My second overseas choir tour of the year approaches and in preparation for it the director of the German choir we’ll be joining forces with came over to take a day-long rehearsal. We’ll be singing Brahms’ German Requiem (twice!), which Bristol Choral Society sang back in 2017; I wasn’t able to sing in that concert though I went to rehearsals and have sung it since with the four-hand accompaniment. It was a useful chance to learn his interpretation and priorities and show him that we knew the piece well.
Sadly there was a real funeral a few days later, of a former chair of trustees at church. We sang Mozart’s Ave Verum, a familiar piece but one that isn’t normally in the choir’s repertoire although a number of the congregation would like it to be.