Chilcott Workshop Day

Another beautiful day in St. John's. However, faithful EnChorites willing gave up the sunshine to spend two hours in rehearsal for the Massed Adult Choir. The rehearsals are actually a treat. Fred Sjoberg from Sweden, who is conducting the Massed Adult Choir as well as the Come Solo Choir [EnChor spouses Wesley, Lorna, Linda and Marion are members] is a delight to work with. He is energetic, charismatic, humorous and obviously a very talented choral director. He makes the occasional lapse in English that puts us in stitches, but don't faze him. He is willing to laugh at himself. During the first rehearsal yesterday, he referred to "blow buggles, blow" in the opening chorus of the second movement of Dona Nobis Pacem. Today's howler, related to the "snorting horses" in the fifth movement. He was rehearsing the soprano and alto parts and made reference to "snorting females".

The guys (and it is a guy writing this blog) are happy to have Doug Dunsmore, one of the Festival's artistic directors and a prof at Memorial University, lead the sectionals for tenors and basses. He is an incredibly friendly and approachable man who, nevertheless, has a keen ear and tolerates no sloppiness. Unfortunately, the "rehearsal room" for the male singers is an almost airless room with insufficient seating for the 150 or so men who have to crowd in. Were it not for Doug's personality, there might be some grumbling.

Most of us attended at least two workshops today. Larry Nickel, representing Cypress Choral Music, led a workshop that involved singing through a dozen or so pieces scored SATB that the company has on offer. There were some beautiful arrangements that I am sure Diane will be looking at for EnChor. EnChor made up most of the participants so we were able to give Larry a boost--especially when we "sight read" pieces like "Skye Boat Song" and "Four Strong Winds" that we know well.

The second workshop saw Bob Chilcott put EnChor through its paces on his "The Lily and the Rose". We were rather chuffed after Bob had us sing through the piece, which we had been learning under Diane's direction, that he focused on nuances, many of which only the composer would be sensitive to, as we polished the piece. He also gave us a mini lecture on the medieval poetry underlying the lyrics, which, since there is no consensus on the allusions they contain, added to its mystery. Your blogger got a great shot of Diane and Bob after the workshop.




Bob is Composer in Residence for the Festival so we are also learning his "Seeds of Stars" for the grand finale. This piece is an original composition for the Festival. We look forward to hearing him tell us about how it came about.


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Location:St. John's