Tallahassee Civic Chorale performs Imant Raminsh' Missa Brevis

The Chorale - a modest group, in size and resources. 49 singers, a conductor, a smallish wind ensemble of local musicians, piano, pipe organ. Eight donors listed in the program.

The Artistic Director - talented and dedicated - working three music positions in small colleges scattered over two states and hundreds of miles.

The composer - escaped from Latvia to Canada as a boy in 1948. Canadian citizenship and music education. Wrote the Missa for an Indianapolis children's choir, and re-voiced it for mixed voices at the turn of the century.

The audience - families with children, grandparents, flittering teenagers temporarily escaped from the nest, oldsters out on the town. A photographer.

The venue - a church.

How often is this scene replicated across America? Too many to count. And too meaningful not to. What confluence of fates brings us all to this event? Is it a higher power?

Last night's Tallahassee Civic Chorale concert was beautiful. Poignant. Uplifting. I was struck, by the scene, by the dedication, and above all by the music. Imant Raminsh's Missa brevis is a stunningly beautiful piece of music and the performance by the Chorale could not have been better. I was overwhelmed with emotion.