Anniversary Reflections
James Albritten
North Carolina School of the Arts
Leading PCS, for the very short time I had the privilege, was a very rich experience for me. Don was a tough act to follow, but the group and I eventually began to speak the same language. I was very happy to watch the sound of the group continue to mature during my leadership. In addition, I was very proud of the group's ability and willingness to step up to the challenging repertoire I performed with them. The concert in which we performed Gerald Finzi's Requiem da Camera with Benjamin Britten's Cantata Misericordium is amongst the finest I have ever led. I was extraordinarily proud to be standing in front of a group (and I include staff and board in that group!), that would dedicate itself to bring such beautiful music to life.
As seriously as they took major works like these, PCS also found such joy in celebrating the beauty they could make together with just the human voice. I remember a Christmas concert that I began with a piece by Andrew Carter called Mirabile Mysterium (Kevin - I am not sure that was the complete title). The singers loved the sounds they found in that piece! You could feel the excitement in the room as they refined the details of that piece. That joy, that excitement was a pleasure for me to share with them.