The Reston Chorale’s director, David Brian Lang …. when he’s not being Jedi-like.

And finally, ladies and gentlemen, we bring you David Brian Lang. Director of The Reston Chorale – our partner in this week’s concert of Opera For The People – and the show week quiz contestant who injects a whole other level of humor. Grace Gori and Pablo Talamente actually talked about the music, Jennifer Rodgers Beach informed us about Star Wars trivia (and so, your life is now complete). Mr. Lang however, keeps it real. Read on!

VCS: What you love most about being on stage…

DBL: Not only the excitement, but also the mystery of “live” performance.

VCS: I say “opera” and you think…

DBL: Diva.

VCS: Opera is better than…

DBL: Being opera-less.

VCS: Before you go on stage you …..

DBL: ….go to the bathroom.

VCS: Things you wish the audience would do when the lights go down….

DBL: Have had two drinks already.

VCS: Things you wish you could do when the lights go down.

DBL: See the faces of the audience during the performance.

VCS: When the show is over you…

DBL: Collapse.

“May the force be with us all!”

VCS: Batons and handwavery are farce. You’re just Jedis controlling the force. Discuss.

DBL: True that!!!  If, while riding, my horse decides to rub up against a tree… whose leg??  What leg??  He needs to scratch his itch.  :-)

And anyone who can tell us what Mr. Lang means with that last response is an absolute genius!

Please join us this weekend, won’t you? We still have tickets, and as you’ve seen from the last few posts, the concert doesn’t happen without you. You are a crucial element to a great show!

Come see us in Reston (7:30 pm, Saturday, 5/18) and Vienna (4:30 pm, Sunday, 5/19).

VCS Artistic and Musical Director, Jennifer Rodgers Beach (image by Jim Kim)

Yeah, we’re putting even our Fearless Leader, Jennifer Rodgers Beach, on the spot and make her take our fun quiz. Furthermore, we do it while she’s on deadline. Because she’s totally cool, and we roll like that as a choir under her fearless leadership!

VCS: What you love most about being on stage?

JRB: Anything can happen! And when we’re all involved in MAKING it happen, there is an exchange of energy and emotion that feeds everyone in the room.

VCS: We say “opera” and you think …..

JRB: Big. Fantastical. A way to access emotions and situations that we rarely encounter in our everyday lives!

VCS: Opera is better than….

JRB: This may not be publishable! I refuse to put it above anything else because it is so often put there by the culture itself. Opera is what it is. A unique and powerful art form that demands incredible skill and dedicated talent. So is any other genre of music.  So is theater. So is cooking. So are sports. Get my gist?

VCS: Before you go on stage you …..

JRB: Breathe. For me and for my singers and fellow actors.

VCS: Things you wish the audience would do when the lights go down.

JRB: Lean in. Anticipate. Expect to enjoy.

VCS: Things you wish you could do when the lights go down.

JRB: Release worry. Expect to enjoy!

VCS: When the show is over you ….

JRB: Am flying high with all the energy! And then I’ll crash…eventually!

VCS: Batons and handwavery are farce. You’re just Jedis controlling the force. Discuss.

JRB: True!! Actually…really true! And if the force isn’t with you, the handwavery means nothing! By the way, did you know that Yoda’s full name is Minch Yoda?

See why it’s so much fun at VCS? Who else is going to bring you opera and Star Wars in the same breath?

C3P0 conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in 1977 – maybe he had eyes in the back of his head?

Well, fine okay, maybe them. But do you live in London? No? Exactly.

Join us this weekend, won’t you? We still have tickets to both performances – Reston (7:30 pm, Saturday, 5/18) and Vienna (4:30 pm, Sunday, 5/19)

headshot of pablo talamente, guest tenor soloist

Next up on our fun quiz, Pablo Talamante.

Mr. Talamante, the tenor in our group of soloists for this weekend’s Opera For the People, will be singing several wonderful pieces including Nessun Dorma and Brindisi. We look forward to his sense of humor and plan to stay out of his way when push-ups commence!

VCS: What do you love most about being on stage?

PT: Time stops, and I enter into a different dimension.

VCS: We say “opera,” you  think ….

PT:  Passion!

VCS: Opera is better than ….

PT: Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

VCS: Before you go on stage you….

PT: Pray.

VCS: Things you wish the audience would do when the lights go down?

PT: Stop unwrapping cough drops!

VCS: Things you wish you could do when the lights go down.

PT: Check my bowtie and make sure it’s not crooked!

VCS: When the show is over, you ….

PT: Exhale the energy absorbed from the audience, do some push-ups, and give thanks.

VCS: Pavarotti who?

PT: Pavarotti’s spirit was free.

Tickets are available online for two performances this weekend at Reston (Saturday, 7:30 pm) and Vienna (Sunday, 4:30 pm).

Grace Gori, mezzo soprano, soloist for “Opera For The People,” and apparently, donut lover.

So, we decided to have some fun with our soloists and staff for Opera For The People. Because we’re like that.

First up, Grace Gori, mezzo soprano. Ms. Gori will sing several pieces this weekend. Tickets are available online now.

VCS: What you love most about being on stage.

GG: When things are really “working” and we performers are really communicating with our audience, it’s as if there’s electricity in the air, sort of like an energy feedback loop between the audience and the performers.   It’s really exciting to feel that people are being touched by what we are creating on stage.

VCS: We say “opera,” you think?

GG: I think the world’s greatest music creating bigger-than-life drama.

VCS: Opera is better than ….? 

GG: Donuts. 

VCS: Before you go on stage you…

GG: I make sure all the zippers, hooks and buttons on my costume are securely fastened so that the only show I put on is the one intended by the composer!

VCS: Things you wish the audience would do when the lights go down. 

GG: Forget their everyday lives and let themselves be transported into another time and place…preferably the one being presented onstage.  (Although I have enjoyed several very nice naps during performances of Wagner’s “Siegfried”.)

VCS: Things you wish you could do when the lights go down. 

GG: Run! (just kidding….)

VCS: When the show is over you…

GG: Love to relax with my family.

VCS: Habanera, a la the Muppets. Yes? No? Discuss! 

GG: Ah, Beeker, bearing a rose as he skittishly pours forth the sensuous melody, the sudden, violent interruptions by Animal, the final devouring by the outsized Swedish Chef:  obviously a symbolic and deeply nuanced interpretation of the piece, far beyond my ability to completely comprehend.  I defer to minds greater than my own in this matter.

This, by the way, is the Muppets rendition of Habanera. You’re welcome.

Show week breakfast of champions. Hey, don’t judge. (image by V31S70)

And that quickly, we are in show week!

Tickets are still available online for Vienna and Reston. (We always have them at the door, but we encourage you to get your tickets ahead of time. Online = less waiting at the door!) But we digress….back to show week. Which means:

Tonight, Tuesday, May 14 is our last regular rehearsal for the season. And it shall be an eventful one!

Caffeine-free. Good lord, what is the point?! (Image by Mulad)

At last week’s rehearsal The Reston Chorale came to Vienna to rehearse with us. We had a ton of fun blogging, live tweeting, and updating the event on Facebook as it happened. And then there was the video, the one in which we get a glimpse of the master classes she runs through the year and in the summer. Tonight we go to Reston to rehearse with The Reston Chorale.

Stay tuned for live updates and tweets from 6:30 pm onwards. (We’re told y’all like the video and witticisms. And we like to entertain you.)

And now, the caffeine awaits. It’s show week, so the carbs and the candy await too.

What do you all have planned for your Tuesday morning?

The Reston Chorale’s David Brian Lang, in full arm wavery!

VCS’ Jennifer Rodgers Beach, about to make the choir flip castanets – sorta.

1. You get to see not just one but TWO directors wave arms! And stomp feet – in a good way.
2. You get to see VCS altos and sopranos telepathically kibbitz – because we’re standing in our sections, but the person next to us might be from Reston Chorale, who we may not know quite that well.
3. You get to see Reston Chorale’s altos and sopranos telepathically kibbitz. (And if they don’t, how would we know?)
4. You get to see that fabulous Mark Vogel share a keyboard with TRC’s Tordis Fahringer. How do two people share a keyboard? Well, you’d see that if you came, now wouldn’t you?!
5. You get to see how dress blues go with beaded blacks – very well!
6. You see that wonderful look of surprise in some of our eyes because for the first time we hear the full sound of all of us singing a piece – all parts, beautifully balanced, round, rich melody. It is utterly wonderful within the wall of sound.
7. You get to see us get that “Oh crap!” look as we hurriedly try to find our place in the sheet music, because we also got completely entranced by the soloists.
8. You see a couple of us in the back sway. Hey, we can sing and sway. It’s choir multitaskage.
9. You might see a couple of us visibly moved. Because…
10. There is nothing quite like the sound of that many voices, singing as one, with clear warmth and joy. You’ll get to hear that rich wall of sound from the outside. Please come, won’t you?

Tickets for Opera For The People are available online for Vienna and Reston, and at the door at both performances. 

Just a quick reminder that the clock’s ticking on your opportunity to buy early bird tickets for Opera For The People – our season-ender and joint concert with The Reston Chorale. And you do not want to miss this!

Two choirs, two performances, four fabulous soloists, 150 voices, and a big wall of sound full of rich, well-known, sometimes not so well-known, storied, funny, and much beloved pieces.

Opera for the People (artwork by Steven Keen of Keen Method LLC)

Of course, being that we are who we are, we’re calling this BHAG a “double-the-trouble-double-the-fun” event, one to challenge your assumptions about opera. All the while, paying tribute to its iconic moments and immense emotions from Verdi to Copland. And it wil be accessible and enjoyable, whether you know opera or not – in fact, you might actually find sometimes rather contemporary surprises! To quote our artistic directors for this event, VCS’ Jennifer Rodgers Beach and TRC’s David Brian Lang:

Together, we can create a wall of sound for Boris Godunov, a triumphant end for Turandot and that electric feeling of potential when a huge chorus finds their pianissimo!

Please join us, won’t you?

Swallow all food and drink before reading this on your electronic device of choice, you have been warned.

What we think when we think of opera…..(image courtesy The Worm-Stung God)

Here’s the deal – a lot of people think they don’t like opera because it’s stuffy. An audience of over-dressed people, withstanding the assault of large men and women singing at them, at decibel levels that can induce deafness. The language is incomprehensible, the choruses never seem to end, and singers wander up and down the stage like a rather unfocused staff meeting. If staff meetings featured singing. And maybe hats with horns on them. And what’s up with the horns?

Nope. We won’t be wearing horns. (image courtesy Operagasm)

I have a theory that most Americans formed their opinions of opera based on the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Loony Tunes cartoons, and screwball comedies of the 1930s. Along the way, we picked up the notion that opera is rarified, over our heads, meant only for snobs who know their way around a plate of snails and can identify wine merely by sniffing the cork.

It’s a shame, really, because the reality of opera is so much crazier than its reputation. Opera is the bad boy of the classical music world – the place where vengeance is sweet, people die tragically, and – no lie – Vikings swagger towards Valhalla. And to be an opera singer, you’ve got to have a voice that can knock down walls, a personality that carries to the back row, and the stamina to survive performances, concert seasons, and those incredibly heavy costumes.

Opera was a cultural leveler. Sure, the rich held court in their box seats, but the lower classes crowded the floor and followed the stories as avidly as anyone else. And everyone grooved to the music (18^th century style).

Look closer, it’s an early 18th century mosh pit on the floor. (Image by Pannini, via Arts Journal)

Imagine it’s three hundred years from now, and the wealthy are donning whatever version of tuxedos and ball gowns the wealthy have in 2313 to go to the Kennedy Center to hear the music of Metallica, while the children of the wealthy roll their eyes (yup, kids in 2013 still do that). . . Metallica’s sooooooo boring! It’s so stuffy. Incomprehensible. Noisy.

Metallica. Covered by the Bryn Terfel and Joshua Bell of the day. Could TOTALLY happen. (image via Wikimedia Commons)

It’s time to challenge your own notions of opera – I bet you’ll be surprised at how accessible music this gorgeous can be. It’s like finding out the bad boy has the heart of a poet.

Note-pounding includes lots of written notes. And why yes, we are doing Bridal Chorus.                    (image by John Attebury)

Don’t know if you  noticed but we kinda went quiet last week. No, we didn’t go off to enjoy the outdoors (although if you hear warbling in your backyard, that’s probably one of us note-pounding).

Instead, we’ve been very busy rehearsing our hearts out for what we affectionately refer to as the seasonal BHAG – “big hairy goal.” And we do mean that in the most affectionate way possible, because we couldn’t be more excited about “Opera for the People,” our big upcoming season ender and joint collaboration with The Reston Chorale! Two choirs, 150 voices, and a huge wall of rich sound. This is going to be fabulous, so get your tickets now! Early Bird Tickets are on sale for one more week. 

But we have to be honest with you. We need your help to make “Opera” a success. Which is why we’re running our opera(tic) fundraiser on Razoo. 

Presenting “Opera for the People” necessitates that it also be “of the people and by the people” in many ways. The sheer scope and size that make this event so awesome also make it more expensive than our usual concerts. Two performances means a bigger audience. Yay! But it also means more venues, more rehearsal space, soloists, risers (so that we can all see one another, choir and audience!), flyers … more expenses. Oh, not so yay … Especially since we can’t rely purely on box-office sales alone to both cover these expenses and take us through the summer into next season.

Can you help us? We need to raise $3000 by May 15.
That’s two weeks, but we can do it with your support. 

Please consider making a donation to VCS online or the old fashioned way (by check, addressed to Vienna Choral Society, “Opera For The People Fundraiser”, 374 Maple Ave, East, Suite 300, Vienna, VA 22180).

Help us continue to grow, and continue to be the choir that does good in our community, and offers the accessible, high quality, innovative programming we’ve come to be known for.

Please donate online (through our Razoo page) or the old fashioned way (by check, addressed to Vienna Choral Society, “Opera For The People Fundraiser”, 374 Maple Ave, East, Suite 300, Vienna, VA 22180).

Thank you!

But here’s the thing – there will be two choirs, and we don’t usually rehearse at the same time. Huh?! Let us explain.

TRC also rehearses Tuesdays. But they began rehearsing for this performance two weeks before us because their calendar’s slightly different. And they rehearse in Reston. We, meanwhile, began rehearsing after “Music of the Storms” and we rehearse in Vienna. And we’ve all practiced the same pieces of music.

So how do we bring it all together? 

Well, one thing to do was the joint rehearsal on Saturday. Everyone — okay, 70 percent of us — woke up early. Not the butt-crack-of-dawn early, but early for a weekend. We gathered for a potluck breakfast at 8:30 am (on a Saturday, ouch).

Food, drink, music, new friends!

And after we’d sufficiently carb’d and caffeinated ourselves, we sang!

It was a thorough, exhaustive, and fun rehearsal though. Because it wasn’t just a matter of opening up sheet music and singing. It was all about

• finding our places
• getting to know fellow singers who we’re going to be standing next to
• figuring out sight/height lines
• getting to know the other choir’s conductor
• oh yes, figuring out how we’re going to fit 150 people plus soloists and piano into each space

Trying to find out exactly how many of us will fit the front row – looks like it’ll be 22, end to end!

Now you see why we had to have a potluck? This is hungry work! There were no leftovers, though. Because those homemade breakfast goodies were gooooood. We have more pictures and video up on our facebook page. Take a look!

We plan on a couple more joint rehearsals. Mercifully, they will not be early in the morning. There might still be coffee and carbs involved.