Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: The Hills Are Alive With the Sounds of……..Mahler

“The real art of conducting consists in transitions.” Gustav Mahler

I have mentioned my late mother, a coloratura soprano, more than once here in my Blogs on ChoralNet. Her insight, through many years of being “in the business,” has held me in good stead and I’ve shared many of her wisdoms with you. Today I share another, along with my experience at a festival last week. I hope it will get you thinking.

Mom used to tell me the music is the easy part, it’s everything else that is difficult. By that she meant, we practice by ourselves, rehearse with others until we are ready to perform together because we are trained musicians and then…..we perform. We know what we are doing because we ARE trained, we ARE ready and it should be easy-peasy, right? If the venue is cool or warm enough, the risers are set up, music stands (lights having fresh batteries) are where they’re supposed to be, the piano is tuned and moved where it needs to be, the weather is fine for an outdoor performance, soloists are well, music was purchased (rented) in ample time for rehearsal and the programs are printed, all should go well. The little parts and pieces of a performance are in place, so it’s a go, right? But what happens when one or two or THREE of those little parts and pieces go kerfuffle? Do we whine and complain? Do we throw up our hands in defeat? And with COVID-19, most of us have had more than one kerfuffle to deal with in the past two years. I’ve believed for many years, that the true test of musicians and performing organizations is how they behave when things don’t go according to plan.

Last week, my spouse and I attended the Colorado Mahler Fest. We’ve attended before but not for a good number of years because of conflicts but this year, everything worked out. Repertoire would be the Mahler 3^rd and, one of my favorite operas, Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” in concert version. We would attend a chamber concert, a lecture by a piano technician and a “Mahler at the Movies” concert in addition to the always fine seminar with Mahler scholars from around the world. It was to be an immersive experience, with most of the non-Mahler music related in some way to Mahler, and we were looking forward to it. It didn’t disappoint. We had a great time, renewed an old friendship, met new people, and attended wonderful performances. Did things go exactly as planned? Not so much.

We were told at the chamber concert; the principal violist had tested positive for COVID the week before. The substitute violist was wonderful, and it was nice to know the name in the program wasn’t accurate and why. We learned the usual venue for the seminar was backing out, so they found another. The new venue was the church where the chamber concert and the opera would take place and it worked out very well. The “Mahler at the Movies” was to take place at an outdoor bandshell in downtown Boulder and, despite it being close to 90 degrees the day before, it SNOWED the day of that concert. The organizers were able to secure the church again and it was such a FUN concert, despite being the ‘Plan B’ version. Fortunately, the Bartok and the Mahler 3^rd came off without a hitch and were everything we hoped they would be.

If you came into the festival without knowing anything, you would NOT realize things were NOT going according to plan. In the very capable hands of Ethan Hecht, the Executive Director of the Colorado Mahler Fest, it seemed seamless and calm. I’m sure, behind the scenes, it was NOT! The Artistic Director and chief conductor, Kenneth Woods, was brilliant in every way and seemed calm, cool, and collected no matter what happened. Poise, grace under pressure and cool (well, there was snow involved) as a cucumber kept popping into my head as I watched everything unfold. This, I thought, was the way to handle the kerfuffles when they invariably come along. KUDOS, Colorado Mahler Fest!

Music is the easy part, it’s everything else that is difficult. Mom was right!