past us....right Jack? LOL)

Everything at dusk just looked enchanting. Clouds painted orange and purple made stunning backdrops for the buildings we had come to recognize, giving everything a fairy-tale sense. It only added to the warmth that filled me. I had really come to love Prague and it was then, that I knew, I just have to come back and bring my family some day!

Along our walk, we laughed and were very playful. Some of us were "teaching" Eranga Goonetilleke (a Converse student from Sri Lanka with beautiful aristocratic speech) the finer nuisances of Redneck phrases such as "Git r done", and "Kiss My Grits", with hilarious results, as we watched Eranga try to wrap her mouth around the harsh stretched-out words. It made me think of My Fair Lady, when Professor Henry Higgins is tutoring Eliza Doolittle...but in reversal. We all agreed it would be a shame to ruin Eranga's elegant speech.

We soon stopped walking and arrived at our SUPRISE!!. Our meal was not near the Vltava, but ON the Vltava on two dinner boats, one boat for the high school and college students, one boat for the adults. We separated and were treated with a lovely selection of food and desserts and allowed two drinks. I tried my first Czech beer, a Pilsner. I don't like beer, but felt I needed to "Do as Praguers" at this celebratory moment.



The scenes before us as we floated down the Vltava were stunning...all of the magnificent buildings that filled us with wonderment during they day, became magical at night, awash in the gentle glow of lights. The air was cool with a gentle breeze, the food and drink were plenty, the ambience was flawless, and the company of people I kept were warm and gregarious. A fitting way to end our perfect day!

The buses eventually took us back to the hotel, and with a feeling of sheer fullfillment, we went to bed, wondering what our last day in Prague would have in store for us.

:-)
Renee