I thought gratefully of Princeton this week as I watched the video of John Nelson conducting Bach’s glorious B-minor Mass at the opening of Notre Dame on Sunday, Dec. 8. Singing it at Princeton was a musical highlight of my life. (There was even an LP made of our performance.) How many nonprofessional singers have been lucky enough to sing Bach, the Verdi and Mozart requiems, Beethoven’s Ninth, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and more? It has occurred to me that Walter Nollner must have been thrilled to finally have women’s voices, to make up full choruses. We didn’t have professional soloists, but at least one soprano soloist (not me!) went on to sing professionally.
I thought gratefully of Princeton this week as I watched the video of John Nelson conducting Bach’s glorious B-minor Mass at the opening of Notre Dame on Sunday, Dec. 8. Singing it at Princeton was a musical highlight of my life. (There was even an LP made of our performance.) How many nonprofessional singers have been lucky enough to sing Bach, the Verdi and Mozart requiems, Beethoven’s Ninth, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and more? It has occurred to me that Walter Nollner must have been thrilled to finally have women’s voices, to make up full choruses. We didn’t have professional soloists, but at least one soprano soloist (not me!) went on to sing professionally.