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Bach Chamber Choir
Bach Chamber Choir rehearsing “Journey of Faith and Culture”
The Bach Chamber Choir’s spring concert, “Journey of Faith and Culture,” will be led by their music director, Jonathan Kim. The audience will experience music reflecting a universal search for meaning anchored in cultures throughout the world.
The Bach Chamber Choir (BCC), now with 25 singers, was formed in 1969 and consists of Milwaukee singers. David Wihowski, their long-time board president (and bass in the choir), had this to say about his fellow vocalists: “Over the years, one of the factors that has unified our group is a passion for doing our best to create beautiful music.”
Kim added, “Franz Schubert’s Mass in G Major, opening the program, is one of the most popular and most accessible choral/orchestral settings of the mass ordinary. Schubert, being the master of the German lied (song), brings to life the words and the essence of the mass text with luscious vigor.” All of the soloists are from the choir: baritone John Burgermeister, soprano Samantha Scantlin and tenor Kurt Ohlinger. They will be joined by the Chamber Orchestra for this piece.
The mass, composed in 1815, is a missae breves—a setting of the invariable portions of the eucharistic liturgy.
After a brief intermission the concert will continue with “Quatre Motets sur des thèmes Grégoriens" (Four Motets on Gregorian themes), an a cappella composition by the French composer Maurice Duruflé. It’s a wonderful piece sounding centuries old that was composed in 1960. Duruflé weaves wonderful polyphonic melodies around the main chant. If this is your first time hearing this “medieval” music you will want to go back for more.
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20th Century Too
Next up, compositions by 20th century American composers: “Alleluia” by Randall Thompson and “Long Time Ago” by Aaron Copland. This will be followed by Brazeal Dennard Chorale’s arrangement of the African American spiritual “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” featuring soprano Shaina Stoffel who just joined the BCC in January.
And then a step across the pond for “A Gaelic Blessing” by John Rutter, an English composer and conductor before returning home again for William Dawson’s version of “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit” featuring mezzo soprano Nicole Mueller. Dawson was an African American composer, choir director, and professor whose life spanned most of the 20th century. His Negro Folk Symphony can be found on You Tube and is well worth hearing.
The program concludes with “Make Our Garden Grow” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. The music is lovely, the words inspirational: “We’re neither pure nor wise nor good, we’ll do the best we know.”
“Journey of Faith and Culture” will be performed at 3 p.m. April 14 at Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 7845 N. River Road, River Hills. Further information about the concert and tickets can be found on the Bach Chamber Choir’s website: bachchoirmilwaukee.com.
