Just hung up from our Friday evening Virtual Musicale, and thought I would write this up before I forget:
Ruth spoke about her experience singing the St. Matthew Passion, and specifically how meaningful it was to her. The same here, except it was the St John Passion here in Atlanta with the ASO under the directorship of Robert Shaw. I was in HS at North Fulton, our choir was world famous under the directorship of Robert Lowrance, that's why we were chosen to participate. That was the first harpsichord I ever saw in person, and someone chased me off it before I could even play one note. Very sad, literally...my heart broke. The "Jesus" soloist was our own Atlanta treasure, Peter Harrower, who I later came to know and work with at GSU as his accompanist. But at the time I was just a silly little 16 year old girl, and I remember we all were enthralled with his sincerity, his presence. The whole Mass, and the experience, just was so moving. Fast forward to a year later. I was driving home from North Fulton HS in my '58 Phoenix Dodge Dart convertible, with a load of friends, the top down, enjoying our silly little rowdy selves. I saw a man walking towards us from the bus stop...it was Peter. (Turns out he lived right there on Alpine.) Of course, I didn't know his REAL name. So when I stopped at the stop sign, stood up in the driver's side, pointed in his direction and screamed "LOOK!!! There goes Jesus!!!" literally everyone in sight turned and looked .....including Peter! Yes, I was mortified, slumped down in the seat and took off rather hastily. But not a bad thing, to be mistaken for Jesus?
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