louienet and the Silicon Valley Chorale. What is odd is that earlier in the evening I had mentioned that the Loma Prieta earthquake was during rehearsals for the first time I ever sang the Messiah back at UCDavis...very odd that I've been singing the Messiah during two earthquakes! :-oHowever, even though I haven't sung the Messiah in full since I think 1992, and only about 4 choruses back in 2003 or something, I nailed every darn thing I'd ever sung before, including all the fun bouncy melismas, and I sightread a lot of the solos without too much issue...but since I was singing alto and soprano plus solos (I even sang along with the bass solos when I could! heh) I had almost totally blown out my voice before we got to the Hallelujah Chorus! That one always kills me because the high Gs are sustained so I took it easy & didn't hold them all the way through...my favorites are For Unto Us a Child is Born (killer melismas!) and the Amen chorus...and yes, I nailed those high As at the end at the top of my lungs...very satisfying! :D Of course I was hoarse afterwards...hehe...none of the ladies around me believed me when I said I was really only a mezzo-soprano...which is obvious since I can't hack that forever, plus of course anyone can blast up high...a "real" soprano would be able to sing high softly with control for hours on end. ;)
