Carnegie Hall

Brian and I have made a tradition of going to see some sort of show or concert during the holiday season. In previous years, it was the Rockettes or the NYC Ballet. This year, we decided to go to an event at Carnegie Hall -- the last item on our original moving to NYC bucket list. We got really excited when we found that there would be a choir/orchestra concert of Handel's Messiah and even more excited when we found a 50% discount through the choir's website. 

I met Brian and work and we stopped for a quick dinner at a pizza place near his office. I love that part of town, because you get great views of the Empire State Building.

We made it to Carnegie Hall just as they were opening the doors into the concert hall. It was fun seeing the building's exterior all lit up and the garlands hanging from the marquee were cute.

I've only ever seen the building during the day, and have never been inside, so I was super excited. Brian actually performed here in 2000 with his High School Choir. He said that the experience was awesome and he loved getting to see the corridors behind the stage and all the photographs they contain of the stars that have performed there, not to mention standing and singing on the stage. 

Carnegie Hall was built in 1891. It is one of the last buildings in NYC to be built completely from masonry. Steel support systems were built around some of the building when additional flights were added.

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Brian went to check his bag and I headed the other direction to find a restroom. We met at our seats in the main hall -- known as the Isaac Stern Auditorium. When we first walked in, I was blown away by how beautiful it was. I couldn't stop looking around. The auditorium was smaller than I had pictured it, but was so impressive and grand.

     

Since I couldn't get a picture of the whole hall with my little camera, I found a couple pictures online to show you. This auditorium seats 2,804 people, and has five levels. I didn't know this, but Carnegie Hall actually has three concert halls. The other two rooms are much smaller, seating only 599 and 268 people. 

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We had amazing seats on the main floor -- fourth row from the stage in the center section. We had a little bit of time before the concert started, and it was nice to just sit and take in our surroundings and watch the orchestra members slowly fill up their chairs.

Finally the principal violinist, or concert master, came out and played a few notes so the others could tune their instruments. A hush fell over the auditorium as the lights were dimmed and the music began.

There were probably around 100 people in the choir, and 35 people in the orchestra along with the four soloists. The members are all volunteer, but are selected through auditions. The choir and orchestra are from New Jersey and they have been performing the Messiah at Carnegie Hall every year since 1961. The music director was Andrew Magill and the soloists were Rebecca Mariman as soprano, Emily Marvosh as contralto, Eric Rieger as tenor, and David Newman as baritone. We're not really big opera aficionados, so we didn't recognize any of these names. They all did a really amazing job. The soprano didn't look like she was feeling that great though. While the other three were smiling throughout the concert, she just looked like she was trying to bear through it. The alto even sang a couple of the soprano's parts.

It was a beautiful concert. I had never listened to the entire Messiah oratorio before, but was familiar with the Hallelujah Chorus, as I'm sure most of you are. I imagined that that famous chorus would be recurring throughout the performance, but it wasn't. In fact it only appeared at the end of the second part.

The piece is broken into three parts, with each part having multiple "verses." The entire thing lasted two and a half hours. The lyrics of the entire piece are taken from the Bible, mostly from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. Our programs gave a good synopsis of each part.  Part one is about "the prophecy of salvation, the prophecy of the coming of Messiah and the question of what this may portend for the world; the prophecy of the Virgin Birth; the appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds; Christ's redemptive miracles on earth." Part two contains scriptures about "the redemptive sacrifice, the scourging and the agony on the cross; His sacrificial death, His passage through Hell and Resurrection; His Ascension; God discloses his identity in Heaven; the world and its rulers reject the Gospel; God's triumph." Part three contains "the promise of bodily resurrection and redemption from Adam's fall; the Day of Judgement and general Resurrection; the victory over death and sin; the glorification of the Messianic victim."

The music and words were beautiful and we had a great time.