Farewell to Pittsburgh In bright sunshine, everyone met at half past nine at the church to load the buses. Now it was time to say goodbye to our dear host families. Our destination today was Geneva College in Beaver Falls. The college choir was in Leipzig last year for a workshop, where we worked together on works by Bach and Mendelssohn. This return visit is the continuation of the musical partnership between both institutions. 2nd h-Moll Messe at First Presbyterian Church in Beaver Falls At 2pm, our second performance of the h-Moll Messe was on the schedule, which would also be our last performance for this trip. However, during the already short rehearsal, we encountered an existential problem: the organ in the church was tuned to around 430 Hz, making it impossible to play together with our orchestra. Decisions had to be made. But which one was the smartest? The grand piano, which was still in the church, managed to reach 438 Hz, but it wasn't really in tune. A performance completely without a continuo instrument also presented problems. Alternative solution, but it worked The solution with an electric piano was extremely strange, but it turned out to be the best solution. The instrument finally reached the church 5 minutes before the concert started. Tuned to 442 Hz and set to the "Pipe Organ" register, it caused some amusement at certain points but generally served us well. And as it often happens with a performance that seems completely chaotic in advance, everyone pulls themselves together once again and in the end, there is a moving performance. This performance of the h-Moll Messe was no exception. The musical moments will resonate for a long time. In the evening, the "amici" spent time with their host families in the accommodations. Three generations of Thomasser are here And here's the video diary:Day 3: Concert in Beaver Falls (Geneva College): https://youtu.be/zOcvdMSgfoE
