VYOA Blog

We just played our first concert in France!

Our venue, again, was amazing. Amazing, but really different from the last hall. The hall in Quebec City had clear acoustics where we could hear everything cleanly; here in Paris, we played in l’Eglise de la Madeleine, a very old and majestic church with a very echo-y sound.

Detail from The Last Judgement - by Lemaire - on facade of the church

There is an exhibit of modern art currently on display there. So, there were plenty of people milling     around while we unloaded the truck and tried to get the rented cellos and basses in tune. Once we started playing our rehearsal, people sat down to listen and clapped after each piece. There were also a lot of people taking pictures of us; one elderly man in particular came up right next to the podium with his camera, and then made Mr. Peters stop to get his picture taken when he went out to check the balance. The modern art was placed all around the inside and the outside of the church. Some people thought it was a little out of place at the old church, but the sculptures, outside especially, were cool.

Just being able to play in one of the big tourist attractions of Paris was an honor. The acoustics, though, were thrilling. We would stop at the end of a piece or at a grand pause, and the sound would continue, even though everyone had stopped playing, and bounce around within the expanse of space above us for almost thirty seconds. Melodies would soar above the accompaniment, echoing back a couple seconds later. The end of Drake Mabry’s Prelude and Tango sounded like a jet taking off! We would all smile at each other at each moment of silence or at a big change in dynamics, listening to the boom above.

Suzanne Calhoun, horn