Promising rehearsals for the Sing Along Concert

Hard rehearsal work in Vienna is still going on, because for the big Sing Along Concert tonight the participants must have Franz Schubert’s Mass No.6 in E flat major down pat. But practicing with roughly 900 performers is a logistic challenge for the Minoriten church. There are four rehearsals with four different instrumentations and singers, always between 300 and 650 participants. Between the different sessions there are only 30 minutes of time for rotation and reorganization of the stage. Yesterday there was even an Italian catholic church service in between. Sounds almost impossible, but in real it works pretty well!

However, just practicing is not exciting enough, so people still put the cat among the pigeons: One of the participants had unplugged one of the loud speakers in order to charge a mobile phone. Afterwards he misplugged the speaker and this was the end of the line. Each single plug had to be checked again in just five minutes time. But then everything was running smoothly again.

Conductor Simon Halsey keeps cool and even takes the time for a case for musical education and its impact on motor abilities, social skills, ability to work in a team, etc. So all rehearsing is done in a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere. And meanwhile the piece sounds pretty well already and it promises to be a great concert experience tonight. In the afternoon the dress rehearsal will happen and afterwards everything will be prepared for tonight’s performance in the Vienna Concert Hall (6:00 pm).

By the way: 200 singers have registered already on site for the next Sing Along Concert 2018 with the Berlin Radio Choir in Paris!

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