The 8th is nicknamed the "Symphony of a Thousand" because of the massive scoring. All told, it includes a full symphony orchestra that overflowed the stage of Davies with offstage brass and organ, an adult double chorus (we had 220+ singers I think), a children's chorus (the San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses combined for a great performance), and eight vocal soloists, including Lauren Flanigan, who the chorus fell in love with during last year's American Mavericks festival.
It's a great piece for the chorus, especially the first half, which is a boisterous setting of the Veni Creator Spiritus (MTT says it's "football music"). It's also a very taxing piece of music with sustained singing at top volume at the limits of our range. But it's so much fun and such an adrenaline high that you almost don't notice until your voice gives out completely :)
Program notes are available, archived here
Reviews of our performance:
Eric Nehrlich's WWW home page / nehrlich@alum.mit.edu