It is fair to say that the last dozen years or so have seen a rise in enthusiasm for choral music in the United States, both on the performance side and in audiences. What could possibly be the factors in this perceived change? Whether for better or for worse, personality often drives change. If the 2018-19 season is any indication, music director John Orr and the Knoxville Choral Society clearly understand where choral music is headed in the future and are enthusiastically changing the face of their organization to be a part of it.
In their intriguing season-ending concert entitled “Sing! Knoxville” this past Sunday at the Bijou, the KCS featured a program of music by living composers that seemed to address two aspects of choral music: the joy of singing as music participation and the presence of exciting contemporary composers like Eric Whitacre and Ola Gjeilo.
From Whitacre, his early work “Cloudburst”, written while still a student and featuring text adapted from a poem by Octavio Paz, was a joy of musical impressionism. On this occasion, Orr called on the audience to participate with finger snaps to simulate the sound of raindrops falling on the desert floor. Orr and the ensemble handled the mix of dissonance, handbell and percussion effects, and aleatoric passages quite successfully, allowing the arc to work its magic on the audience. Devin Lyon and Laura Chapman were soloists.
Contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo was represented by a couple of works on the program, including “The Lake Isle” based on a poem by William Butler Yeats. The work’s choral sound is flavored with piano, acoustic guitar, and a string quartet which carries the work in the direction of a symphonic atmosphere.
A choral arrangement by André van der Merwe of Ed Sheeran’s “Supermarket Flowers” was a poignant choice on the evening, as was another Gjeilo piece “Across the Vast, Eternal Sky.” Paul Halley’s “The Rain Is Over and Gone” featured an exhilarating performance from soloist Lynn Oberloh.
While the audience may have been familiar with the familiar William L. Dawson arrangement of “Ezekiel Saw De Wheel”, the KCS tried out a more recent arrangement of the spiritual by Stacey V. Gibbs, one that got enthusiastic applause.
This season, having accomplished a concert of Handel choral works, performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in addition to the traditional Holiday concerts, and wrapping up with Sunday’s focus on contemporary choral music, the KCS seems overjoyed with its role in moving the Knoxville audience into a future of choral music greats—greats of the past and the future.
