Handel's Messiah

One concert down, two more to go!
I had a wonderfully night performing with the Prince George Cantata Singers. The entire concert was, in fact, a sing-along, with the choir performing and the audience joining in (complete with "song books") when they could. I had, luckily, done the entire Messiah production before, so I was able to sing along quite easily and really enjoyed it!
My solo went wonderfully...practises always seemed a bit goofy, but other than having a dry throat and major adrenaline rush (shaky!) it went wonderfully. It felt so good! I loved that, during a piano interlude, I heard this old lady whisper (although, of course, she wasn't really whispering but to her it seemed that way) "she's really good!" This, of course, helped me to calm down and bit and just sing, knowing that it was being well received. Afterwards, lots of great comments. I feel like I've come out of retirement (haven't performed in 4 years!) and have all the encouragement I need to STAY out of retirement. One American women, who completely understood the random oddity of her comment, wished that Obama could hear the message to my song. I sang "Rejoice Greatly O Daughter of Zion," and one particular line is "he is the righteous saviour/And he shall speak peace unto the heathens." This particular women said she was transported to this place where she couldn't help but connect it to the world at large and the issues we have everywhere around us, and she hoped that President Obama would be able to bring peace not only to the middle east, but between nations as well. There's another great piece in the messiah, a bass/baritone solo, which talks about the rage between the nations. Hmm...amazing how something written 400 years ago could be so relevant to the world today!
Another very kind woman said, she wished the Prince George Symphony had hired us (BIG Messiah production last night) instead of importing from the other side of the country. That was nice to hear! I'd love to have done it.
Finally, another woman said something about my chakra? About the sheer energy emanating from the shakra located near my head? I don't fully understand it, and I'm not a follower of such ways, but I read up on it and found out that to have a strong chakra in this area is believed to show oneness with God and higher consciousness and truth. I'll take that. She may have different beliefs, but it was very nice of her to say to me.
Well, now that the evening is done, I have two recitals this week to accompany (sadly, I get more stressed about these than about singing), and then I'll finally have my break. Looking forward to it.
For now, I've just remembered that I need to put my rose (from the choir) in a vase before I hop off to bed.
Photos to follow tomorrow, and in the meantime, I'll be editing the video so I can post that too.
And yes, I even got a little writing done today, replacing third person with first. Still not sure what I think...only time will tell.