Every choral director knows the feeling. Music is chosen, auditions for new singers are done, and the first rehearsal of the new season is planned. Now comes that moment when more than 50 singers gather in the rehearsal room to get caught up on each others' lives, make new friends, and then settle in (perhaps a bit too talkatively for the director's taste!) for the maiden voyage of the new choral season. It's been a long time since the final piece of the spring concert was sung, and we directors are anxious to get back at it. We hope our singers feel the same, and before too many measures have flown by in that first rehearsal, it seems they do! Parts of that new piece begin to come together (already!) and you begin to hear glimpses of what it could sound like after 10 more rehearsals—with snow on the ground!
If you're guessing the previous paragraph was autobiographical, you're right. The Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale has opened shop on the 2013-2014 season with our first rehearsal for Wintersong: Christmas with the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale. I'm excited about the music that will comprise these concerts—music like John Rutter's new anthem All Bells in Paradise and Stephen Paulus' Wonder Tidings. With harp, oboe, and percussion joining our usual piano and organ complement, I'm looking forward to the colors of these concerts. I think singers and audience alike will emerge from one of our concerts with a fresh awareness of the Christmas season and what it's about.
Thank you, singers and players of the GEWC, for a great first rehearsal! There's much more to come! And for those of you reading this who are long-range planners—mark December 6 and 7 on your calendars. Wintersong will be a great place to be!
Greg Wheatley
Music Director, Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale