Today was a rare day when we could take our island out for some fresh air and that rarest of all things, a public concert.
The brilliant Dallas-based choral ensemble Verdigris
presented a program called “Life In Our Times”, comprised of four of their solo
singers performing recital style, bookended by two ensemble pieces at either
end. The glorious voices, soprano Erinn Sensenig, mezzo Katrina Burggraf, tenor
Alex Bumpas and baritone Derrick Brown, each sang three or four songs of their
choosing introduced by their own statements about what the COVID related
isolation has meant to them. Each was about journeys towards some measure of
understanding and each posed as many questions as were answered.
The ensemble’s director, Sam Brukhman, talked about a
feeling of recovery that he and the singers had felt from the moment they joined
again in song. Even the audience shared in that restorative moment. The most
moving part was the sheer pleasure of live singing. From the opening strains of
the first ensemble piece, Sondheim’s “No One Is Alone” there was a sense of
return, not, as Ms. Sensenig pointed out to me afterwards, a triumphant one, but
halting and unsure yet forward to something that could measure as normal.
The concert was different than any I had encountered, not in
terms of format or even in the stirringly personal choice of music by each of
the singers. It was clearly a concert of the pandemic – social distanced
singers and audience sitting or standing in a parking lot, masks on all, muted
but glorious, nevertheless.
On this gorgeous autumn day, we were witness to the eternal
serendipity of art. Nine months ago, such a concert would have been undreamed
of. Now we were witness to a thing of earthly and intimate beauty. I will never
be grateful for the pandemic in any way, but at least it provided the magical
opportunity and inspiration to produce a timeless moment.
And that is a thing filled with hope. Humans can always take
monstrous calamity and create beauty in its wake.
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