July 9th, 2012
By Rick Pender |
Arts |
Posted In: World Choir Games
World Choir Games: Around the World
Eight riveting performances at sold-out Aronoff Center
I had a trip around the world on Sunday afternoon, thanks
to the World Choir Games. It includes stops in South Africa, the
Netherlands, Venezuela, Switzerland, and the Chinese cities of
Guangdong, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou. The program, playing to a
completely sold-out house at the Aronoff Center's Procter & Gamble
Hall, was a chance for eight choirs, each champions in one or more
categories, to briefly showcase a few selections. Singer, performer and
Cincinnati native Drew Lachey hosted the afternoon program.
In order, we were treated to performances by the Shanghai Conservatory
of Music Girls Choir (Female Choirs champion); the Diocesan Boys' School
Choir from Hong Kong (Young Male Chorus champion); Männerstimmen Basel
from Switzerland (Male Choirs Champion); the "8 Seconds" Mixed Chorus fa
Hangzhou Normal University (Mixed Youth Choir champion); the Children's
Choir of the Orchestra of Laraand Camerata Singonica Larense from
Venezuela (Folklore champion); Guangdong Experimental Middle School
(Youth Choir of Equal Voices champion); Stellenbosch University Choir
from South Africa (a double champion for Musica Sacra and Mixed Chorus);
and Dekoor Close Harmony from the Netherlands (another double champion,
for Popular Choral Music and Jazz).
That's too many to offer song-by-song details from the two hour program,
but I want to share some memorable highlights. Perhaps most powerful
was the "African Prayer," sung by the Stellenbsoch choir, following a
remark from the group;s director about how much they appreciated
Cincinnati's hospitality. I head this group sing the same number on
Thursday evening's celebration concert, and it was equally powerful —
driven by full-voiced female singing, rhythmic clapping and building
enthusiasm. What's more, the director sat down and let the choir proceed
under its own steam. Demonstrating their varied repertoire, the same
group also did a quirky rendition of Queen's "Seaside Rendezvous,"
playing kazoos for part of the number.
The Chinese choruses showed tremendous discipline, carefully following
their directors and, especially in the case of the group from Shanghai,
creating a pure, crystalline sound that was virtually one voice.
Each of
those choirs were also stylishly dressed in matching costumes. (I found
myself wondering how transportation was handled for these choirs, not
just for the singers but for their gowns and other attire. No one seemed
to have left anything behind!)
The group from Basel looked more like a scruffy Euro band, about 30 men,
some with beards, others with wooly heads of hair. Many of them wore
knee-length pants and suspenders. But their singing was strong and
well-rehearsed. The Venezuelans were in costumes that had a Latin flair,
especially the women in white, knee-length dresses with traditional,
multicolored ruffles on their hems and necklines. This latter group had a
fine sense of humor, especially for its tongue-twisting final number
that involved singing faster and faster, then concluding in a sort of
faux collapse of exhaustion.
Most unlike other choirs I've heard, Dekoor from the Netherlands, which
sang in colloquial American English offered three numbers from the Pop
repertoire. The group of 30, evenly divided between men and women,
opened with "We Are Young," a song about friendship, youth and trust —
all qualities represented by their stances and interactions (a repeated
lyric: "We are young/So let's the set the world on fire/We can burn
brighter/Than the sun"). They moved next to James Taylor's paean to
frustration, "Damn This Traffic Jam," and as an encore rendered a funky
version of George Michael's "Freedom." Quite a switch from beautifully
executed but not so stirring sacred numbers.
For my second concert of the day, I was back at the Aronoff for the
Energy of Youth" Celebration Concert featuring three groups. The frist
was local, the Cincinnati Children's Choir, mostly junior high and high
school youths. They were augmented for the second half of their program
with a specially formed "Cincinnati Public Schools Honor Choir," a pair
of singers selected from each of the CPS elementary schools. They
concluded with two numbers commissioned for the event and conducted by
composer Rollo Dillworth; the finale, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me
Around," had a clapping rhythm that engaged the entire audience. What
this group lacked in polish (they had only three rehearsals) they more
than made up for in enthusiasm.
The next group was the Farnham Youth Choir from Great Britain. Forty
singers, mostly girls (there were three boys with voices not yet
changed) offered a varied set that combined some sacred numbers with
some folk-inspired pieces (The Piper o'Dundee" and ""Iona Boat Song").
Most interesting was a number titled "Aglepta," that began with a single
member reciting this text:
"To leave a enemy without an answer, say
this words to him: Aglaria Pidhol garia Ananus Qepta" and blow in his
direction; then he will not know which way he is headed and cannot
answer you." What followed was a strange collection of sighs,
whistles, squeals, shrieks, clapping and other odd noises, an odd
showcase of discipline that was a long way from the more traditional
numbers. It was a bit fearful, and completely captivating.
The program concluded with a set by the Guangdong Experimental Middle
School Choir that was as much choreography and tradition as it was a
choral performance. Native costumes, a Mongolia throat singer, drums,
bells, wild dancing — this performance made me think about how little we
know about other parts of the world ... and how much an event like the
World Choir Games opens us to learning about other cultures.
Quite a day.
