First Harbison Rehearsal Today

For days I've been revisiting our fabulous commissioned work by John Harbison - Songs America Loves to Sing. 10 American tunes like Amazing Grace, Aura Lee (Elvis' Love Me Tender), What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Poor Butterfly, St. Louis Blues, We Shall Overcome, even the Happy Birthday tune... you get the picture! And I've listened again (it's been a long time!) to the ACP CD recording... whew, it's good! Now to also give a good, accurate and impassioned performance LIVE... that's the challenge for performers on a stage as opposed to a recording studio with multiple takes and complex editing capabilities afterwards. Can't wait for our first rehearsal this afternoon, leading up to Tuesday's live concert at Spelman.