Some of the most redolent and emotional music has been written to accompany moving images on the big screen. If you think that movie soundtracks are just “background noise” or “elevator music” that you can just as easily do without, try to imagine some of your favorite moments in cinema without the music underlining, in the most profound way, what you see. Making the case for the enduring importance of movie music is what the Master Singers of Milwaukee have in mind for their upcoming concert, “At the Movies.”
The Master Singers of Milwaukee won our 2017 Best of Milwaukee reader poll for Best Choral Group: no mean feat given the competition. “The choir was thrilled to be selected by the readers of the Shepherd Express,” says the ensemble’s spokesperson, Martha Dodds Stoner. “With competition like the Bel Canto Chorus and Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, which have so many more singers, we were excited to be recognized for excellence.”
Founded in 1972, the Master Singers of Milwaukee is an adult mixed-voice choral group composed of talented vocal musicians from the greater Milwaukee area. Its depth of range and power comes from singers with extensive musical backgrounds. Choir members consist of international soloists who’ve sung throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, church and school choral directors, vocal students from area schools and serious amateur musicians.
Accompanying the chorus under the baton of its music director, Eduardo García-Novelli (who also serves as associate professor of music and director of choral activities at Carthage College), will be guest jazz group the Chris Geiser Trio, which has been making music together for about a decade thus far. “They first played together as part of the worship teams at Elmbrook Church, leading music for weekend services and occasionally adding sacred jazz,” Dodds Stoner explains. “The trio plays for various public and private events, and individually, they play for various churches.” The Chris Geiser Trio last worked with the Master Singers of Milwaukee for the latter’s “Just Jazz” concert four years ago. The trio consists of pianist Chris Geiser, bass player Dave Schroeder and drummer Dave Ruetz.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Modes and Moods of Film Music for Chorus
You don’t often actually get to hear a choir singing to scenes in movies, so many of the works on the Master Singers of Milwaukee’s “At the Movies” program are choral arrangements of songs originally heard by a vocal (or even instrumental) soloist in a film.
One example of this will be a performance of “What a Wonderful World,” which was a number one hit for Louis Armstrong when released in 1967. In 1988, his recording appeared in the film Good Morning, Vietnam and, consequently, was re-released as a single—hitting number 32 on the Billboard chart later that year. (It also made a less well-known film appearance—serving as the end credit music for the 1995 movie 12 Monkeys.)
“Over the Rainbow” is another example. It’s certainly one of the most famous movie songs ever—so memorably sung by the young Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. “Over the Rainbow” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland’s signature song—as well as one of the most enduring standards of the 20th century. About five minutes into the film, Dorothy (Garland’s character), after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and sundry farmhands to listen to her tell of an upsetting incident involving her dog and the infamously mean Miss Gulch, sings about a place where she’ll find peace and acceptance.
Choruses also have the wonderful trait of being able to wordlessly imitate the sounds of musical instruments. An example of this will be the Master Singers’ performance of Craig Hella Johnson’s arrangement of “Gabriel’s Oboe,” a theme (actually the theme) from the 1986 film, The Mission. The soundtrack for the film—well received among critics and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score—earned its composer, Ennio Morricone, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. In The Mission, the most prominent use of “Gabriel’s Oboe” occurs when a Jesuit father walks up to a waterfall and starts playing his oboe with the goal of befriending the native Guaraní people with its soothing sounds and, thus, also smooth his way towards continuing with his missionary work in the New World.
There are also those rare but altogether gorgeous moments when a choral version of a song—whether or not it actually made a deliberate appearance in a film score or not—becomes inextricably linked to a legendary movie. Such is the case with “Moon River” and the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The tune went on to win the 1962 Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
These are just a few of the more than one dozen choral versions of movie songs and themes to be heard at the Master Singers of Milwaukee’s “At the Movies” concert. Other pieces come from such films as Working Girl, West Side Story, Top Hat, The Gay Divorcee, Summer Stock, Frozen and more.
Sunday, June 3, at 4 p.m. at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church, 2366 N. 80th St. For tickets, visit mastersingersofmilwaukee.org.
