Today was my yearly religious experience: Beethoven's Choral Fantasy at the Marlboro Music Festival. For the last performance every year, the school does the same piece. It's really nice because it is done in such a small venue (most performances are a few musicians ), and the performance hall at Marlboro college is really built for music, just about every interior surface is done in nice thick wood. This makes for a really great setting. Because the piece requires such a large number of people, some of the local musicians participate alongside the students, and the chorus is mostly local amateurs. Since the piece also requires a solo pianist, they have to wedge a grand piano in the middle of the stage. It gets pretty crowded up there.
I think one of the other things I like at Marlboro is the casual atmosphere. The students are focused on their music, and plenty of folks in the audience are wearing jeans. Great classical live music that I don't have to get dressed up for is a total win...
