Chicago a cappella
Yesterday I guest-conducted the Jewish Community Singers of Metro Chicago, a terrific volunteer civic group of about 70 singers called (in Hebrew) Kol Zimrah. I was brought in to lead KZ for a half-dozen weekly rehearsals and then the final concert, performed at the lovely Weinberg center at the corner of Lake Cook Road and I-294. The house was packed, with people overflowing to the patio outside, which fortunately had been supplied with speakers from the audio system that was carrying us on microphones.
The program lasted about an hour. Would you believe that there was a connection between one of the songs and my own grandmother? Oy! As it turned out, the program contained a "niggun" in Yiddish. A "niggun" [plural "niggunim"] is a wordless tune, which in this case sounded like "tschiribim-bam-bam," and so on. This particular niggun was arranged by Alice Parker, who was Robert Shaw's longtime collaborator, and a brilliant arranger in her own right.
However, more interesting to me was the composer of the original tune, Lazar Weiner. I learned from a friend that Lazar Weiner, who wore many hats in the NYC Jewish-music scene a hundred or so years ago, was the music director of the Freyheyt Gezang Vereyn (Freedom-Song Union), basically the choral-music arm of the Communist Party in New York City in the 1920s. Here is a picture of Weiner conducting.
And who sang with Lazar Weiner in the Freyheyt Gezang Vereyn? None other than my father's mother, Lillian Cohen, born Leah Krikun in Minsk, what is now Belarus. Now THAT is a small world!
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Last weekend, Chicago a cappella had a special performance, along rather unusual lines. A longtime patron was having a big birthday, and his wife hired us to go the Unitarian Church of Evanston for a surprise party and concert.
Sometimes it's hard to know if you're affecting someone, but this was not one of those times. The fortunate birthday boy, Craig (who was turning 50) sat up in the front row, enjoying all of it. One of the requests was the hilarious song by Paul Carey, "Mashed Potato/Love Poem" from the cycle "Play With Your Food!" We hadn't sung it in a few years, and it was wonderful to once again witness that song's effect on an audience.
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There is really nothing like commissioning a new piece of music. Late last week I was blessed to find, in my inbox, a PDF of the newest piece we have commissioned for Chicago a cappella. Stacy Garrop, a huge talent, has written her own take on "Hava Nagila," and it is a barn-burner.
I won't give away too many details, but there is a gradual speeding up of tempo, at one point reaching eighth note = 264! (The only time I can remember moving that quickly was last week, when I went on the bobsled ride in Park City, Utah, at the Utah Olympic Park.) There are some semi-improvised sections in some of the voice parts in this piece, while others carry a more conventional momentum.
It is so cool to have someone who knows our voices well -- Stacy Garrop has been coming to hear us regularly for some time now, and we've performed one of her pieces on two of our programs. She knows our strengths and how far she can stretch us. She also knows that we like to have fun.
Stay tuned, and I hope to see you at the "Days of Awe and Rejoicing" concerts in October, three weeks after Yom Kippur!
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It's programming time. This is the phase of a program's life when I cast a wide net. The aim is to get MORE repertoire at hand than I will actually need for "Days of Awe and Rejoicing," and then I start to plan and winnow and see what will make the most compelling through-line of music. It's a totally different process from rehearsing or performing.
I am jealous sometimes of those conductors who just have to say, "Okay, let's do Brahms 3 and Beethoven 8 and Rach 2 with a great pianist." I suppose I brought it on myself because of the sorts of programming that Chicago a cappella does. Our concerts tend to include about 20 short pieces -- an hour and a half, including intermission.
So finding cool Jewish classical music includes:
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I thought you might like to know that I have recently had two choral compositions published by Hinshaw Music, our longtime partner in the sheet-music publishing world. Being the director of Chicago a cappella has inspired me to compose and/or arrange tunes for the ensemble. I've probably written or arranged about 50 pieces in all. A few more are on the drawing board.
Both pieces are labeled for "medium-to-advance adult choir." The first is called "The Fall," which I wrote on a poem by Russell Edson when commissioned by longtime fan Carolyn Sacksteder for Chicago a cappella's 10th anniversary. The second piece is called "A Tickle," which I wrote for the church choir at Unity Temple in Oak Park and then had CAC perform with the Madrigal ensemble from the Chicago Children's Choir.
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The envelope, please...
I am happy to announce that we finished our recent round of callback auditions, and I have offered a spot on the Chicago a cappella roster to both of the talented baritones who made it to the final round.
Brian Streem will sing the first and fourth programs in our 07-08 season, and Michael Boschert will sing the middle two.
For more on the upcoming season, take a look at:
http://www.chicagoacappella.org/concerts/Brochure_200708.pdf
I hope that each of you will have a chance to hear the ensemble as constituted with these terrific baritones.
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Callbacks are second-round auditions. At Chicago a cappella, they have one primary aim: to make sure that a singer will blend well with the other people in his/her section.
This is harder than it may seem at first glance. True, our first round weeds out most people. However, even a singer with the right "chops" for the ensemble may not have a voice that blends particularly well with the other person in the section.
One cannot predict with much accuracy (at least I cannot) how well a given pair of voices will blend. I realize--well, I really should say, I have learned primarily by hard knocks--that two-to-a-part is the very hardest sort of blend in the world. Wishing has nothing to do it; the ears don't lie!
So last Wednesday we had auditions for the two finalists who emerged from first-round auditions.
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From time to time a singer will audition and simply blow me away. This happened twice yesterday. In neither case was the singer auditioning for an actual vacancy; we just have open auditions now, so people came and showed their stuff, knowing that if an opening comes up down the road, they will be considered for a slot in the ensemble and will be brought in for a second-round callback at that time.
Twice yesterday, a singer came in and simply took over the room. The two of them were different in temperament. One was supremely confident - she just exuded that she was in charge, not in an arrogant way, just that she was being asked to be the soloist, and she did. What a treat! The other was a little more shy but no less compelling, with a voice that filled the room and rang and rang, with pure line and terrific emotion and a voice that I didn't really want to stop hearing.
I know I probably sound like an old fart in saying this: it is simply one of the most refreshing things in the world for me to hear a singer who totally knows what she or he is doing.
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Auditioning is a strange and wonderful thing. We decided to hold open auditions this spring for the first time. This "y'all come" audition allowed anyone to send in materials for review. We have to do this to fill the baritone vacancy created by Aaron Johnson's departure after 9 years, and we decided to broaden the audition opportunity to all voice parts.
Last week we heard the first group of 6 singers -- lots of basses and a soprano. I found myself in the usual position I have been in since starting Chicago a cappella.
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I am elated. "The Wanderer" by Ezequiel Viñao went very well. The second performance in particular, in Oak Park, was astounding. We seem to have really made an impact on our audiences. I am so proud of the Chicago a cappella singers who worked so very hard to master the most difficult piece I have ever programmed.
We had programmed very difficult music before, but never a piece (1) this monumental or (2) one of such difficulty to which I was so fiercely committed that we would do it complete justice. I guess there is a form of tenacity that comes out in a situation like this.
I told the singers afterward, "I feel a great sense of confidence. After learning this piece, there is nothing we can't do -- bring it on, world!"
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