Choral concert days are full of special moments.
There are the special moments before the concert – warmups, final instructions, huddles and so on.
There are the special moments during the concert – your favorite measure of your favorite piece, when you heart soars. Nailing the spot that gave you trouble in rehearsal, or connecting with an audience on an especially poignant lyric.
But generally there are a dearth of special moments after a concert. Invariably, the singers begin to go their separate ways almost immediately. There might be an afterglow for guests and performers, or an after-performance hang at a restaurant or bar, but that’s about the extent.
I yearn for a moment – it doesn’t need to be long – after performances, for all the performers together. Even after quick Festival performances but really after any performance, I enjoy the opportunity to process, together with my co-artists, the music we just made together. If a concert goes as attended, there was a special connection made between all the singers, and it always feels anticlimactic to me for it to end when the concert concludes.
I remember fondly the ability to have these moments whenever I’ve been on tour with groups – we are all traveling together, so we get those post-concert moments.
And I try to achieve them with my end-of-year concert with the Aces, when we hold an ice cream social for the audience and performers after the concert.
But still I yearn for more opportunities for special moments to extend the connection the singers have built during the concert. To let those feelings linger a little longer.