Face-to-face Festivals

I had the opportunity to hear choirs from around the country at choir festivals in Chicago and Kansas City this spring and it was almost like normal.  The Chicago festival was a one-day event and the first time in two years that I heard, adjudicated, and worked with choirs face-to-face.  It felt familiar, yet different at the same time. Though there were still some masks and an awareness of personal distance, there was also a sense of freedom, released from our little on-screen boxes.  In Kansas City I heard 75 choirs over 4 days, a real luxury of live performance.