kssingers.com

The Power of an Audience

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

We knew it would be a good performance, but we were unprepared for the magic and inspiration that came from that all-important piece of the live performance experience—the audience—in our Road to Freedom concert last Saturday.

They came ready to be moved. They came ready to be uplifted. They responded to the energy that came from the choir, which caused the choir to create more, and the creative cycle that feeds our souls continued. Do audiences think about the part they play in the success of a performance? I doubt they realize it, and if they do, certainly not to the full extent. The effect of the story, the program and the performance are important, to be sure. But the potential gift is not completely realized until the recipient—the audience—is an active part of the moment. Vital, engaging, and inspiring came together to create an experience that was transformative. For the message of this particular concert, that result is as good as it gets.

On the Road to Freedom

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

The rehearsal last night for our Road to Freedom concert on Saturday, January 28, was an uplifing experience. We know this repertoire really well from making the CD and the choir was able to pour out their soul with their entire being. When this happens, it’s impossible not to think that there is hope in the world.

Saturday’s performance, in the beautiful Chatham Capitol Theatre, will be inspiring in a way that most concerts cannot be. We’ll be able to give ourselves totally to the story that historian and author Bryan Prince will share in his and wife Shannon’s narrations (from his new book, One More River to Cross). The band, vocalist Denise Pelley and we will do our part in making this poignant story transcend the mind and become a living experience. I doubt this performance will be easy to forget.

Gifts of Festival 500

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

The experience at Festival 500 in July was priceless. The choir worked so hard to take their music to the next level for our three concert performances there and they did it. They’d never sung better. All aspects of our performances were complimented on enthusiastically all week. What a thrill it was to be in that warm, embracing atmosphere on an international stage and know we measure up. How good is that? The best! Now we know our musical skill and artistry are effective across the board. Why is that so great? Because we can use them with greater confidence to tell the stories that make our world a better place. It strengthens the power of our intention. It frees the imagination!

Off to Festival 500 in TWO Days

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

In two days we will be leaving for Newfoundland and Festival 500. A few from the choir are already there, vacationing before the Festival begins. We have had a marvelous adventure preparing for this festival. We do theme concerts, with a variety of themes each season. In fact, our performance mandate states that we do one classical, one populist and one concert ‘especially expressive of the human condition’ each season. That keeps our seasons balanced for our audiences and our repertoire varied for the singers and myself. We repeat music whenever we can, but it is not very often, and certainly rare within one season. The music for our festival performances we performed at our April Going to the Rock! concert.

After an intensely busy spring with two invitations in addition to our final concert of the season, the ‘Small Choir’, as we call the group going to Festival 500 (about 2/3 of the whole choir, since not all were able to commit to the nine-day trip), started rehearsing in earnest to prepare for the three concerts we are to perform while in St. John’s. I knew the high level of quality expected at these events from attending choral conventions. My job was to make that level clear for the choir, who had just come off the busiest spring we ever had and were very happy to slide into summer mode, to set that bar, and in the few rehearsals we had left, to get them singing music they already know at a level they’ve never done before.

The biggest surprise for them has been the fact that they sound much different without the whole choir. The level of individual responsibility and care of tone and tuning go up markedly in a small group and they have to change everything about how they listen and how they sing.

What a joy it has been. Through recording the rehearsals, individual work, voice matching, and meticulous attention to the finest details, they sound great. From my background in music performance, I know that the best you can do is get the music up to the highest level of which you are capable, then let the inspiration and excitement of the moment take you the rest of the way. With part of your brain, you keep track of the details and the musical information rushing past you and with the other part you let go to let the text and the story come alive. It’s a thrill.

Finishing rehearsals with a short concert for friends and family to give us a dry run before the event and put it all together. The couple of surprises that cropped up (there are always surprises that never happened before—that’s part of the excitement of live performance) were enough to keep them focused for the twelve days we will be apart before gathering in St. John’s on Wednesday. Our friends and family said, “You sound wonderful, now go have fun!”, which is exactly what we intend to do!

This trip has been three years in the making for us and I have to say that we are surprised how truly excited we are to go. Our cohesion and musical beauty as the Small Choir has been a reward in itself. The Festival will just be the icing on the cake. Look out Newfoundland!

Blogging

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

This is my first blog post. Well, actually, my second, since I did a biggish piece on Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass which we performed a couple years ago. I’ve had difficulty starting to write a blog, as my friend, Michelle, can attest. The reason why is not clear. On the one hand, I certainly think a lot and study a lot, and the variety of music we cover in KSS, coupled with the depth at which we desire to understand it, leads me to look at the music and the words and ponder what part they play in the larger scheme of things. As we do theme concerts, this can become a powerful experience as the concert itself is planned and shaped for a greater good. Sometimes the good is just plain old fun.

In terms of writing a blog, part of the hesitation, no, I’ll be honest, the block, is that I’m more in tune with performance in music, which is what I do and what I help others to do, and performance is a spontaneous thing. Completely organized and bound by time, the musical art form in its essence resists being frozen in time. An art form that has such an affinity with the higher levels of the mind and consciousness is not happy being a museum piece. As soon as a piece of quality music is performed, it’s done for that moment. Finished. The next time it is performed it will be different, which is the seduction of performing music. The great pieces will take you to farther and farther lands every time you bring them alive.

A blog seems so final. Do authors have this same feeling? There on the page are the words, and they will be the same words tomorrow and the next day. This would never happen in music. True, the notes are the same, but the notes are just a basic blueprint. They have no life without the performer.

Well, writing a blog may well be a new adventure, and the best time for a new adventure is now. Let’s go!

Karen Schuessler talks about Missa Gaia

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Karen Schuessler founded the Village Singers (later renamed the Karen Schuessler Singers) specifically to perform Paul Winter and Paul Halley’s Missa Gaia / Earth Mass – an ecumenical suite of songs written in a fusion of musical styles that was originally created for the blessing of the animals service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. KSS first presented Missa Gaia in May 1994, and is reprising it for the final concert of our 2010/2011 season. Karen recently answered some questions about what attracted her to Missa Gaia in the first place, and how the work has continued to affect her in the years since that first performance.

Do you remember the first time you heard Missa Gaia / Earth Mass?
I first heard a recording of it at a spiritual retreat. The retreat leaders encouraged me to perform it, not realizing that I needed the score (which did not exist at the time) and a large choir to do it. They kept asking me about it, though, which in turn kept me hounding the composers of the work to write up a vocal/piano score, which they eventually did.

You had to create much of the instrumentation from scratch, didn’t you?
I had to keep bugging one of the composers, Paul Halley, to ask if the scores were available. When they were, they were only the piano notes and the choir parts — no chord charts, nor parts for any of the other instruments. We had to make that all up. They also sent a tape of the animal sounds that we had to figure out cues for.

When you were assembling the first soloists/musicians, how did you find people?
I asked around. Ed Hysen suggested Denise Pelley, and told to me contact Bill Zadorsky at CCH (Catholic Central High School) to get her number. Bill was very careful on the phone to make sure that I was a safe contact for Denise.

Steve Holowitz somehow found out that I was planning to do it, and called me to introduce himself and, having heard the work, to offer to help in any way he could. He also offered his new Madrigal Choir at Lucas Secondary School to sing in it, which they did. I believe Steve also suggested the other musicians at the time, or at least gave me leads to them.

When performing this extraordinary work, were there any glitches that you ran into in the first few performances?
Actually, there was a big glitch with the organ in Return to Gaia. The old Wesley-Knox organ did not have enough wind when we did the performance. The whole thing sank in pitch. I went into shock! That was the impetus to rebuild the organ, and two years later it was the splendid instrument we now have.

What was it like to finally bring Missa Gaia to life?
I’ve always felt that we were being blessed in putting the work together and performing it. I still feel that way. Its importance just keeps increasing.

KSS recorded Missa Gaia / Earth Mass in 2000. What was the recording process like for you?
It was my very first recording. I was mainly stressed from bringing together three choirs that day with no rehearsal, with all the musicians in the room together, having to keep to a tight time schedule, and not really being sure about the ins and outs of the total process. There was no way to separate the instruments from the choir on that recording, so all the post-production decisions had big compromises in them. St. James Westminster was a great recording venue for this style on that day, however.

Do you have a favorite piece (or pieces) from the work? What do you always look forward to?
I love the way it unfolds. I love the way it is all-embracing. I love listening to – and not conducting – Steve playing Return to Gaia and Denise singing Mystery. Someday I’d love to just sit and listen to our performance of Missa Gaia, which I believe is very moving, and let it wash over me, but I can’t. That being said, it is a true honour and an intense joy to be at the centre of creation for that work at that moment.

The underlying ecological theme of Missa Gaia has perhaps never been so timely.
I agree with that. There is an urgency I sense about performing it today that wasn’t there even six years ago.

How do you see the relevance of the work in the contemporary world, and what do you hope to accomplish with this and future performances of Missa Gaia?
One outcome that I would love to see from the performance is having people hear it and then being led to connect the dots between our earth and our choices. I believe we can turn things around, but it won’t be easy. But then, living with a feeling of impending doom about the future is not easy either. It all comes down to our choices, and in that way, each one of us is empowered to make a difference.

Karen talks about Going to the Rock! program

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

Karen recently answered some questions about Going to the Rock!

What is the theme for this concert?
The theme is the exploration and celebration of the music and culture of Newfoundland. In addition, it’s the preparation for the choir’s participation in Festival 500 in St. John’s, Newfoundland in July.

How did you choose the theme?
We needed a public performance of our concert set that we are performing for the Festival, and so we decided to expand on the Newfoundland theme all the way around.

How did you choose the guest artists?
Our choristers, Kevin and Daphne Bice—true lovers of all things Newfoundland—have a daughter who is a professional Celtic fiddler out west who is a fabulous entertainer and who has jammed with the best of them in Newfoundland. Bringing her back to London was a natural choice. Her friend, guitarist Greig Cairns, and she have worked together several times over the years, so it made sense to bring him on the concert too.

Kevin and Daphne were also the contacts for Newfoundland storyteller Don Ford, who is a friend of theirs.

Are any of the pieces special favorites?
Favorites of mine include Feller from Fortune, a Canadian choral favorite which is a cracking arrangement of a well-known Newfoundland folksong. It’s crazy and funny and smart and surprising and satisfying all at once—really a great piece.

I also love The Banks of Loch Erin, which is a wistful, haunting melody brought from Scotland and made Newfoundland’s own. It’s exquisite.

Then I like Drunken Sailor. The timing keeps changing which reminds one of a tipsy sailor stumbling on a ship deck in the roll of the sea—lots of whooping, and just delightful.

A piece that is a stunner from our Festival 500 concert set is I Thank You God by Gwyneth Walker. She set the well-known poem by e. e. cummings and created a resounding affirmation of life and creation—the cosmic Yes. It’s thrilling.

We are also doing Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) by Eric Whitacre, which has become famous as the Virtual Choir piece. We sang it on our last concert and it got a tremendous response. You can actually hear the “light” shimmering.

We’re also performing a splendid arrangement of Stephen Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns, his most famous song, that is an original interpretation of a great solo with a lot of room for emotional expression.

Back to the Newfoundland songs, there are three (Sarah, The Moocher and Me, The Landfall of Cabot) which are just hilarious, full of antics and gossip and back-chat and Newfoundlandese (terms known only there). As we sing them, Jennie Bice will weave her Kitchen Party fiddle throughout, pick up the theme, and get everyone wanting to dance in the aisles!

It’s going to be a great night and I can’t wait!

Click here for more information.
Click here to buy tickets.

Karen on Voices of Light

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Karen recently answered some questions about our first concert of the season – Voices of Light – which features a variety of classical choral music that celebrates the seasonal cycle of darkness and the return of the light.

What was the inspiration for programming this particular concert? Did you start with any particular pieces, or with the theme itself?
I started with a vague thought of doing a Christmas type of concert, but then realized that the concert date was too early for that. What’s starting to happen at this time of year, however, is that the days are rapidly getting very short, and we are going into that season when we cocoon or hibernate – that is, winter. So it was the idea of celebrating of exploring light in general – and darkness – that appealed to me. This theme is very ancient. As long as there have been humans, the idea of hoping that the light comes back is part and parcel of our survival.

The other aspect of that that I’m hoping to allude to at some level is the idea that we all have a responsibility to shed our own light in the areas of darkness that we come across. And that we are able to do that because we are – all of us – filled with light. Sometimes we don’t realize our gift in that way, or see ourselves in that way. And certainly our culture does not support that thought. But when we own that thought, there’s much good that we can do and accomplish.

I wasn’t sure how to verbalize that with music – there’s no music I know of that has exactly that theme – but there are metaphors of Christ being “the light”, which is why the winter solstice was chosen for Christmas (Christ’s birth). And there are great teachers, avatars, mentors and spiritual leaders who lead us and guide us by showing us their light. And so we rejoice when we celebrate the coming of the light for our particular culture.

We’re not singing Christmas music, but we are singing a Bach cantata that was written for Christmas day. And we’re singing O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen, which is all about the incredible mystery and miracle of the the great light that has come and is born in a feed trough. That’s an incredible image: that in the darkest corner of your barn is the beginning of the light. That’s huge if we let ourselves think about that. So that’s partly what it’s all about.

The title of the concert itself comes from the last piece on the program (Voices of Light by Paul Halley). It’s an ecstatic interchange between piano, choir and flute. The last time we performed this piece was at our tenth anniversary concert. The music carries you along, and it builds and builds.

Do you have a favorite piece in this concert?
I love Voices of Light. It’s just so thrilling. I love the Magnificat (by Francesco Durante, attributed to Pergolesi). It isn’t itself about light, but it’s the song of (Christ’s mother) Mary when she is telling her cousin Elizabeth that she’s going to be having this incredible baby. As the bearer of the light, her song is a social manifesto; in the words of the piece, the rich are “sent empty away” and the low are “brought up and exalted”. It turns society upside down. After Vivaldi’s Gloria, the Magnificat is probably the most popular choral piece of the Italian baroque. It is absolutely delicious, and I’ve wanted to program it for a number of years.

I’ve gotten several comments from the choir that they LOVE the music for this concert. There’s the beauty of the Bach, fantastic vocal lines of the Pergolesi. I can’t hear the Lauridsen or Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque without being moved. Whitacre’s piece will surprise the audience, because his musical language has a lot to do with texture and tuning, and the chords just shimmer. You should FEEL light coming from these chords. That’s the exciting part. When you sing it right, the light shines through the piece, and it’s palpable. It’s not just ABOUT light, it IS light.

The choir is trememdously enjoying making that happen. They can sense it, and they’re working really hard to do that.

Have there been any surprises as you’ve been rehearsing the music?
The surprise would be probably how much the choir is enjoying the music. It’s different, and it’s a lot of tonal colour, and the choir is enjoying so much getting inside that. There’s also a huge contrast and variety between all the pieces – German baroque, romantic Mendelsohn, with all the fabulous, soaring lines coming through…

And then there’s the Frostiana – a musical setting of a long poem by Robert Frost about how, when times get tough and we feel like we’re about to lose our bearing, we should choose something like a star that is fixed “out there” and just hang on. Don’t let yourself get pulled into the darkness. Hang on to that star. Within the poem, the poet talks about the conversation that we’re having with the star, and we say “Say something to us!” and the star says “I burn”. Come up to my level. So we lift ourselves and we make the effort to go there, and by doing that we rise out of our situation.

In a way, we are all voices of light. And the question is, do we raise our voice in the cause of the light, or do we let ourselves hide it?

Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Of the many things I love about KSS, one of the best is the wide variety of music that we perform. I’m one of those conductors who, when asked what their favourite piece of music is, will say, “The one I’m working on right now.” At the moment, that one is the Lord Nelson Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn, this being the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809. Because we do such a wide variety of music in KSS and we perform only three subscription concerts a year, we can’t spend a lot of time in any one period or genre, much as we would sometimes like to. Therefore, I don’t often choose the more obscure repertoire that a period has to offer. I generally go for a work that has been performed many times over the centuries. There is usually a good reason why—the work is a stunning example of its kind, the type that repays deep forays and repeated visits with more and more insight, more and more gold.

To gain an understanding of a great piece of music, it helps to know a bit about the social backdrop at the time and the events that were part of the composer’s world. This is what I was doing for several hours yesterday. Written in the summer of 1798, Haydn’s title for this particular mass was “Missa in angustiis” or, “Mass in Times of Distress.” The times of distress were the Napoleonic wars with the four losses Austria suffered that year, including a threat on Vienna itself. (Haydn was living mostly in Vienna by this time.) With Napoleon invading Egypt to bring down England (by way of India), foreboding filled Austria.

This led me to wonder why Napoleon was doing all this (outside of his huge ego, of course), which led to a review of the French Revolution, a short side trip into the economic fall-out of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption in Iceland (aren’t links great?) on the way to an in-depth overview of the Enlightenment, which was at the heart of the thought and aspirations of the entire 18th century. (More on that later.)

Haydn, the composer who most consistently expressed the values of the Enlightenment, was at the peak of his compositional powers and had, surprisingly, ceased to write orchestral symphonies by this time. His last major works were for instruments and voices uniting powerfully to express text (masses and oratorios), written in a deeply troubled time, and informed by the full flowering of the Enlightenment.

I mean, how good does it get? My heart beats faster just thinking about the richness laying beneath all those notes. Our first rehearsal is tomorrow—it can’t come fast enough.

Karen