As usual, It’s been forever since I made a post (…if I can even say ‘usual’ since there aren’t that many posts in general). However at long last I have gotten my butt into gear!

It’s a summertime tradition ’round these parts for my church to host a set of performances known as the Noonday Concert Series. The series consist of a weekly concert (Thursdays after the noon bell rings) in the beautiful (and recently restored) church sanctuary. Typically the performers who participate are local talent or people who have ties to the island one way or another. I’m not sure how long exactly the church has been hosting the Noonday series, but suffice to say I remember attending as a kid so more than two decades certainly. Back then I always wished that I could get up there on stage and be in one of the concerts myself and this year, apparently, was my year to live out that particular dream.

Previously the series had only spanned the months of July and August but the decision was made to extend the run this year. I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in not one but two of the extra concerts. 

The first of these featured a host of my solo repertoire. I ended up choosing pieces that spanned nearly 200 years of music history–Mozart to Menotti. As I do with most of the concerts I participate in, I recorded the performance. However I neglected to take a good listen to the result and split up the single recording into its separate songs until earlier this week (only a little more than three months late, but I digress…) The following four recordings are selections from my solo concert.

“Ach, ich fühl’s” from Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Una voce poco fa” from Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini 

“O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini

“The Black Swan” from The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti

I was also lucky enough to be invited back to perform in the final concert of the season where I had the chance to sing a duet with the featured performer that day, as well as reprise two of the pieces I performed in my own concert. Below is a recording of the duet.

“Tonight” from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein

Overall  having the chance to participate as a performer in the Noonday Concert Series was very exciting. It was the first time I’d ever had a whole concert to myself, which was a little scary. I definitely could have used a few more weeks of practice (as anyone who listens to the recordings will likely hear). At the time of my first performance I’d only just getting to the point where I was comfortable singing all of the pieces from memory and there are a few cringe worthy mistakes in there. Also I can’t help but feel that my delivery was a little lacking in nuance– an element I hope to improve in the future. However there would be opportunity for mistakes even if I’d been singing those same pieces every day for ten years, and tackling the milestone of being the main focus of entire forty minute concert made me feel victorious once everything was said and done. In the end the experience was tremendously fulfilling– reminding me both of my weaknesses but also the breadth of what I could achieve with a lot of hard work.