The Three Tenors

I play in a number of holiday concerts this time of year, and for the past three or four years, my holiday gigs have included two sing-a-long Messiah concerts at two different churches. Even though these performances only happen once a year, there are familiar faces and memorable personalities at each locale. I am most impressed with the tenors that I've encountered at these concerts, which is surprising to me, because I'm generally not a tenor kind of girl. I don't have anything against them, but they tend to come across to me as being guy sopranos, or the divas of the male vocal world. It's just not my thing.

That said, the first stop in my holiday concert cycle is at a beautiful old church down by Soldier Field. The fact that the Bears are always in town the week that we perform there makes the parking situation nightmarish, to say the least, but the atmosphere inside the church is much warmer. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with sing-a-long Messiahs, they are performances for churches and organizations on a shoestring budget. They hire a bare-bones orchestra and vocal soloists. The audience assumes the part of the choir.

I'm not sure whose bright idea this was, as the four-part harmonies in the choruses are hard-- I'm a musician and I struggle with the vocal parts; I couldn't imagine trying to sing it as a non-musician! People seem to have a blast doing it, but soprano (melody) parts always seem to outweigh the lower (harmony) parts. Not at this church, though; these two little old ladies--dressed to the nines and cute as can be-- sit in the front row of the tenor section and whale. They know those parts by heart, every last note. And since the rest of the tenor section has a strong lead to follow, they're usually able to keep up better than most of the other audience choruses I've heard in these do-it-yourself numbers. I look forward to seeing them every year; just thinking about them bellowing "King of Kings..." makes me smile!

The following week I play an identical performance at a gorgeous, historical church in the near west suburbs. The format of this concert differs slightly, though, in that there is an "intermission" of sorts as the pastor talks about the many services the church provides for the homeless, and a free-will offering is taken. Instead of doing this offering during the Pastoral Symphony (the instrumental interlude mid-way through the performance) like most churches do, they instead have the tenor soloist sing a hymn with organ accompaniment. And let me tell you, this guy is good. He's sung "O, Holy Night" for the past two years, and when he first opened his mouth, I didn't know whether I was going to wet myself, cry, or both. Thankfully, I did neither. I did turn to my stand partner, though, and mouthed, "Oh, holy CRAP!" It was all I could muster at the time.

I remember looking the tenor up on Facebook after the concert last year and being amazed that he was just a graduate student; it's extremely rare to hear a voice so rich come from a performer so young. The clarity, resonance, and emotion he infuses into each and every phrase is astounding. This year, as he gave a repeat performance (for which he got a standing ovation-- in the middle of the service-- might I add), I turned to my stand partner once again, and asked, "can I keep him?" "Go introduce yourself this time!" she hissed. "I can't!" I lamented, "we still have to play Part the Second!" Since we didn't do any of the tenor arias on the second half of the concert, he slipped out after his offertory solo. Drats.

If we're both back for a repeat performance next December, though, I think I will introduce myself. I'm not looking to rob the cradle or anything, but it's so rare to hear such impressive musicality in such an unlikely place. It's a real treat, in fact. I don't want to turn the guy into a male diva or anything, but I would like to tell him that his voice is the highlight of my Christmas-gigging season! Hopefully, I won't be starstruck, or get all flustered and tongue-tied, or start giggling like a school girl... but I won't know unless I try!