A More Serious Matter of Discussion
This past weekend, the Vanderbilt Symphonic Choir had its first of two fall concerts in Ingram Hall. While I enjoyed our repertoire, the piece that affected me the most was the “Holocaust Cantata,” a compilation of songs from the many of the concentration camps where Jews were confined during World War II.
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The material in each song was quite grave, from children being pilfered from families to babies getting fatally “needled” at birth. For this reason, the pieces had to be performed with upmost delicateness, respect and emotion to honor those lost in the horrifying events that ensued.
Just before we were about to step onto the stage, our director informed us all that there were going to be two special guests in the audience that had personal ties to the holocaust; one of them was a survivor and the other’s father was needled during WWII. This news struck me with awe. There were so many thoughts and emotions going through my mind right after I heard they would be in attendance. I recall the most poignant of the emotions I experienced were: a feeling of deep admiration for their strength to come and listen to such a re-visitation of the Holocaust, and a feeling of honor simply to have the opportunity to sing for them and to remember all of those that were lost.
This may seem like a heavy post for an internet blog entry, but what I mean to convey in this post is how privileged I am to not only sing in a choir that performs pieces like this, but also to be in a city that is so diverse and allows opportunity for a variety of audience members to watch performances. Furthermore I hope to illustrate just how passionate, respectful and inspired our director is about a variety of musical styles. As many choir singers would agree, there is a stigma toward “working hard” in choir as it isn’t cool to show your genuine interest with the fear that other would deem you a nerd. I feel the opposite about the choir under the direction of Dr. David Cassel. His in-depth passion and dedication to each piece that we perform is a force that propels us to greatness. I am truly getting more than I asked for from all of my professors here at Vanderbilt.