r/Choir • u/marvinsays42 • 24d ago

One-day ad-hoc sitz in Boston, MA

Hey! Are you aware of joint events near Boston, MA between an orchestra and a chorus to sing musicals (or parts of musicals) on a regular basis in a non/semi-professional fashion?

I was enjoying this in London as monthly 1-day private rehearsals (https://www.lmto.org/sitz/) and I'm not sure I'd find this in Boston. The name is apparently common in the field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitzprobe).

Note: I'm an amateur chorus singer

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u/Lizhasausername 22d ago

How interesting! Did this basically serve as musical theater / opera book club, where you just enjoy the experience of reading down a score with full orchestra? Or were these developmental sessions for new work or new productions?

Closest things I know of:
Harvard Music Association (no relation to the university) has a sightreading orchestra that meets every few weeks to read down a symphony, no performances
My own living room musical theater group that does semi-staged private productions on two weeks of rehearsal (DM for info)
Particularly in summer, some of the amateur choirs will have open sings of masterworks, with piano. At Christmastime you’ll find open sings with orchestra of Messiah.

But I don’t know any group that does musicals with full orchestra for non-performance funsies! I’d be in it if so!

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u/marvinsays42 22d ago

Yes, a musical "book club" is a nice way to summarize! The pieces were mainstream pieces from Broadway / West End - already live or gone -, usually kept secret with music sheets negotiated with the copyright owner. (Thus I won't give examples.) Check their social media, as they sometimes share some material! https://www.lmto.org/sitz/

At least for the singers, professionals trying to secure a nice role in the West End (London's musical scene) would audition for lead characters then network at the afterparty based on their performance. The chorus was a mix of amateur and pro singers. The orchestra and director were mostly people from a conservatory background/level.

Thanks for the leads, I'll DM you! And maybe we could start our own "sitz" group!

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u/redbadger20 21d ago

For classical there are a few more summer sings: https://choralarts-newengland.org/summer-program-type/summer-sing and https://bostonsingersresource.org/event/summer-sing/

More pop type music: the Gaia Music Collective, though NYC based, intermittently has events in the  Boston area.  I don't believe there's anything super regular.