









I had my day all planned out — go to the second service, get material on the way home to finish the door, do more watering, herd cats — or so I thought. After the service, which had a wonderful liturgical dance to “Moses”, Jerri asked me if I had gone to their concert at Keller Hall last night and photographed it — I hadn’t, so she asked me if I could photograph the concert this afternoon. The concert was great. A mixed Choir, with the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque, performed the Easter selections from Handel’s Messiah, then the SOA played Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Camille Saint-Saens’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor,” with Natalia Tikhovidova on piano. Ms Tikhovidova is a phenomenal pianist and the “Piano Concerto…” was very lively and showy. The SOA and choirs will do another performance on March 17, 2013, 2:00 pm at John XXIII Catholic Community, 4831 Tramway Ridge, NE.
I started out the photo session standing with the choir in the beginning of the concert, so I got a super-wide angle photo from the choir’s/orchestra’s point-of-view, with the audience in the pews. The percussionists were fun to watch because they followed their music with such intensity — there were times they played only one or two notes, so they obviously didn’t want to miss them.
Although I had to lay aside my well-laid plans for the day, the concert was well worth it.
I was studying for the French test tomorrow while listening to the choir rehearse Messiah pieces with the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque at Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church. On the way home I started thinking about what kind of effect studying while under the influence of Handel might have. Let’s say there’s a question like “Why did the south lose the Albigensian Crusade?” I could answer “They were like sheep!” and that answer would be correct.
The Choir and SOA are performing selected pieces from Handel’s Messiah this Saturday, March 9 at 7:00 pm at Keller Hall at UNM and Sunday, March 10 at 2:00 pm at Eastern Hills Baptist, 3100 Morris St NE.