Saturday Afternoon at 57th Street and 7th Avenue

Saturday afternoon was warm and beautiful in New York City and the inside of Carnegie Hall was equally glorious.  What a privilege to conduct again on that stage!  New orchestrations of CLOTH OF GLORY and THE CIRCLES OF OUR LIVES were a highlight for me, on a program that also included CANTATE DOMINO, I AM IN NEED OF MUSIC and SIMPLE BOAT. It was wonderful to have students of mine from the university as part of the chorus, family and friends in from Illinois to attend the performance, and a happy reunion with long time friend Dale Reynolds who was at the piano in the orchestra.  Bravo to Joyce Flanagan, Monique Retzlaff, Ron Sayer and Steve Johns for preparing their choruses so thoroughly for this concert.  They were an exceptional chorus of alert, focused, mature and sensitive singers, whom I enjoyed in rehearsal and was proud of in concert.  Other memorable moments from the weekend were a magnificent dinner at the foot of the big Buddha at TAO, a leisurely evening in Central Park with no agenda, nouveau Mexican at Hell's Kitchen, the revival of Larry Kramer's devastating play The Normal Heart, and my niece's unexpected live appearance onstage on MTV's The Seven.  What more can you ask for?