I continue to be amazed at how a relatively small regional orchestra and all-volunteer choir can produce music at the level of quality that meets or exceeds big city orchestras, especially considering we're only an hour from Baltimore and 90 minutes from Philadelphia. This spring, we're performing "A Sea Symphony" by Vaughan Williams. Our choir mistress called it "a choral beast." She's not kidding. It's one of the hardest pieces I've ever worked on--harder than Handel's Messiah, I think. There are about 18 zillion time signature changes throughout the piece that are making me crazy at the moment, but when it comes together for the performance in 1 month, I think it'll be quite amazing.
Here is a Youtube version done by the BBC orchestra and choir. I wish our symphony would livestream!