Travel Blog

Friday evening we drove down to Coral Gables to hear Seraphic Fire sing Rachmaninoff's Vespers. We could have waited a day and heard them in Fort Lauderdale, but you can't cap off a concert in Fort Lauderdale with a drink in the courtyard of Books & Books.

The United Methodist Church, just behind city hall, was packed. The choral ensemble magnificent. The music chills-producing. In his introduction, artistic director Patrick Dupre Quigley explained that the lowest notes in the work are two notes lower than a cello's lowest note. When Rachmaninoff gave it to the choir master who was to perform it, the man asked him how he was supposed to find people who could sing that low. Rachmaninoff replied: "I have faith in my countrymen."