Sissel

This year the Pioneer Concert guest was the wonderful, world renown, singer, Sissel.

Rehearsals with Sissel were amazing. She was sick this week. It is hard to sing in Utah. It is so dry here. Ron Gunnel, who is part of the choir staff and is really the person who works on bringing guests to perform with the choir mentioned that they had to be sure she had enough humidifiers in her room. This is not new. Other guests who come to Utah have similar problems with the dry climate. Utah is not ideal for singing. Anyway, despite being sick, she rehearsed and "marked" the music cues. This means she was becoming familiar with the orchestration, sound in the hall, what to emphasize and how she wanted to execute things in her performance for the real concert. Anyway, while singing a song arranged by Sam Cardon that she requested called, "Slow Down," I melted in my seat and was transported to a different place.

Throughout my years in the choir, I have asked different singers who their favorite guest artist has been and for the older, seasoned, choir members, it has almost always been Sissel. I always thought it was sad that I wouldn't have that opportunity and here I was, with that opportunity. Now, I have been with the choir for almost 6 years and in that time there have been amazing guests, yes. But this night, I understood why they all answered Sissel. It is her voice, yes. It is angelic, it is powerful, it is beautiful. But for me, it is also her presence. She carries herself in such a way that I felt like I was among royalty. Gracious at every moment. The way she carried herself was much that way I would imagine Gracy Kelly or Audrey Hepburn or even Julie Andrews to be like.

The Pioneer Day Concerts had high attendance. She was great and the program was wonderful.



I arrived early at the concerts in order to avoid traffic problems and to be relaxed and ready for the concerts. I enjoy arriving a little early to avoid the busy rush. Remember, there are a lot of people involved so the locker room, bathrooms, hallways, drinking fountains, etc. can be busy so arriving early allows me to do whatever I need to do without feeling rushed.

I think I learned from Sissel that your presence can be the message as much as the music can be the message. I want to be calmer and I want to exude that just in my presence. I'll be working on that for the next few weeks. Let's see how I do.