Gewandhaus Singen

The Gewandhaus employs a good choir. Singing with them for the evening was really a pleasant experience. We were led through a warm-up by a student, and a lot of bodily kinesthetics were used...I noticed that last Sunday as well in the choir that sang Elijah. The Germans seem to be upholding the traditions of music education in Europe (natürlich!). There was, unfortunately, only one student conductor. Usually there are 3 or 4 I was told. We sang a piece by Scandinavian composer Knut Nystedt, Peace I Leave With You, from a set of 3 motets. Beautiful music! (Die Musik ist sehr schön!) We only spent our time on that motet, rather than singing through all of them...afterall, it was a masterclass not to see how many pieces we could sing, but it was for the student conductor. The conductor had good things and bad things...(like all conductors, I suppose). She had really good ears. She heard wrong notes, wrong pronunciation, etc... It seemed she had a musical idea for the piece. She didn't make much eye contact, and her gesture was all over the place and mostly unhelpful to the singers. Anyway... I could keep talking, but I'll spare you the conducting lesson. Overall, however, she was a normal conducting student working out her personal obstacles.
On to more exciting concert news... My Deutsch teacher found me a ticket to the "Stravinsky-Project" that is taking place on Sunday evening. It's a ballet the Leipzig Operhaus is doing consisting of Stravinsky's music. She got this ticket for me for 5 Euros. Only 5...tickets are going for much more than that, but she knows people at the Operhaus and is able to get great seats for cheap. So...off to theballet I go!
Here is information on Quedlinburg, if you are interested, and information on Thale. These are the places I went last weekend. I believe the Quedlinburg site has a different URL for the English translation, but I'm not so sure of the Thale site. In the upper right area of the Thale site, you should see a British flag. Click on it, and voila! you have the translation.
Class has been going well. Today was the Friday phenomenon, where people have mentally shut down academically. Today's class was a little frustrating, but this has been the only day like this. Hopefully it won't be a problem next week.
Tonight I attend the Thomaskirche for another Bach Motetten; tomorrow I go to the Leipzig Zoo and another Bach Motetten. Look for more pictures in a couple of days.

'wiedersehen!
Tschüss!