The last time I was involved in a very large production in 2012, I was overwhelmed by the 2000-strong teenage crowd rising to their feet and giving us a long standing ovation in the Parisian Théâtre du Chatelet.
This year I sang in front of an even larger crowd in the Pau Zenith arena for a public dress rehearsal followed by three shows for the New Year's concert of the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn and its choir.
The repertoire was mainly classical: Wagner, Verdi, Tchaïkovski, Brahms, Dvorak. However, the atmosphere felt more like that of a rock concert with artificial carbon mist, traveling colourful lights and more than 3 000 people in the audience nearly filling up the large arena hall. The organisers counted that close to 12 000 people came to listen to us over the three shows and dress rehearsal.
The one migiving I have from this project was that the sound return for the choir from the microphones did not provide a good idea of the whole sound given by the orchestra and choir. I sometimes felt that I was singing only with my close neighbours and just the strings, brass and percussions. Nevertheless, the crowd must have had a better overall sound because everybody I met afterwards was delighted.
Le blues du businessman
Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon, Starmania, La Gagneraie
This year I sang in front of an even larger crowd in the Pau Zenith arena for a public dress rehearsal followed by three shows for the New Year's concert of the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn and its choir.
The repertoire was mainly classical: Wagner, Verdi, Tchaïkovski, Brahms, Dvorak. However, the atmosphere felt more like that of a rock concert with artificial carbon mist, traveling colourful lights and more than 3 000 people in the audience nearly filling up the large arena hall. The organisers counted that close to 12 000 people came to listen to us over the three shows and dress rehearsal.
The one migiving I have from this project was that the sound return for the choir from the microphones did not provide a good idea of the whole sound given by the orchestra and choir. I sometimes felt that I was singing only with my close neighbours and just the strings, brass and percussions. Nevertheless, the crowd must have had a better overall sound because everybody I met afterwards was delighted.
Le blues du businessman
Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon, Starmania, La Gagneraie
