Friday, May 8, 2009

One Big Apple a Day...



On Thursday May 7th, the Glee Club performed at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.  With its imposing stone facade and immense sanctuary, we were thrilled to have the honor of performing in such a magnificent venue.  In addition to a great venue, Josh Breitzer, the cantoral intern at Temple Emanu-El participated in our performance of Psalm 114.  He sang the Hebrew verses followed by our repeating them in Latin.  It was a great pleasure to hear Josh singing the Hebrew.   He has a beautiful voice and captured wonderfully the meaning of the verses in his expression.  Josh's guest performance was a great highlight of the concert and we are proud that he is an alum of the Men's Glee Club.



Following intermission, we performed our set entitled, "Love and Water."   We sang Loch Lomond as a part of this group of songs.  The solo is usually performed by a member of the Glee Club, but for this concert, Bob McGrath of Sesame Street acclaim agreed to show off his talent.  Also an alum of the Men's Glee Club, Bob wowed us with his voice.  During rehearsal he captivated our attention and seemed to proclaim the true meaning of the song through his unique expression.  He told a story with his singing.  I grew up watching him on Sesame Street.  When he sang I reverted back to my childhood-self.  He sang with that familiar smile and had a sparkle in his eye that invited you to listen closely while he told his story.  I couldn't be happier to be able to call him one of my brothers in song.  

We ended our performance with a rousing chorus of Varsity/Victors as per usual and closed the night with the Yellow and Blue.  What a sight to see more than 20 former clubbers join us on stage.  If we didn't fill the temple with sound before that, we certainly did with that influx of dudes.

The concert in the Big Apple was a big success and an experience I won't dare forget.

In TC&ME
Scott Venman



1 comment:

  1. Scott ... Great to hear the NYC concert went well. Did anyone manage to get some photos of McGrath performing with the club? If so, I wouldn't mind getting copies and possibly adding them to the documentary (to the few moments Bob is talking about the club). Let me know!
    Jamie Turner
    JTrnr544@sbcglobal.net

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