Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ode to Chicago





Several weeks ago, my husband, Jason and I had one of those moments. You know, those moments when you realize that you will never experience this again, so you just revel in it.




Jason is not only an academic, but he is also a composer. In fact, composing choral music is his passion. He can get lost for hours, days at a time creating beautiful music.



We traveled to Chicago because of the talented and generous Dr. Bagley of University of Connecticut. He was conducting the National Men's Honor Choir for the American Choral Directors Association Annual Convention and commissioned Jason to write a piece for the choir to sing at the concert. This was quite an honor as Jason's piece would get to be performed by a choir of almost 300 of the best singers in the US; it would be performed in a stunning venue, the Auditorium Theatre; and his piece would be heard by 1000s attending the concert. We knew that it would be exciting but had no idea how touching it would be. We attended several of the rehearsals and were so enthralled with the way Dr. Bagley lead the men. He really demanded a lot of the choir and was so inspiring. The concert ended up being absolutely amazing. The recognition Jason received was very humbling. (He even signed autographs and had two offers to publish his piece). It was a special weekend we will always remember.

National Honor Choir Rehearsal Auditorium Theatre in Chicago Signing Autographs National Men's Honor Choir Dr. Bagley and Jason Coming home after a wonderful weekend.

4 comments:

Court said...

This is so cool! If you have a recording of the performance, bring it tomorrow. I'd love to hear it!
Courtney

Painting Tips and Tricks said...

This is a great site! I like the pictures in it!...Daniel

Saving Capulet said...

oh wow, what a very cool experience, I have never been able to watch in a theater like that before, the auditorium looks beautiful!

ana said...

what an adorable & awesome post. seems like one really amazing time. :) thanks for sharing.