Haaaaaallelujah

This past weekend was symphonyful. On Friday I used the free tickets I had to go to a Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) performance of The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. The seats were on the main floor and worth $68 each. I didn't care much for the view. We could only see the musicians at the edge of the stage. It was fantastic music, though. I think my favourite seasons/concertos are Spring and Fall.

On Saturday I went to Handel's Messiah by the DSO and Michigan State's Chorale. It was long, but definitely worth hearing in its entirety. The soprano soloist was the best, as she was the only one who didn't use vibrato excessively, and I think I heard her sing a really high D. The conductor was cool--at times he was conducting and playing harpsichord simultaneously! During the Hallelujah chorus everyone in the audience stood up. It's traditional to do that because apparently King George II stood up at that point during a performance, so everyone else in attendance stood as well. Theories as to why he was standing: he was late and walked into the hall at that point in the performance, he needed to stretch or he needed to go to the bathroom. I also found out that the text/libretto is based mostly on Isaiah, Matthew and 1 Corinthians. I just finished reading 1 Corinthians, so it was neat to hear it put to music.

Go to http://www.tsoundcheck.com/ for cheap student tickets to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Live classical music is fantastic! I've gotta say, I'm not usually a big fan of it, but when it's live it can be pretty thrilling.