Mennonite Mass Choir (with Menno Singers) performed Haydn’s “Creation” last weekend. I’ve been having my doubts about Menno Singers (Rachmaninoff Vespers was very “rocky” back in March, and I skipped the vast majority of the “Creation” rehearsals), but it was pretty good, actually. It helped for the end result that it’s (1) relatively easy for most of the singers, (2) accompanied/doubled by orchestra, and (3) verging on insufferably joyous, and (4) that I’m definitely feeling appreciated by the conductor (Peter Nikiforuk) and by the weaker tenors (of which there are 7 women in a section of only 18 in a choir of 150 voices). The soloists are Mennonites all: Stephanie Kramer (whom I’ve known for a long time, from Elora, etc.), young tenor and conductor Brandon Leis (whom I briefly sang beside in the St. John’s Elora church choir), and Daniel Lichti (of WLU, etc. and about whom I wrote an article for the “Encyclopedia of Music in Canada”). When I was asked by the weaker tenors to “section lead” them, that put me about six feet from Dan, and he glanced at me a couple of times, as if to say: “What the hell is this voice doing in this choir?” Good question!