Belgian Singing Debut!

My first concert of the season with the Brussels Choral Society was a performance of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra at the Palais des Beaux-Arts aka Bozar (say it out loud and you'll get the clever branding moniker). Anyways, it was a fantastic concert, if I do say so myself. We sang well, the orchestra sounded great, the soloists were superb, and the venue was really wonderful. Plus the concert was nearly sold out, with an audience of over 2000 people!

In the dressing room - a quintessential Simone picture.

Photo - G. Charneux

In the dressing room - some of the lovely Alto section.

Photo - G. Charneux

I was lucky that Troy and our friends Jeanette and Chris were able to make it to the concert. Their seats were pretty high up, so some of the pictures are a bit blurry, but you can still get the idea.

I am on the far right side of this picture, in the 2nd row, third from the end. Use your imagination.

I got to present the soprano soloist with a congratulatory bouquet after the performance. That's me at center stage, to the left of the podium, facing the blond (the soloist) doing the European 'kiss kiss'. You might need to squint.

The Henry Le Boeuf Hall has lots of lovely Art Deco elements.

Me at the stage door after the concert.

Signage in Dutch on the left, French on the right. Trés Belge.

I always love performing, love being on a stage, love singing. But there was something really special about this, my first concert abroad. I had a moment standing backstage, hearing people whispering in a dozen languages, hearing the orchestra play the overture, where it suddenly hit me "You are in Brussels, about to go on stage in front of a paying audience, in a Victor Horta-designed hall, to sing one of the world's great choral works. Holy crap!" Perhaps that's slightly dramatic way of putting it, but then I've always been wont towards drama.

If you would like to see/hear a little bit of the concert, Click Here. The sound quality is not fantastic as it is someone filming from the audience, but you can still get a good idea of how it was. This particular movement that features a baritone solo, which was really powerful.