This Side of Lost

For the discerning choir nerd, moving back to Minnesota is a dream come true. There is a plethora -- one might say, a cacaphony -- of choirs in the Twin Cities area. Choirs of every size and shape exist, from massive symphonic chorales to GLBT-friendly show choirs to professional early music ensembles. It's an embarrassment of riches for the choral music lover. It's one of many reasons why we wanted to come back here and for years I have been looking forward to reengaging with the choral singing community here.

But I've just realized that I'm kind of dreading it as well.

I'm coming face to face with it right now and I'm trying to figure out why. I think there are a few reasons contributing to the feeling.

• The wide variety of choices is a double-edged sword for someone who has difficulty making decisions (that's me).
• It's the middle of the choral season (which tends to run from September to June like schools and churches). So trying to join a choir right now is not the usual process and I don't know how to navigate that.
• My personal expectations have changed. It's been eight years since I've sung here and I've been spoiled by my experiences in LA and Connecticut. I want to join a top-tier choir and I'd like to get paid. But I don't know if my skill level and the odd circumstances of trying to join up in January really allow me to be that picky.
• I don't really know who is top-tier these days. I've been away for a long time so my knowledge of the scene is rusty and I only have hearsay and websites to go on.
• We're settled in so I don't have any excuses to put it off any longer.
• Kantorei, whom I sang with from 2002-2004, is beating down my door to come back and for all of the above reasons I don't know whether to take them up on it or not.

I need to start making decisions and contacting people soon. Argh. Can all of the conductors in the area just have a pow-wow and decide where I should go? That'd be great.