My Best Choir Day Ever with My Favorite Conductor in the Whole World

Yesterday was pretty much one of the BEST days of my singing life.  I got to spend the day singing with one of my dear friends and one of my favorite musicians in the whole world, Mack Wilberg.  I was blessed to sing in his choirs for 3 years at BYU, and when he left BYU to lead the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 1999, I didn't know if I'd ever get to sing with him again.  He is currently one of the most well-known and loved choral sacred music composers in the world.  (You can just Google his name to see how famous he is.)  Well...our timing in moving to Pennsylvania ended up being PERFECT, as it brought Mack and I together for a blessed reunion!

Here's how our timing was so perfect:  Just a couple of weeks after we arrived here, we attended Stake Conference.  Even though we hardly knew anyone, and although I was not liking the new one hour drive between our stake center and our home, I decided I would love to be part of the stake choir performing that weekend.  That was the best choice, right there!

There was only one rehearsal for the stake choir, and that was when I heard the announcement:  Dr. Wilberg would be coming to PA!  The ONLY time they passed around the sign-up sheet for this opportunity of a lifetime was at this rehearsal, and they had room for only 40 LDS singers from our stake to join the large inter-faith choir that would perform with Dr. Wilberg on March 10th.  He was going to come for an American Composer's Choral Festival, hosted by one of the Lutheran churches in Camp Hill, PA (a bit of a drive for me, but HELLO!  SO WORTH IT!!!).  At this concert, SEVENTEEN of his fabulous compositions would be featured, and MOI would get to sing 11 of them, all under his direction.  AWESOME!!!

I don't know if you can imagine how excited I was about this day, I just knew it was going to be perfect.  AND IT WAS!  We rehearsed together for 2 sessions in the morning (that's not much rehearsal time, but it was enough because we had all rehearsed with our local groups on a few other occasions so we'd be prepared for that day), and then had our concert in the evening.  Jazz got to attend the concert, thanks to our rare find of a good babysitter for about 6 hours that night (which also allowed us to go to dinner with our friends and my fellow choir participants before the concert-FUN!).   

I thought I was going to be crying all day from the excitement, but I didn't get choked up until the opening number of the concert, the middle number, and the end number : ).

Aside from the music, the other highlights of the day were getting to speak with Brother Wilberg on two occasions, very briefly.  Even though I was one of probably his million choir students during his time at BYU, he totally remembered me and was surprised and happy to see me on this side of the country.  Awesome.  I got/gave him two hugs, yes I did!  That was so great.  What a perfect day.  Even today I'm still reeling with the beauty of the experience, and remember how on top of the world I felt being there with him, making music--his music--with him once again.  If I never get to sing with him again, this was enough.  It was the BEST.

This is a bunch of very excited LDS friends who were in the festival choir with me, and our completely amazing guest conductor, Mack Wilberg.

The night before our big day, the Lutheran church people had a reception for Brother Wilberg.  They were so impressed with what a remarkable person he is.  So genuine, kind, and wonderful to be with.

The Trinity Lutheran Church in Camp Hill, PA, where we performed.  The acoustics were great, and the setting was beautiful!  I heard that it was big enough to seat 600 people, but they sold out with 800 tickets!  I think they had an overflow room where the extra 200 people got to enjoy the concert. 

After the concert.  I couldn't resist one more chance to speak with my friend. It was fun to discover that there was also a former member of his BYU Men's Chorus participating in our 235 voice choir that night, and another former Men's Chorus member in the audience that night.  I bet he gets to enjoy those kinds of reunions wherever he goes--how fun for him!

LOVE!