Scott on programming

Last summer, the talent that came through the door to audition was really impressive, and I was looking forward to our first rehearsal with high expectations; I was not disappointed, and, in fact those high expectations have been exceeded!! From the first notes of the warm-up on, it was clear that this chorus was going to be something special.There have been many pleasant surprises along the way as we have prepared to get this choir up and running. One delight was the process of programming the first concert. Normally, choosing music for a concert program is a pretty lonely task. One holes up, sometimes for days, and pours through all kinds of music to find good themes, and a good flow that has some kind of narrative. It can be exhausting and even exasperating to put together a compelling program as with each new idea, new pieces are added into the mix causing one to toss out earlier ideas. This time it was different. While the process had a similar period of flux, sharing ideas with a co-artistic Director of Nolan’s experience made the exercise, fun and energizing. I know a lot of music at this stage in my career, Nolan does too, and while there is some overlap in what we know, there is a lot of repertoire that we were able to introduce to each other, and so as themes emerged for our coming Christmas program, the process of choosing music became a bounty of new ideas.We have just begun at the Washington Douglass Chorale, but already I know we’re on to something remarkable.