It was thrilling to attend this concert. The Kumble Theater is not overwhelmingly large at all – in fact it is pretty intimate and the stadium-style rising made every seat a good one. Acoustics were pretty good too.
There was a real buzz in the children performers…and they nailed things. Singing, staging were all really finely coordinated. Musicians accompanied them, not overshadowing or drowning the singers out. Appreciate your review’s point about the amount of time and hard work the children put in, as do the BYC’s conductors and staff. There are lots of reasons to be blue these days, tons of crass behavior shoved in one’s face; but the smiles of these kids, the music they made and the inspiring words in many of the songs they are typically given to perform are a shining light audiences and fans of the BYC are well aware of.
Kudos goes to the BYC’s leadership team who craft these young musicians – all the BYC’s choral levels – during rehearsals as well as before and after. These are really dedicated folks who all strive and deliver a quality level that remains top notch: memorize your music, create dynamics, understand your relationship to the audience, color the words and sounds appropriately, interpret the lyrics and/or sounds, smile…in other words, MAKE MUSIC and give the audience something special to take away. Truly inspiring stuff in my opinion.
Hope this isn’t the last BYC concert you attend (on or off the job).