July 12th, 2012
By Rick Pender |
Arts |
Posted In: World Choir Games
World Choir Games: "Music of the World" + Parade
The beginning of this week was a slower pace for the World
Choir Games in Cincinnati. At the halfway point, choirs visiting for
the first week departed and new ones arrived, so there was very little
activity on Monday. A festive, rambunctious parade from the Convention
Center to Fountain Square too place 6 p.m. Tuesday, with dozens of
choirs, many in traditional dress from their home countries and others
in matching T-shirts that designated their team, nation and so on. Each
choir was preceded by a WCG volunteer bearing their national flag, and
the crowd — lined up five-to-six people deep along both sides of Fifth
Street — cheered for each choir as strolled by. There were as many
cameras in the parade as well among those watching: Everyone wanted to
capture the fun to share later.
On Wednesday evening at the Aronoff Center, I went to the "Music of the
World" Celebration Concert. Since two of the four performing groups were
from the U.S., I guess this title referred more to the music than their
origins, but each had something to offer. The opening set was by the
Collegiate Honor Choir from regional universities near or in Cincinnati:
CCM at UC, Xavier, Capital University (Columbus), Wright State
(Dayton), Miami and NKU. They sang as a large ensemble at first,
conducted by Earl Rivers from CCM (also one of the WCG's artistic
directors) and then several groups were broken out for specific numbers,
led by their own director. The most interesting number was "The Storm
is Passing Over" by the singers from NKU: Amid some angsty singing,
several performers spoke out lines of dismay about contemporary life or
laughed maniacally.
After several minutes of that, once a few singers
collapsed from exhaustion, a spiritually inspired passage resolved the
piece on an air of hope for the future. This segment also included a
brief film tribute to esteemed American composer Morten Lauridsen (the
full film is on view at various times at the Downtown Public Library
during the WCG) and then a performance of two of his pieces, "Dirait-on"
and "Sure on this Shining Morning," with Lauridsen accompanying the
singers on the piano.
Up next was the University of Newcastle (Australia) Chamber Choir with
40 singers, male and female. I especially enjoyed their second number,
"Birds," based on three traditional Australian Bush songs. It was full
of whistles and shrieks, as well as choreographed hand motions that
simulated the movements of various kinds of birds. It was an unusually
delightful piece. More delight came from the Gema Sangkakala Choir from
Manado, Indonesia. Another mixed group of approximately 40, its men were
attired in black jackets with symmetrical yellow patterns (eight leaves
about the size of a human hand is my best guess since my seat was far
back from the stage) and the women wearing beautiful sparkling
traditional dresses accented with scarves of primary colors tied around
their waists. The group sang four numbers with lots of dance motion; in
fact, each number concluded with a held pose — arms upraised, for
instance — that became the initial pose of the following song. Their
very coherent program was full of humor: One song appeared to be a
flirtatious exchange between the men and the women, while another was a
tongue-twisting piece full of what were probably nonsense works (my
notes say "packa-packa-dum-dee-dum," a phrase and others like it were
repeated at high speed). Neither the program, the emcees nor the
directors offer any insights about the songs, so audiences are left to
figure them out — I wish I'd known more about the substance of this
Indonesian group's performance, but it was delightful from start to
finish.
The final group was the Indianapolis Children's Choir, about 100 young
adolescent girls and boys. They were wonderfully trained, and their
program was a perfect selection of material for young performers, not
too challenging but very appropriate for youngsters full of energy and
expression. "Tell My Ma" (accompanied by an adult playing the spoons!)
was a clever song about competition between groups of boys and girls;
"Happy Together" (a Pop tune from the 1960s by the Turtles) was a great
number for the kids to cut loose with their own swaying body and hand
motions, not synchronized but each doing something that expressed their
joy at young love. That approach typified this group's performance —
carefully chosen numbers that fit the youthful nature of the performers.
Everyone left the Aronoff smiling!
I have a "day pass" for Thursday, so I'll be wandering in and out of activities all over downtown. I'll report on that on Friday morning. There's only a few days left — WCG ends on Saturday evening. If you haven't attended anything yet, there's still time.
As a staff member with the Indianapolis Children's Choir, I can say that even though our singers are seasoned performers, this was a huge performance for them! They thoroughly enjoyed their short time at the World Choir Games, and I felt like a proud parent of all of them when the audience rewarded their efforts with such gracious applause.
Thanks for such a thorough review on all of the performances last evening!