Messiah with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra 2024

David Fallis is our conductor for this year's performance of Handel's Messiah. No, I cannot get sick of singing this work year after year if the likes of Maestro Fallis are still inspired by it why shouldn't I? He brought his interpretation to us with consise instructions - "Do you know what stripes are in this context?" (And with his stripes we are healed) "They are ugly and they hurt like hell. Sing that word that way" He also has us change our singing of the word sheep. We get to the 'p' faster. Many of his instructions had to do with singing the text more similar to our speaking - slight problem for me that my Mennonite speaking may differ from his native Torontonian vocalizations so my production of the article, 'the' may still be jarring for him. He brought a generalized more stately tempo to many of the pieces saying, "if you are confident in what you are singing there is no need to rush." This for the "Blessing and Honour section of the last movement. He also brushed over some of our more rehearsed marcatto passages. Most notable contrast from the 2023 Messiah is that the central soparno aria, I know that my Redemmer livith was NOT left out. Still shaking my head over that decision last year. Also, if you have ever wallowed in period dramas such as The Tudors or Borgias it will interest you to know that David Fallis has a lot to do with the feel of those episodes as he was their historical music producer! It is a delight to be working with him! I LOVE performing with the WSO and really, they are the premiere musicians in the city, but there is the odd time where they embarass me and their rehearsals with Maestro Fallis was such a time. The Instrumentalists close to me chit-chatted through his instructions and some never proved they owned a pencil and so, of course, at 2nd rehearsal there was confusion as a few scores were void of markings. Not sure why it is that guest conductors cannot be treated with more respect? Perhaps his attitude was too coolaborative for this bunch who are still pining the loss of Boreyko? Some instrument sections did not keep pace with his baton, which of course is hard to do when you are not looking in the general direction of the guy waving the baton. Keep in mind these players are getting paid to play this. Their rushing away with the tempo happened during the performances as well. Ah well, the composition and the message behind it transcended all. The audience was still inspired and nobody asked for a refund. This year we sang the Hallelujah Chorus sans score, which you wouldn't think was a big deal but you would be thinking wrongly. Winnipeg choirs don't seem to do much memory work and so it was quite something! Another first was having 3 performances instead of the usual 1 or 2, and I do believe the 3rd performance was our best! David Fallis stayed and chatted with the audience after every show which was just one of his endearing traits. The shows were held at Knox United Church as neither the WSO nor the Centennial Concert Hall has seen fit to purchase or repair the choral shell so needed for choir productions to be able to return to the Concert hall unmiked. There are some advantages to the Knox venue as it is gorgeous and gives the audience a more intimate connection with the orchestra and singers. For the choristers too, we are much closer to our conductor which I think provides us with security. I like to have eye contact with the leader during performances. Two problem areas with the venue are, parking and potties, as well as the rushed seating. Although perhaps that is also a good thing as one price gets you any seat. The audience members I spoke to were comfortable in that space. Overall, I am completely satisfied with the experience and am looking forward to Messiah 2025!

Messiah 2017

G. F. Handel

This year is the Messiah that I almost didn't perform.  Some would say that is hardly a sad thing, but this chorister has yet to tire of performing Handel's great oratorio.  This great composition never languished in dust, as Julian Pellicano mentioned in his pre-concert talk to the audience, but was performed the year it was composed (1741) and every year after that.  I am thrilled to perform it over and over again. (although I came on the scene a few years after composition)

Imagine then, when earlier this year I scanned over the Winnipeg Symphony Season catalogue and found that listed under Messiah was WSO Chorus - a choir I was not a member of nor had ever heard of.  I went into panic mode!  Who was this choir?  Who was the conductor?  Why were the usual suspects (Winnipeg Philharmonic and Mennonite Festival Chorus)  taken off of this gig?
I messaged the WSO executive director who replied that the board was just looking at different choirs.  "yes", I anxiously replied, "a change can be good but who is this WSO Chorus?  It is their name that scares me!!  It sounds like if you ever want to sing with the WSO again you best be part of this choir."  To this there was no reply.

A few weeks later a friend texted me an image of their TV screen and on it were the words WSO Chorus auditions and an email address.

You can bet I emailed that very minute hoping to get in on my resume alone.  This group would have none of that and rather insisted I send in an audition.  They wanted to hear two choruses from Messiah.  Two from an approved list of 3.  Oh brother.  By now it was summer and my voice was in relaxed mode.  Having not sung for weeks I felt quite out of shape, vocally.  I sang around the house for a few days and then proceeded to record myself singing along with a recording.  Now, as my family knows, singing with a recording is what I do best - haha!  I blast out every choral part I can and of course bellow along with the soloists too.  So it was with my audition recording.  Yup - when the chorus was done the bass soloist and I rang out, "Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts" OOPS!  Now what?  Not being very electronically savvy and not wanting to re-sing the piece as this had been my 3rd go that afternoon, I decided to send off the recording with this very embarrassing bit at the end, indicating that I was also auditioning for the bass solo part.
After a few agonizing weeks of waiting I received the joyous news that I had passed the audition and was now a member of the WSO Chorus!  I was elated!

I arrived at the first rehearsal much like a young soccer player arrives at the provincial team's first practice. Happy to have made the cut, but anxious and insecure.  This feeling was palpable in the rehearsal room.  We were competing against each other, scared someone would take our spot, worried we wouldn't measure up.  There was not the usual choral camaraderie.   There were only 2 familiar faces in the room, which was odd considering I have sung in choirs in this city for 4 decades.  The 3 of us were from the Mennonite Festival Chorus which has performed the Messiah with the WSO many times.

The rehearsal conductor, John Wiens, indicated that this was only 70% of the choir and that the rest would come later.  The rest, it turns out, were members of Polycoro, a local elite choir.  This, 70% of second stringers rehearsed 2 or 3 times prior to having the pros join us.  For me the rehearsals were something like this:

first rehearsal:  I cried on the way home because the conductor had indicated, in my general direction, that vibrato was not a welcome sound in his choir. "Well", I thought," I guess I won't be singing in your choir then."  It was like telling a left-footed kicker that no left foot shots were allowed.  Now, I try to produce a straight tone and I know that too much vibrato is awful but I didn't think I was at that stage yet. So now I had two choices, I could quit or I could use his techniques to improve my sound.
After the tears I decided to keep practicing.  I took to heart his advice about balancing the body, opening up space at the back, letting the sound fall out, not worrying about sounding good,..etc. All the things my voice teacher, Diane Berger used to say.

Wiens Warm-up

2nd rehearsal: I thought I had landed in a choral comedy sketch.  John Wiens had us twirling our fingers around our lips then pulling hand back while pointing at ourselves and breathing out and then bringing our pointed finger right back to our lips while breathing in.  Say What?!?  I couldn't decide whether he was genius or idiot.  This was going to be a very different Messiah.  We second stringers were struggling to blend our sound.  In the soprano section was an 11 year old boy, in the tenor section was a woman, there were only 4 basses, among the altos was one old lady (that being myself) and a 16 year old girl.   I was singing about 50% of my capacity in order to blend with the voices around me, many of which had a Broadway musical sound to them, which it seemed is what he wanted.  On this ride home I predicted this choir would never be able to cut through an orchestra.  It is too small, and too weak.

subsequent rehearsals:  Then came the 30%!  And the difference they made was 100%.  Their professional voices were able to coat all of ours, fill in the gaps, and we began to have a blended sound.  I was feeling hopeful.  Voices like Sarah-Jo Kirsh in the soprano section and Sarah Hall in the alto took things up several notches.  John was fussy about voice placement and moved choristers around during rehearsals to get the right sound.  I had read about this technique but never experienced this in action and I enjoyed the process; because in the end I  received  two seatmates with whom I felt I could blend. I decided he was not an idiot.

 Our rehearsal conductor and our performance conductor, sometimes referred to as the real conductor, Julian Pellicano, were much concerned with this Messiah sounding crisp and light.  It had to be a contrast to many classic recordings of the works and to past WSO performances with larger choirs.  They were agreed on this.  Neither of them offered us much by way of passion or talks about their vision of the work except by way of technique. In other productions with the WSO there has been a fair amount of time spent talking about the message of each movement and how the text and music work together.  This was not the case here.   I do not know if this is peculiar to these two conductors or if this is  how one speaks to choirs with so many professional singers.  Still, I did use Ivars Taurins' (a conductor I have written about in past posts)  images of the various movements to help me and give me pleasure.  There were singers in this group who had never sung the Messiah and I wondered what they were using for inspiration.

It was this that gave me a revelation, (yes this old girl is still learning).  Technique and correct interpretation is enough.  The singer does not have to feel emotion to convey emotion.  The singer needs only to convey what the composer and conductor have asked you to do.   If one places the consonant at the exact right moment and crescendos and decrescendos at just the right point in the phrase, with the right notes in the right place emotion will be conveyed.  The singer's feelings are irrelevant.  The performer's attention to and execution of every detail is what counts.  

The soloists in this production were all local singers known and loved by Winnipeggers.  In my unprofessional opinion the soprano, Jane Fingler, sings the way she looks.  Angelic, pure and lovely. I do not know if her voice carried well in that hall.  Dan Peasgood was the counter tenor.  I have  never been a fan of counter tenors as they are competing for my job.  Isn't it enough that they can sing bass or tenor, now they want to go after my notes too?  I once sang in a choir with Dan and he is a very pleasant fellow but he kept singing my notes.  When I sing beside a man I automatically try and  harmonize with him and Dan refused to let me do this; he was always on my notes.  I am clearly not the one to assess his performance as to me, "He was Despised" needs to be sung by an alto. (said the alto) Tenor, P.J. Buchan was stellar and to my ears, far outshone all the others.  He was truly comforting in his opening aria and was brilliant in his "Thou shalt Brrrrrreak Them" later on.  The bass voice was Chris Kornelsen who was fine in his early offerings but in "The Trumpet Shall Sound,"  his voice did not ring out but was rather muffled. 

Julian Pellicano - WSO conductor in residence

  

It surprised me that on the performance podium Julian Pellicano was full of passion, mouthing and sometimes singing along with choir and soloists.  This side of him was not revealed during rehearsals.

By the end of the first performance some barriers in the choir had been broken and more smiles and words were exchanged.

There was no review of the concert in our local paper and I have not spoken with enough critical ears to know how it sounded in the hall but I enjoyed the view and the sound from my vantage point.  I am fairly sure it is the best soprano section I have every sung with.  They were able to beautifully sing high G's as mezzo piano which very few choirs can do.   I came away from this Messiah thrilled to have been able to sing with such fine singers, gratified that I had tried new vocal techniques, warmed by Handel's music and message, and grateful to perform with the huge talent that is WSO. 

small glimpse into 2016

I have not posted in over a year.  I miss reflecting on my choral experiences but I have been so busy with career and family and singing that I have not had time to reflect. 
A choral highlight occurred in the spring of 2016.  It may be THE choral highlight of my life.  I have performed the 15 movements of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil under the baton of a Russian conductor.  What I say about that experience is this:
Luxurious, heavenly and profound.

Rehearsals were deeply emotional with profundo basses providing a deep foundation one could wallow in.  It is sung accapella and the long legato lines can be challenging.  The alto section is split into 3 parts and I was put in the third part which made me very happy.

I doubt whether this chance will come my way again before I die  so I savoured every rehearsal and every minute of performance, feeling extremely empty when it was done.

Christmas 2016

Christmas 2016 brought me another Messiah.  I have been singing many of these lately as the WSO has decided to make this an annual event.  It is kept interesting for the chorister by having guest conductors coming in.  This time it was Tania Miller who presently works out of Victoria B.C.
The choir loved her instantly as she appeared to be very impressed with our tone at our piano rehearsal.  She gave us many compliments and we responded well to her suggestions.  She was clear in her direction and in tune with the text.

The next day we rehearsed with orchestra and although I love the WSO dearly, they, true to form, were stand-offish with the Maestra.  To be fair, not all players reacted this way but there were clearly some with great looks of disdain.  At one point the first violins were asked to play their line in a different way (wish I remembered more details) and the concert mistress argued semantics with the conductor, "You mean do a fill in some term here?"   and  Ms. Miller responded, 'I doubt it is called that but if you want to call it that".  They were counted in again and the passage still was not up to expectations and the Maestra turned to the concert mistress and said, "Look, if it is too difficult for you you don't have to play it."
Woah!  Looks were exchanged in the choir loft and we were grateful for the anonymity choral singing provides. 
Tania had a stroke of genius in the second half.Sshe announced to the orchestra, "Oh by the way Andrey says 'hi" to you all."  Looks darted around the orchestra,  um, did she just say Andrey?  Oh yes, she did.  Andrey of course is the WSO god Boreyko who is worshipped by most who have worked with him. By invoking him and her personal connection to him the orchestra would have no choice but to comply with the Maestra's wishes at first asking.
Now, as a chorister it is possible I misheard but it is what I heard and there was more compliance from this moment on. 
The next day was dress rehearsal with the soloists and the choir could get used to the new "sits" ad "stands", as one must with each new conductor of the Messiah.   It  all went very smoothly.
We  then  had two evening performances, which I always appreciate over just one.
They both came across quite well, I think.  Handel always able to deliver!

Making the Case for Scaglione

Photo of CASE SCAGLIONE by Christian Steiner

I have just finished two nights of Messiah - yup - 'tis the season.   Our conductor was Case Scaglione.  I was singing it with the Mennonite Festival Chorus and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.   This was not our most inspired Messiah - that belonging to Ivars Taurins, and perhaps not the most strange and interesting interpretation - that was Noel Edison but neither was it lacking in charm.
It may have appeared slightly lacklustre as the orchestra was clearly void of most of its principal players and it seemed rather obviously so at the first two rehearsal. Adding to the less than stellar rehearsals was the Maestro's laryngitis which left him unable to make any demands on us. 

In spite of this I enjoyed the process because he was a very generous soul, conducting a good beat but never over conducting leaving soloists, players and choristers somewhat free.  He didn't make strong demands on diction but he strongly favoured legato singing and asked for it in places not usually required.  (Let us break their bonds, With his stripes, Amen, and others)  He blew us kisses from the podium and was generally kind with his praise.  He wanted more from the alto section and the powers that be should perhaps consider auditioning more singers for our section.

A distinguishing feature of his Messiah was, that he laid down his baton for the "And with his stripes" and conducted the choir bare handed and required no orchestra whatsoever.  Something he witnessed Sir Colin Davis doing in London.  A Capella singing in a concert hall is a rare event and I hope we pulled it off.  There was no critic, unless I count my husband, in attendance so no review in our local paper therefore not sure what the audience made of this feature. 

Although some may feel bored by performing Handel's Messiah every year, I feel lucky to be able to sing this great work under various batons and getting something new out of it each time.

Jane and Wolfgang

I have had two Mozart Requiem rehearsals with the skillful Mozart expert, Jane Glover.  Dr. Glover knows Mozart well, having studied much about him during the writing of her book, Mozart's Women.  She feels him in every part of this work and wonderfully transfers those passions to the choir.

She read to us a letter in which Wolfie consoles his dying father, saying that death is the only sure thing in life and something to look forward to and it is in that spirit that we are to sing the opening movement, Requiem aeternam donna eis domine.: with quite an upbeat feel.
In the second movement, Dies irae, we can feel that as his own death drew nigh fear of it did arrive as shown by the use of trumpets of which Mozart had a fear, almost a phobia about in his childhood.

The one truly sorrowful movement is the No. 7 Lacrymosa.That day of tears and mourning....It was during the composition of this movement that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died, in fact the last line he wrote was, "the guilty man goes to his judgment" and he was gone...from this point on in the music Jane shared with us that she always feels Mozart departing  and the ever ordinary Franz Xaver Suessmayr taking over the composition with Mozart's sketches in mind.   There is a floating quality in the music in the next few bars where Mozart's soul is floating up, then in bar 22 human rage at the creator begins, we are singing "dona eis Requiem" but we are in a forte rage at God for having snatched Mozart from us at such an early age.  Then in bar 27, exhausted by our rage we are somewhat resigned to his passing and our own eventual demise.

Ms. Glover has a way of transmitting this knowledge to us so that we too can feel all this passion. 
She spoke with us in a soft confidential manner about "good old Sussmeyer."  She said that she herself has never and will never conduct any other Mozart Requiem.  She works exclusively with the Sussmeyer.  She acknowledges admiration for the brilliant one done by Robert Levin and mentions German composers who have completed the Requiem with much more skill than Sussmeyer, but is is Glover's contention that Sussmeyer was sitting on the edge of the bed taking dictation from Mozart, frantically trying to get all he could from the dying man and then did an adequate job of finishing it.  "We cannot abandon Sussmeyer now.  He was there and you can't replace that."   All this even though his Osanna is mere few seconds where as Mozart would have given us a glorious 4 minute
one.

The fact that the Suessmayr version is somewhat ordinary is part of the charm of the piece.  It shows that the Musical Genius has died and now the ordinary takes over but with glimmers of Mozart since Franz Suessmayr did have the master's musical outline.

 

Jane Glover has a wonderfully collaborative manner about her.  When she arrived on the rehearsal stage she went to shake hands with a few of the musicians who, I presume, were not at her afternoon rehearsal.  She welcomed the choir and we felt as though each one of us was a valued contributor to bringing out Mozart's genius.   She repeatedly uses the phrase, "My friends", as in "That was very good my friends"  or "All right my friends let's take it from bar 23, all of us."  The orchestra is showing respect to her and seem to have an appreciation for the choir.  It truly feels like we are all in this together. 

 

 One of my favourite expressions of Glover's, which I remember from working with her two years ago, is the musical dynamic "mezzo quelque chose" used when really it is not a mezzo piano not a mezzo forte, just a "whatever".   She likes to tell us that in the Rex Tremendae movement there is no mezzo quelque chose; it is either forte or piano. 

 

She often refers to the men as chaps, which is very charming as she has this wonderful British accent.  She sounds charming even as she says, after an attempt at the opening of Confutatis - "Well chaps, that was rather feeble.  You will need to try it again and with the realization that your manhood is at stake."   Ms. Glover,  the sopranos and altos were impressed with the chaps' second attempt. 

 

 Her conducting style is very easy to follow.  She has a masterful beat stroke with very clear entries and finishes and yet a very flowing style. She knows what she wants from each instrument and each voice part and is unapologetic about asking for it.   I do so like working with her.

 

  Mozart and Glover are an inspirational duo to be spending time with during passion week.



Ah Mozart!

It is a Sunday afternoon.  I have been wallowing in Brahms for the last few weeks as I rehearse it on Thursdays and listen to it to and from my work.  Readers of this blog know I LOVE BRAHMS!  So it is with a "I am not in the mood for Mozart at all" that I take my place at rehearsal.  The conductor has the pianist play the opening measures and, SHUDDER, I am grabbed into a scary place and can feel the composers trepidation as the piano takes the listener to the choir's forte opening of "Requiem"!  I am overcome by the emotion in the work in a way that has me tearing up at several points.
The first movement of Mozart's Requiem seems to be a perfectly crafted piece of music that one would not approach too casually and certainly not with the bored air I took my seat with.  No!  This is a fine piece of music filled with uneasiness but also glimmers of sweetness.  Mozart is to have said, "I fear I am writing the Requiem for myself." and this sentiment comes through in the opening bars.

I have sung this many times so why do I forget this fact between times? 

The choir I am rehearsing with, The Mennonite Festival Chorus, is a joy to work with.  This is a group that seems to know that singing this music is an honour and a sacred task.  The music is approached with reverence.  Not that there is not fun and laughter, and even cookies and coffee at break, but there is just a general seriousness about the music that I don't find in every choir.

I am so grateful to be rehearsing this work again.  Performance is on March 30th at the Centennial Concert Hall with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Jane Glover conducting.