Artisphere was absolutely glorious…

The weather was beautiful, all the more so because our performance was scheduled for the early evening, when there was a cool breeze in the air, and we weren’t subject to the scorching heat!   That was a blessing…  and we were thankful for it.

The audience was amazing, as always.  I’d have to say, it is so much fun to sing outdoors at festivals.  While I love doing formal shows, I really enjoy the freedom of a festival… people feel free to dance, move about, clap, sing a long… you can sense that they are uninhibited, more so than in a theatre, where there is an expectation to sit still.  But I ask my audience members not to sit still!  I want them to dance and clap!  I want them to feel energized…

I remember doing a concert a year ago and the entire crowd was wonderful, so passionate, but there were some in the front rows who were sitting so still in their seats… and I could see them ever so clearly.  You could tell they wanted to move about, even just a bit, or clap their hands to the playful folk songs… but they wouldn’t budge… at first, this caught me off guard, and I thought, oh no, am I not doing a good enough job for them?  Are they not pleased with the show?  It is funny how we automatically question ourselves… and there I am, singing and having a conversation with myself at the same time!  In those moments, I ask God to help me refocus… and He always does guide me back, instantly…  and I am totally immersed in the music once again…

After that particular show, many of those people sitting in those first few rows (I could recognize them!) came up to me and told me how much they loved the concert… and they had tears in their eyes… you could tell they were being genuine… and here I had thought for a moment that perhaps they weren’t enjoying the show… and of course, I realized that we are all still concerned with what others might think of us… that perhaps these audience members, being up at the front, were a little self conscious about others watching them and being seen as too emotional or something…

Oh, but in an outdoor festival, usually, not always, people don’t seem to care as much what others might think…  and that was the case at Artisphere…we had folks swaying and dancing and clapping and singing to the Armenian folk music…

I remember while on stage, seeing my two good friends, Jake and Hilary come by with their 3 children… two of whom they just adopted from Ethiopia…!  Oh, what joy to see the children for the first time!!  We have been praying for the family for many, many months now as the process of adopting the children has been such an emotional journey… and now, to see the family all together was such a thrilling moment for me…from the stage no less!  I tried not to get distracted and resumed singing with a big smile on my face.

There were many friends who had come by and many people I did not know and had the pleasure of getting to know after the show.

One moment that I will forever treasure is when my husband brought our little one up close to the stage and she looked at me and giggled and smiled and got so excited!   I love it.

Tags: Armenian folk music, Artisphere, audience, clapping, dancing, festival, folk songs, music, outdoors, singing