orange-mounts at orchestra hall

The University of St. Thomas Concert Choir performed "Orange-Mounts of More Soft Ascent" (from Color Madrigals) in Orchestra Hall last Sunday. I was able to hit downtown on one of the more beautiful October days in Minnesota I've seen in a long time.

It's probably one of the more visually stimulating concert halls in America (second best to this one, I suppose). It's hard to forget the first time you see those cubes in real life and it's always fun to return. As this was the first time I've ever had a piece performed there, I was understandably excited. I took this picture from the first tier balcony.

The Concert Choir sang the hell out of all 60 measures in a smidgen over 2 minutes (the first sopranos nailed the high 'B' at the end...it was painfully in tune) and the rest of the St. Thomas choirs and bands were fantastic. One of the wind ensembles even gave the world premiere of Scenes from Childhood by British composer Kit Turnbull so I wasn't the only one in attendance. He gave a great speech beforehand and the piece had one of the more interesting movement titles I've seen: "Ballet Shoes and Tutus".

It was great to hear "Orange-Mounts..." again and, after the concert, director Nathan Knoll and I took in a Guinness (or 2) at Brit's Pub across the street from Orchestra Hall. It's an authentic British pub in the middle of downtown Minneapolis known for the lawn bowling that takes place on a plot of grass on their roof (go figure that one out).

It's definitely autumn in Minnesota. It sort of creeps up on you but, all of the sudden, the trees go into protest and start changing all sorts of colors. Luckily it's quite beautiful and I have a camera.