WINOOSKI – As the holiday season winds down, Vermonters all over the state are making preparations to stop attending choral concerts until next December. Christmas concerts, holiday programs, and Messiah sing-alongs have sold out across the area, with audiences transported by the beauty and power of the human voice. Now audience members will have to repress that part of themselves that connects to that music in a meaningful way until they are comfortably able to do so again next year.
“Yeah, that was one of the most moving things I’ve ever heard,” said one concert-goer after a particularly stunning performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. “It transported me in a way that I don’t think anything ever really has before. I’m definitely not going to attend another choral concert again until December, 2018.”
“I love this time of year,” said a Winooski resident on their way out of their third Messiah sing of the season. “I go to a choral concert every weekend starting after Thanksgiving, sometimes two on a weekend. There is a such a wealth of musical talent in this state, I wish I had time to experience it all. But not after January 1. Then I’m done. It would be weird to support local musicians and arts organizations after the new year hits.”
Community choruses, choirs, and chorales are rushing to take advantage of this seasonal spike, scheduling conflicting events every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon in December. For more information, simply look around for the poster someone put up at your workplace/community area/grocery store/mailbox.
I know this is intended as satire, but anyone who knows the choral scene knows that we singers are looking forward to first rehearsals in January for the spring season. (VSO Chorus even has a concert in January–started rehearsing in Oct, took December off–and many of us will gather before that to sing for Rbt De Cormier’s memorial service.) Too bad it’s much of the audience that takes the rest of the year off. They don’t know what they’re missing.
Is there a 12-step program available for withdrawal?