Pardon Me, Sir, How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?

Vollmer's Houston receptionist Maria Cristina Yanez will be singing with the Houston Symphony Chorus when the Symphony performs The Planets on January 21, 23, and 24 in Jones Hall in Houston and at Carnegie Hall in New York on January 28.  The tour moves on to Boca Raton, Florida on January 30th and Miami on January 31st.  We are very proud of Maria and excited for her.  We asked her to give us a few more details....

by Maria Yanez, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

My chance to sing at Carnegie Hall began with an email I received from Dr. Charles Hausmann, director of the Houston Symphony Chorus. I sing with the chorus, and Dr. Hausmann was inviting me to be one of 24 women to sing in a recording session for a high- definition DVD.

 We would be performing The Planets,  Gustav Holst’s best-known orchestral suite. The women have an important and very difficult part in the final movement of The Planets.  For me, it would mean sustaining a high ”g” pianissimo (very softly) for 11 measures.  It requires outstanding musicianship and vocal skill, which apparently Dr. Hausmann thought I possessed, as indicated in his email.  My thoughts were, “Well, he is going to think he made a mistake when he hears me reading Twentieth Century music! “  I despise Twentieth Century music for one reason – it’s hard!  The key signature written is never what you end up singing. There are flats and sharps and naturals and intervals all over the place. Ugh! Nevertheless, I made it through rehearsals -- my eyeballs nearly jumping out of my head because of all the sharps and flats and naturals. I depended on my musicianship and skill to keep that “g” in tune and to count down to when I could stop! It seemed never ending!

Recently, in addition to taking part in the recording, I was chosen as one of  20 women from the chorus  to travel with the orchestra on tour.

This special world premiere event will debut in Houston’s Jones Hall in January.  The audience will experience a collaboration between the Houston Symphony and celebrated producer/director Duncan Copp, who assembled  state-of-the-art, high-definition images from NASA’s exploration of the solar system to accompany the work.  There will also be commentary in the HD film by the world’s leading planetary scientists.

The week after the Houston premiere,  the tour starts at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.  This venue has been host to the world’s greatest, including Luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Horowitz, Benny Goodman, the Beatles and even Winston Churchill.  What a thrill that I will get the chance to sing there! The tour finishes up in Boca Raton and Miami, Florida.

There will be many rehearsals before the tour, but that’s a very good thing, of course.  Because how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!