University Chorale Concert

Last night (Saturday) I attended a fabulous concert conducted by two of my good friends in the graduate choral conducting program at BYU--Steve Durtschi and Cory Mendenhall. The concert was held in the historic Provo Tabernacle, the traditional venue for this non-auditioned ensemble's spring concert. It was good to see so many friends in attendance, including the BYU Choral Assistant (and my second cousin, once removed) Nathan Wright to my right and budding conductor Scott Moore. Nathan and the talented Joseph Ogden will be touring the Midwest with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir soon. Across the aisle was seated Matthew Nielsen, another young conductor with ideas of his own.

The choir's obvious attention to vowel unification was rewarded in the beautiful tabernacle acoustics. For the most part the sound was beautiful, even, mature, in-tune, and the singers seemed to respond well to Steve and Cory's expressive conducting. Steve and Cory have an ebullient energy and humor that pervades their relationship with the choir, but not at the music's expense. I was particularly impressed by their performance of Clausen's Set Me as a Seal.

Adam Frederico accompanied admirably at the piano. We worked together for a semester in the BYU Men's Chorus since he was selected through audition to take over as the principal accompanist. After four years playing for the choir it will be difficult to watch them perform without me, but the sting is less knowing that Adam is so fearless and musical. He jumped right in and impressed us all. Notes scribbled during his performance tonight in Brian Peterson's "The Good Shepherd": "Good playing, Adam! Supportive, rich tone. Good page turns! I'm proud of him and grateful he's taking over for the Men's Chorus. Brilliant, bell-like top."

I enjoyed my time in the choral conducting program very, very much. I was learning from professors I love and admire, professors who the art as well as the student, and surrounded by a remarkable group of friends, each with a musical offering. Cherie Call (now Hall) and I conducted this same choir last spring under Rosalind Hall's direction, and we had a blast. We gave them some George Shearing Shakespeare settings, some anthems last published in some H.W. Gray anthem books 60 years ago, and movements from one of the Mozart Litanies. Cherie is a truly sensitive, compassionate, and insightful musician. I say compassionate because she was trusting enough to open up to me as well as caring enough to listen to my problems.

Other conductors I had the opportunity to work with include my friend Brent Rogers (the person to talk to regarding Finnish music and diction. He's also stable, which so many of us aren't. We co-conducted a choir for one semester and he balanced me perfectly.), Christina Bishop (a gifted and infectiously joyful music educator), Danny McDavitt (a ridiculously hard-working and prolific arranger with a beautiful conducting style), Bryson Mortensen (one of the first to mentor and befriend me before I entered the program), and Carric Smolnik (a fine pianist, ambitious, and delightfully opinionated. Never a dull moment speaking to him!). Then there's my friend Monica Hymas who is immensely talented and unaware of that fact. She and I took the Advanced Keyboard Harmony graduate piano class together with Dr. Jeffrey Shumway. For one of our choral arranging assignments she worked out a stunning accompanied For the Beauty of the Earth, to which my loungy Faith of Our Fathers paled in comparison. She plays with an understanding of the harmonies, the melodic line, and beautiful sound. What a blessing to learn along side such fabulously talented friends!

I'm grateful to Dr. Ronald Staheli, Rosalind Hall, and Jean Applonie for fostering this kind of openness and comradery. The program may be competitive, but it is not cut-throat.