Teamwork

Some members of COC had the privilege, this week to join Robert Porco's "other choral family" the May Festival Chorus in Cincinnati, where he was being honored as their choral director for the last 20 years -actually 21, but James Conlon was celebrating his 30th season as MFC's music director, so Bob's 20th was bumped a year.


When we arrived in the rehearsal room members of the May Festival Chorus (MFC) were wearing T-shirts with "Team Porco" on the back.

That was a very telling statement. When you sing in a chorus, there should be no stars, no stand outs, no individuals. There should be a single cohesive entity working together as a team to create the most beautiful music possible.

However, a team will always need a leader. This is where Bob comes in. For the last 12 of those 20 years Bob has driven approx 500 miles round trip weekly, from Cleveland to Cincinnati to rehearse both choruses. Rehearsals are generally 3 hours long and cover the music we will be performing at our next concerts. Bob leads us in a vocal warm-up, then we go to work, learning, refining and perfecting the music. So who decides how the music should sound? Who translates what the composer meant by a certain marking in the score? Who has to know the back story to a piece of music heard often or possibly never before? The director of course!

So entering a new rehearsal room, in a new city with new people around us, we were naturally curious as to how it would go.

Warm ups sounded the same. On to the piece. "Belshazzars feast". Hmmm, same markings, same phrasing, similar sound quality - different singers obviously create their own unique sound. How is it possible for 2 choruses who live 250 miles apart, and who never rehearse together, to be so instantly harmonious....It can only be the leadership.

Bob requires, and expects, nothing but the best from us. He knows what we are capable of and won't let us get away with anything less - however hard we try sometimes to get away with it.

This is one of the reasons we all work so hard for him. Equally, this is why he works so hard for us!

As you'll see in the link below, all our hardwork paid off, for the audience and chorus members combined! So thank you MFC, for allowing Clevelanders to play on the Cincinnati team for a game. We loved it!

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100522/ENT03/305220012/1025/ENT/May-Chorus-honors-director