November 10, 2023 • 21 mins
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of choral music as we sit down with David Christopher, the Founder and Artistic Director of Delaware ChoralArts. This is a fascinating journey into the heart of an organization that's not just about music, but about building community and nurturing talents in Wilmington and beyond. Listen closely as David shares the unique dynamics of a chorus that can expand and contract depending on the performance, and get a taste of the audition process that aligns with their purpose of inclusivity and diversity.
We also give you an exclusive sneak peek into exciting performances on the horizon. From a thrilling collaboration with The Whitney Project and the Wilmington Children's Chorus to the Golden Harp performance featuring works of globally-acclaimed composers Malcolm Boyle, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gweneth Walker, and Dan Forrest, there's a feast for your ears. This episode is a poignant narrative of how choral music in Delaware and beyond weaves people together in an extraordinary way. Music enthusiasts, this one's for you.
The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Andy Truscott (00:09):
For Delaware State of the Arts.
I'm Andy Truscott.
My guest today is DavidChristopher, the founder,
artistic director and conductorof Delaware Coral Arts in
Wilmington, delaware.
Delaware Coral Arts or DCA,serves the greater Wilmington
community through excellent andinspiring performances of great
choral literature.
It supports its talented anddedicated membership with
(00:33):
professional skill andleadership, nurturing the art of
choral music throughscholarships, commissions and
showcases.
Known for its expressivesinging, diverse programming and
beautiful choral sound,delaware Coral Arts has brought
a rich palette of choral musicto the region since its
beginnings in 1984.
(00:54):
David, as we kick off here,could you start by giving our
listeners a bit of an overviewof Delaware Coral Arts and its
mission in the greater community?
David Christopher (01:04):
Well, delaware Coral Arts.
Well, when it was formed, I wassurprised by saying that I
formed it in 1984.
I was only about 14 at the timeno, I'm kidding and I was with
it for several years and movedaway.
Then I became the conductoragain in 2005.
(01:26):
So it's been around for quite awhile and it's gone through a
number of phases.
So currently we are a chorus ofabout 50 singers I think 48
exactly in this concert and thechorus size expands and
contracts depending on what wedo.
We do Carmina Verana.
Suddenly we have 90 people thatwant to sing with us.
(01:47):
If we do Monteverdi, we're downto 35.
So we kind of roll with thepunches.
With that.
We usually do a three concertseason, one of them usually with
orchestra.
In this case.
We have instrumental ensemblesthroughout the year.
So we rehearse on Mondayevenings.
(02:08):
So if there are folks out therethat would like to join a
choral group, we rehearse at theEpiscopal Church of St Andrew
and Matthew and Wilmington andwe have a fantastic
collaborative pianist, rob Tenon, who's the music director of
New Arc Methodist.
And one final thing I'll say weare associated with the
(02:28):
Episcopal Church of St Andrewand Matthew as an ensemble in
residence at the church.
It's kind of convenient becauseI'm the music director there as
well.
We kind of wedded the group tothe church and the group in a
loose way, but there's a lot ofsynergy between the two
(02:50):
organizations.
Andy Truscott (02:51):
You had mentioned that the size of the group
varies obviously based on thepiece that you're performing.
Talk to us about howindividuals can indicate to you
that they're interested inauditioning and kind of what
you're looking for most as itrelates to singers from the
community.
David Christopher (03:10):
If someone is interested in singing, probably
the easiest thing is to go toour website and look at the.
I believe it's the auditionspage.
It's been called differentthings.
It was sing with us for a while.
I think it might say auditionsnow, but it has information
about what is expected.
We do need people to be able toread music because basically we
(03:33):
hand you this huge pile of musicand then we have 12 rehearsals
and do a concert.
So it's not the kind of groupwhere we spend months and months
learning notes by ear.
So you really do have to readpretty well.
I'm also looking for peoplethat can sing in tune and have a
(03:54):
pleasant quality.
This doesn't need to be aspecific quality, Just needs to
be pleasant.
The other thing about DelawareCoral Arts is it's not just a
group of people that sing.
It really is a community.
We have social events and wehave a.
Our community actually involvesthe people that come to our
concerts.
So when you get involved withus, it's not just show up and
(04:17):
sing and that's it.
There's more to it.
So we also want people thatwant to become part of that
community.
I invite people.
Sometimes before they audition,they can actually come and sit
in on a rehearsal and try it out.
I highly recommend that, Evenif they audition.
(04:37):
Sometimes I'll say why don'tyou come to one of our
rehearsals, sit in, see what therehearsal is like, what the
group is like, and see if it'ssomething that you can commit to
?
The one final thing I'll say isit is a group that requires a
certain time commitment.
Because we do minimal rehearsal, we need people to come all the
(04:58):
time, unless they're for a sickor have a serious conflict.
We're looking for a commitmentthere as well.
Andy Truscott (05:06):
As the artistic director, how do you go about
choosing the pieces that youwill present each year?
Is that dependent on the coursethat you know already exists,
or do you choose the pieces withthe hopes that you'll attract
singers from around the areabased on the fact that you're
doing these pieces?
David Christopher (05:23):
Well, I think the answer is yes.
It's a really complicated thingto figure out what on earth to
sing.
Historically sung things likeMessiah or Handel's, judas
Maccabeus or Samson or BigOratorio's, elijah Haydn's
creation.
(05:43):
That's what the group,historically, has loved to sing,
but in the last decade or so wehave tried to become more of a
chorus.
That's relevant, shall I saythat's the right word, but it
matters.
What we do isn't just a funexercise for us, but it matters
(06:04):
to community and the singers.
We want the music to besomething that our singers want
to sing.
If it's not, they simply don'tcome first of all.
So they want to sing mainlythings like Kermina Barana,
handel's, elijah, but they alsowant to sing works by new
(06:25):
composers, by women composers,by black composers, and I think
over a period of time they'vecome to trust me that if we
settle on a piece, it's going tobe something that they want to
learn.
So we consider all of that whatpeople will come to hear what
people want to sing.
But then we also have othergoals, like we have our.
(06:49):
We recently formed a diversityand inclusion committee that has
been working to try tostrengthen our views and our
understanding of that, and theyweigh in on the selection of the
record.
We also have a programmingcommittee that gets involved in
this.
That's a long process.
I basically what I do is Ibasically make this humongous
(07:10):
list of every work that I couldconceivably think of that we
might want to do this season,and I give it to these lovely
people who take tons of time andthey look at everything and we
sort of boil it down to our sixbest choices and then we keep
massaging it down till weactually come up with the
program.
And then some oftentimes we getit all set and something falls
(07:34):
through and we have to go backto the drawing board.
Real pleased with this season.
I think it really is exactlythe kind of season that we like
to do and it's our budget and Ithink people are gonna be very
excited to hear it.
Andy Truscott (07:52):
Can you talk about some of the notable
partnerships or collaborationsthat Delaware Coral Arts has
established in your long tenureof existence?
David Christopher (08:03):
Sure, well, I've been a musician in this
community for at least 10 years,maybe 40.
And so I have a lot of personalconnections.
But also the group itself hashistorically collaborated with
other groups.
So between those two things weoften do like, for example, this
(08:29):
season our first and lastconcert have groups that we're
collaborating with.
The Gliss String Quartet ispart of our first concert and
that's a.
Lisa Vappel is our contractor,concert master or whenever we
use instruments, and she has astring quartet called the Gliss
(08:49):
String Quartet and that happensto be players.
They're all players that I'veworked with many times and it's
not like a.
They don't actually have aseries of their own.
They kind of it's an informalgathering of this quartet
whenever needed, but it's agreat group of.
It's all female group fineplayers, so we love to perform
(09:12):
together.
Lisa's just a brilliant playerand everybody that she brings in
is as well.
In the spring and that's gonnabe a collaboration with the
Whitney Project.
Now, the Whitney Project isJonathan Whitney's jazz ensemble
.
Jonathan Whitney is an artistin residence at the Episcopal
(09:34):
Church of St Andrew Matthew, asis Delaware Quora Larks, so we
have relationships on manylevels.
Plus, he and I are very goodfriends and we're always doing
projects together.
That was a no brainer when weneeded a jazz group.
We just go to Jonathan and it'sactually not just like his jazz
trio or quartet, this has likecellos and blutes and things in
(09:58):
it as well.
So it's sort of the WhitneyProject expanded.
So we're collaborating withthem for the spring.
We also often collaborate withthe Wilmington Children's Chorus
.
Kimberly DuSette and PhilDuSette were on that.
Usually once a year we dosomething collaborative with
them.
It's not actually on our season, but we are doing a spiritual
(10:19):
concert with them.
We'll be singing in theWilmington Children's Chorus'
Spirituals Concert, so we'realso collaborating with them
this year as well.
Andy Truscott (10:30):
I want to take just a minute here to remind our
listeners that you're tunedinto Delaware State of the Arts
on News Radio 1450 WILM and 1410WDOV.
David, talk to us about what'scoming this season.
I know you've got a performancecoming up here in just about a
week called the Golden Harp atGrace United Methodist Church.
(10:51):
Tell us what audiences canexpect with that performance and
then the rest of your season.
David Christopher (10:57):
So that's on Saturday, november 18th, at 7 pm
.
It's going to be at GraceUnited Methodist Church, which
is one of our favorite places tosing.
Audience likes to come too,because when you think of Grace
Methodist Church you also thinkof all those parking lots all
around it, so it's a very easyplace to park and the acoustics
(11:17):
are the best in town, I think.
So that concert has four pieceson it.
The first we open with thisit's a big ol' Anglican tour de
force called Thou O Goddard,praised in Zion by Malcolm Boyle
, based on Psalms 65 and 67 andIsaiah 26.
And it's like an eight minutepiece that just lets out all the
(11:41):
stops.
So it's the kind of stuff thatDCA loves to do, and hopefully
that will get them warmed up forthe Mozart Mesa Brevis in F.
It's KB192, that's the secondpiece.
Now.
The first piece is just withorgan, with Gabriel Benton will
be playing the organ he's theorganist at Grace and one of the
finest keyboard players aroundand then the second, the Mozart
(12:04):
Mesa Brevis, will have stringsand organ.
This is a 20, 20 minute piece,I guess maybe 25 minutes.
That he wrote when he was just18 years old, and it's one thing
that's kind of notable about it.
It's sometimes called thecradle mask because it uses a
(12:24):
theme that he used.
Well, the theme is, which is atheme he used in the Jupiter
Symphony, so it's justimmediately tends to sound
familiar to people and theydon't know why.
(12:45):
I haven't done the piece inlike 15 years, so I'm really
thrilled to be doing it againand the soloists are from our
staff singers.
They're going to be steppingout and doing the solos for that
.
The third piece is called theGolden Heart and this is by
Gwyneth Walker.
One of the things I'mparticularly interested in doing
(13:10):
is more works by womencomposers, and I think they're
just.
Gwyneth Walker is an example ofsomeone who I think needs to be
performed a lot more.
Her music is brilliant, itholds up against anybody else
and it's got ideas that I keepthinking as we're rehearsing
this.
Could a European guy from the17th and 18th century thought of
(13:34):
anything like this, evencontemporary?
It's got such an interestingway that she crescendos and
decrescendos through the phrases.
It gives it like an aerodynamicquality, so she just has a
great style.
It was originally written forthe Arkansas Chamber of Singers
and with string quartet, so itwas commissioned from her by
(13:58):
them, and it uses the poetry ofRabindranath Tagore.
I hope I said that, right,rabindranath.
I think the accent's on thesecond syllable there.
He was 1861 to 1941.
And he was a Bengali poet,playwright, novelist, all kinds
of things.
He won a Nobel Prize and thiswork is from his.
(14:21):
Gitanjali is the name of thebigger work.
He translated it himself intoEnglish.
It's a very interestingspiritual work.
It sort of explores the beautyof the divine and the beauty of
the soul within, and it sees thebeloved as the creator or as a
(14:42):
lover.
So it's like poetry to God,basically, but not in a way that
you would expect to hear it inchurch.
The reason it's called theGolden Harp is because there is
a line in the opening song itsays I am here to sing these
songs.
That's the title of the piece,and when in the morning air the
(15:04):
Golden Harp is tuned, and sothat's where the Golden Harp
comes from.
So, and then we close theconcert with a piece by Dan
Forrest, who is a really popularcomposer now.
It's a piece called Like BeyondShadow that he wrote in 2021.
(15:25):
But it was based on everythingthat happened in 2020, which, as
we know, that was the pandemic.
Many of us had a terrible timewith that.
There was a tumultuous electionthat year.
Things have never been the samesince that, and so that
inspired him.
He was Paul Wigmore.
Paul Wigmore is an Englishwriter.
(15:47):
The text invokes light, joy,love, peace and hope.
It really is, and it's withstrings, piano and chorus, so
it's a very ethereal, movingpiece.
Dan Forrest we did a piece byhis Ubalate Deo, which he wrote
in 2016, and we did it in 2018.
(16:08):
So this is our second DanForrest piece.
So that's our fall concert,november 18th.
Andy Truscott (16:16):
Talk to me about the February performance of I
Believe, which is going to havetwo performances one at Newark
United Methodist Church and oneat the Presbyterian Church of
Dover.
David Christopher (16:25):
We're actually really excited to be
doing Newark and Dover.
So we've been thinking for awhile we've got to get out of
Wellington and performthroughout the state more.
So Newark and Dover are wherethese concerts will be.
The concert is centered arounda piece called Credo, which I
(16:46):
believe, and it's written byMargaret Bonds.
The musical piece was writtenby Margaret Bonds, american
composer, one of the first Blackcomposers to gain recognition
in the United States.
She's known very well for herspiritual arrangements.
Most notably, he's got thewhole world in his hands.
(17:07):
The famous arrangement thateveryone does is by Margaret
Bonds.
She was very influenced byFlorence Price, another
African-American composer, who'srecently got a lot of press and
her works have been revived.
And she worked closely withLangston Hughes.
But this work is WEB Du Bois.
Now he was much earlier.
(17:27):
He was 1868 to 1963.
So he wrote the text of thework in 1904.
And in 1904, he wrote this work.
It's considered a prose poemand it proclaimed his philosophy
on racial equality.
The work is nine movements andeach movement is one of the
(17:51):
pieces that he laid out hispersonal beliefs towards racial
equality.
The first one is God, then theNegro race, then pride, service
the devil, the prince of peace,liberty for all men, the
training of children andpatience.
(18:12):
So these were the things thatwere part of his credo.
I want to read a quote from oneof my friends in Philadelphia.
Veronica Chapman Smith is asoprano and I've performed with
her a number of times.
She says it is a piece of musicthat, not only through the text
but also through the musicallanguage, tells a story that has
(18:34):
unfortunately not been heard ona regular basis within the
traditional concert hall.
And this is a piece that we didlast year for our spring
concert, and it received such aninteresting response.
People were a lot of peoplewere surprised that they liked
it.
They were impressed with howpowerful the music was and how
(18:59):
the music, the words, seemed tomake more sense because of the
way that she said it.
So we decided that we wouldrevive it and share it with our
Newark and Dover friends.
It's one of the final piecesthat Bons wrote before she died,
actually, and following thatconcert we're going to have a
(19:20):
live panel discussion, both ofthem, both in Newark and Dover.
It's going to be led by thesoprano soloist.
Her name is Jasmine Salabarios,who's actually from Dover, but
she's going to be singing andleading this panel of people
that she puts together fromDover, and we're going to be
talking about looking at 1904,1965, and 2023, and how this
(19:47):
work is relevant for all threetimes.
So we think it's going to be avery interesting discussion.
So we really want it to be.
You know, we love singing thepiece, but it needs to be more
about more than just the piece.
It's really a very relevantpiece.
Andy Truscott (20:04):
David, as we wrap up a little bit, can you talk
to us about what message orinspiration you want to convey
to listeners about the beautyand significance of choral music
in Delaware and beyond?
David Christopher (20:18):
There's all kinds of levels that we have to
find in the music that won'tfind themselves.
You know, the composers haveinterpreted the text for us and
we spent a lot of time talkingabout this, and I think it's one
of the things that makes theirperformances unique.
The other thing that I think isinteresting about that is by
focusing on these musical ideaswe don't really ever talk about,
(20:41):
tend to talk about blending somuch, because what we find is
people with different voices anddifferent timbres, different,
you know, different mindsets,even if we share the same
musical ideas, it tends to justblend and it comes together in a
way that it's a phenomenonreally, so that by the time we
(21:04):
get to the end maybe I'll say afew things like this chord is
out of tune, let's try to fixthat, and you know the vowel
quality here is off, but if wehave the same musical mind, the
voices tend to blend and thepeople feel connected in a way
that they can't feel any otherway.
So I think that this really isimportant to the members of the
(21:28):
group as well.
Andy Truscott (21:30):
It's hard to put into words beyond that, david,
thank you so much for joining metoday.
If you're interested inlearning more about Delaware
Coral Arts, I encourage you tovisit their website at
DelawareCoralArtsorg.
For Delaware State of the Arts.
I'm Andy Truscott.
My guest today is DavidChristopher, the founder,
artistic director and conductorof Delaware Coral Arts in
Wilmington, delaware.
Delaware Coral Arts or DCA,serves the greater Wilmington
community through excellent andinspiring performances of great
choral literature.
It supports its talented anddedicated membership with
(00:33):
professional skill andleadership, nurturing the art of
choral music throughscholarships, commissions and
showcases.
Known for its expressivesinging, diverse programming and
beautiful choral sound,delaware Coral Arts has brought
a rich palette of choral musicto the region since its
beginnings in 1984.
(00:54):
David, as we kick off here,could you start by giving our
listeners a bit of an overviewof Delaware Coral Arts and its
mission in the greater community?
David Christopher (01:04):
Well, delaware Coral Arts.
Well, when it was formed, I wassurprised by saying that I
formed it in 1984.
I was only about 14 at the timeno, I'm kidding and I was with
it for several years and movedaway.
Then I became the conductoragain in 2005.
(01:26):
So it's been around for quite awhile and it's gone through a
number of phases.
So currently we are a chorus ofabout 50 singers I think 48
exactly in this concert and thechorus size expands and
contracts depending on what wedo.
We do Carmina Verana.
Suddenly we have 90 people thatwant to sing with us.
(01:47):
If we do Monteverdi, we're downto 35.
So we kind of roll with thepunches.
With that.
We usually do a three concertseason, one of them usually with
orchestra.
In this case.
We have instrumental ensemblesthroughout the year.
So we rehearse on Mondayevenings.
(02:08):
So if there are folks out therethat would like to join a
choral group, we rehearse at theEpiscopal Church of St Andrew
and Matthew and Wilmington andwe have a fantastic
collaborative pianist, rob Tenon, who's the music director of
New Arc Methodist.
And one final thing I'll say weare associated with the
(02:28):
Episcopal Church of St Andrewand Matthew as an ensemble in
residence at the church.
It's kind of convenient becauseI'm the music director there as
well.
We kind of wedded the group tothe church and the group in a
loose way, but there's a lot ofsynergy between the two
(02:50):
organizations.
Andy Truscott (02:51):
You had mentioned that the size of the group
varies obviously based on thepiece that you're performing.
Talk to us about howindividuals can indicate to you
that they're interested inauditioning and kind of what
you're looking for most as itrelates to singers from the
community.
David Christopher (03:10):
If someone is interested in singing, probably
the easiest thing is to go toour website and look at the.
I believe it's the auditionspage.
It's been called differentthings.
It was sing with us for a while.
I think it might say auditionsnow, but it has information
about what is expected.
We do need people to be able toread music because basically we
(03:33):
hand you this huge pile of musicand then we have 12 rehearsals
and do a concert.
So it's not the kind of groupwhere we spend months and months
learning notes by ear.
So you really do have to readpretty well.
I'm also looking for peoplethat can sing in tune and have a
(03:54):
pleasant quality.
This doesn't need to be aspecific quality, Just needs to
be pleasant.
The other thing about DelawareCoral Arts is it's not just a
group of people that sing.
It really is a community.
We have social events and wehave a.
Our community actually involvesthe people that come to our
concerts.
So when you get involved withus, it's not just show up and
(04:17):
sing and that's it.
There's more to it.
So we also want people thatwant to become part of that
community.
I invite people.
Sometimes before they audition,they can actually come and sit
in on a rehearsal and try it out.
I highly recommend that, Evenif they audition.
(04:37):
Sometimes I'll say why don'tyou come to one of our
rehearsals, sit in, see what therehearsal is like, what the
group is like, and see if it'ssomething that you can commit to
?
The one final thing I'll say isit is a group that requires a
certain time commitment.
Because we do minimal rehearsal, we need people to come all the
(04:58):
time, unless they're for a sickor have a serious conflict.
We're looking for a commitmentthere as well.
Andy Truscott (05:06):
As the artistic director, how do you go about
choosing the pieces that youwill present each year?
Is that dependent on the coursethat you know already exists,
or do you choose the pieces withthe hopes that you'll attract
singers from around the areabased on the fact that you're
doing these pieces?
David Christopher (05:23):
Well, I think the answer is yes.
It's a really complicated thingto figure out what on earth to
sing.
Historically sung things likeMessiah or Handel's, judas
Maccabeus or Samson or BigOratorio's, elijah Haydn's
creation.
(05:43):
That's what the group,historically, has loved to sing,
but in the last decade or so wehave tried to become more of a
chorus.
That's relevant, shall I saythat's the right word, but it
matters.
What we do isn't just a funexercise for us, but it matters
(06:04):
to community and the singers.
We want the music to besomething that our singers want
to sing.
If it's not, they simply don'tcome first of all.
So they want to sing mainlythings like Kermina Barana,
handel's, elijah, but they alsowant to sing works by new
(06:25):
composers, by women composers,by black composers, and I think
over a period of time they'vecome to trust me that if we
settle on a piece, it's going tobe something that they want to
learn.
So we consider all of that whatpeople will come to hear what
people want to sing.
But then we also have othergoals, like we have our.
(06:49):
We recently formed a diversityand inclusion committee that has
been working to try tostrengthen our views and our
understanding of that, and theyweigh in on the selection of the
record.
We also have a programmingcommittee that gets involved in
this.
That's a long process.
I basically what I do is Ibasically make this humongous
(07:10):
list of every work that I couldconceivably think of that we
might want to do this season,and I give it to these lovely
people who take tons of time andthey look at everything and we
sort of boil it down to our sixbest choices and then we keep
massaging it down till weactually come up with the
program.
And then some oftentimes we getit all set and something falls
(07:34):
through and we have to go backto the drawing board.
Real pleased with this season.
I think it really is exactlythe kind of season that we like
to do and it's our budget and Ithink people are gonna be very
excited to hear it.
Andy Truscott (07:52):
Can you talk about some of the notable
partnerships or collaborationsthat Delaware Coral Arts has
established in your long tenureof existence?
David Christopher (08:03):
Sure, well, I've been a musician in this
community for at least 10 years,maybe 40.
And so I have a lot of personalconnections.
But also the group itself hashistorically collaborated with
other groups.
So between those two things weoften do like, for example, this
(08:29):
season our first and lastconcert have groups that we're
collaborating with.
The Gliss String Quartet ispart of our first concert and
that's a.
Lisa Vappel is our contractor,concert master or whenever we
use instruments, and she has astring quartet called the Gliss
(08:49):
String Quartet and that happensto be players.
They're all players that I'veworked with many times and it's
not like a.
They don't actually have aseries of their own.
They kind of it's an informalgathering of this quartet
whenever needed, but it's agreat group of.
It's all female group fineplayers, so we love to perform
(09:12):
together.
Lisa's just a brilliant playerand everybody that she brings in
is as well.
In the spring and that's gonnabe a collaboration with the
Whitney Project.
Now, the Whitney Project isJonathan Whitney's jazz ensemble
.
Jonathan Whitney is an artistin residence at the Episcopal
(09:34):
Church of St Andrew Matthew, asis Delaware Quora Larks, so we
have relationships on manylevels.
Plus, he and I are very goodfriends and we're always doing
projects together.
That was a no brainer when weneeded a jazz group.
We just go to Jonathan and it'sactually not just like his jazz
trio or quartet, this has likecellos and blutes and things in
(09:58):
it as well.
So it's sort of the WhitneyProject expanded.
So we're collaborating withthem for the spring.
We also often collaborate withthe Wilmington Children's Chorus
.
Kimberly DuSette and PhilDuSette were on that.
Usually once a year we dosomething collaborative with
them.
It's not actually on our season, but we are doing a spiritual
(10:19):
concert with them.
We'll be singing in theWilmington Children's Chorus'
Spirituals Concert, so we'realso collaborating with them
this year as well.
Andy Truscott (10:30):
I want to take just a minute here to remind our
listeners that you're tunedinto Delaware State of the Arts
on News Radio 1450 WILM and 1410WDOV.
David, talk to us about what'scoming this season.
I know you've got a performancecoming up here in just about a
week called the Golden Harp atGrace United Methodist Church.
(10:51):
Tell us what audiences canexpect with that performance and
then the rest of your season.
David Christopher (10:57):
So that's on Saturday, november 18th, at 7 pm
.
It's going to be at GraceUnited Methodist Church, which
is one of our favorite places tosing.
Audience likes to come too,because when you think of Grace
Methodist Church you also thinkof all those parking lots all
around it, so it's a very easyplace to park and the acoustics
(11:17):
are the best in town, I think.
So that concert has four pieceson it.
The first we open with thisit's a big ol' Anglican tour de
force called Thou O Goddard,praised in Zion by Malcolm Boyle
, based on Psalms 65 and 67 andIsaiah 26.
And it's like an eight minutepiece that just lets out all the
(11:41):
stops.
So it's the kind of stuff thatDCA loves to do, and hopefully
that will get them warmed up forthe Mozart Mesa Brevis in F.
It's KB192, that's the secondpiece.
Now.
The first piece is just withorgan, with Gabriel Benton will
be playing the organ he's theorganist at Grace and one of the
finest keyboard players aroundand then the second, the Mozart
(12:04):
Mesa Brevis, will have stringsand organ.
This is a 20, 20 minute piece,I guess maybe 25 minutes.
That he wrote when he was just18 years old, and it's one thing
that's kind of notable about it.
It's sometimes called thecradle mask because it uses a
(12:24):
theme that he used.
Well, the theme is, which is atheme he used in the Jupiter
Symphony, so it's justimmediately tends to sound
familiar to people and theydon't know why.
(12:45):
I haven't done the piece inlike 15 years, so I'm really
thrilled to be doing it againand the soloists are from our
staff singers.
They're going to be steppingout and doing the solos for that
.
The third piece is called theGolden Heart and this is by
Gwyneth Walker.
One of the things I'mparticularly interested in doing
(13:10):
is more works by womencomposers, and I think they're
just.
Gwyneth Walker is an example ofsomeone who I think needs to be
performed a lot more.
Her music is brilliant, itholds up against anybody else
and it's got ideas that I keepthinking as we're rehearsing
this.
Could a European guy from the17th and 18th century thought of
(13:34):
anything like this, evencontemporary?
It's got such an interestingway that she crescendos and
decrescendos through the phrases.
It gives it like an aerodynamicquality, so she just has a
great style.
It was originally written forthe Arkansas Chamber of Singers
and with string quartet, so itwas commissioned from her by
(13:58):
them, and it uses the poetry ofRabindranath Tagore.
I hope I said that, right,rabindranath.
I think the accent's on thesecond syllable there.
He was 1861 to 1941.
And he was a Bengali poet,playwright, novelist, all kinds
of things.
He won a Nobel Prize and thiswork is from his.
(14:21):
Gitanjali is the name of thebigger work.
He translated it himself intoEnglish.
It's a very interestingspiritual work.
It sort of explores the beautyof the divine and the beauty of
the soul within, and it sees thebeloved as the creator or as a
(14:42):
lover.
So it's like poetry to God,basically, but not in a way that
you would expect to hear it inchurch.
The reason it's called theGolden Harp is because there is
a line in the opening song itsays I am here to sing these
songs.
That's the title of the piece,and when in the morning air the
(15:04):
Golden Harp is tuned, and sothat's where the Golden Harp
comes from.
So, and then we close theconcert with a piece by Dan
Forrest, who is a really popularcomposer now.
It's a piece called Like BeyondShadow that he wrote in 2021.
(15:25):
But it was based on everythingthat happened in 2020, which, as
we know, that was the pandemic.
Many of us had a terrible timewith that.
There was a tumultuous electionthat year.
Things have never been the samesince that, and so that
inspired him.
He was Paul Wigmore.
Paul Wigmore is an Englishwriter.
(15:47):
The text invokes light, joy,love, peace and hope.
It really is, and it's withstrings, piano and chorus, so
it's a very ethereal, movingpiece.
Dan Forrest we did a piece byhis Ubalate Deo, which he wrote
in 2016, and we did it in 2018.
(16:08):
So this is our second DanForrest piece.
So that's our fall concert,november 18th.
Andy Truscott (16:16):
Talk to me about the February performance of I
Believe, which is going to havetwo performances one at Newark
United Methodist Church and oneat the Presbyterian Church of
Dover.
David Christopher (16:25):
We're actually really excited to be
doing Newark and Dover.
So we've been thinking for awhile we've got to get out of
Wellington and performthroughout the state more.
So Newark and Dover are wherethese concerts will be.
The concert is centered arounda piece called Credo, which I
(16:46):
believe, and it's written byMargaret Bonds.
The musical piece was writtenby Margaret Bonds, american
composer, one of the first Blackcomposers to gain recognition
in the United States.
She's known very well for herspiritual arrangements.
Most notably, he's got thewhole world in his hands.
(17:07):
The famous arrangement thateveryone does is by Margaret
Bonds.
She was very influenced byFlorence Price, another
African-American composer, who'srecently got a lot of press and
her works have been revived.
And she worked closely withLangston Hughes.
But this work is WEB Du Bois.
Now he was much earlier.
(17:27):
He was 1868 to 1963.
So he wrote the text of thework in 1904.
And in 1904, he wrote this work.
It's considered a prose poemand it proclaimed his philosophy
on racial equality.
The work is nine movements andeach movement is one of the
(17:51):
pieces that he laid out hispersonal beliefs towards racial
equality.
The first one is God, then theNegro race, then pride, service
the devil, the prince of peace,liberty for all men, the
training of children andpatience.
(18:12):
So these were the things thatwere part of his credo.
I want to read a quote from oneof my friends in Philadelphia.
Veronica Chapman Smith is asoprano and I've performed with
her a number of times.
She says it is a piece of musicthat, not only through the text
but also through the musicallanguage, tells a story that has
(18:34):
unfortunately not been heard ona regular basis within the
traditional concert hall.
And this is a piece that we didlast year for our spring
concert, and it received such aninteresting response.
People were a lot of peoplewere surprised that they liked
it.
They were impressed with howpowerful the music was and how
(18:59):
the music, the words, seemed tomake more sense because of the
way that she said it.
So we decided that we wouldrevive it and share it with our
Newark and Dover friends.
It's one of the final piecesthat Bons wrote before she died,
actually, and following thatconcert we're going to have a
(19:20):
live panel discussion, both ofthem, both in Newark and Dover.
It's going to be led by thesoprano soloist.
Her name is Jasmine Salabarios,who's actually from Dover, but
she's going to be singing andleading this panel of people
that she puts together fromDover, and we're going to be
talking about looking at 1904,1965, and 2023, and how this
(19:47):
work is relevant for all threetimes.
So we think it's going to be avery interesting discussion.
So we really want it to be.
You know, we love singing thepiece, but it needs to be more
about more than just the piece.
It's really a very relevantpiece.
Andy Truscott (20:04):
David, as we wrap up a little bit, can you talk
to us about what message orinspiration you want to convey
to listeners about the beautyand significance of choral music
in Delaware and beyond?
David Christopher (20:18):
There's all kinds of levels that we have to
find in the music that won'tfind themselves.
You know, the composers haveinterpreted the text for us and
we spent a lot of time talkingabout this, and I think it's one
of the things that makes theirperformances unique.
The other thing that I think isinteresting about that is by
focusing on these musical ideaswe don't really ever talk about,
(20:41):
tend to talk about blending somuch, because what we find is
people with different voices anddifferent timbres, different,
you know, different mindsets,even if we share the same
musical ideas, it tends to justblend and it comes together in a
way that it's a phenomenonreally, so that by the time we
(21:04):
get to the end maybe I'll say afew things like this chord is
out of tune, let's try to fixthat, and you know the vowel
quality here is off, but if wehave the same musical mind, the
voices tend to blend and thepeople feel connected in a way
that they can't feel any otherway.
So I think that this really isimportant to the members of the
(21:28):
group as well.
Andy Truscott (21:30):
It's hard to put into words beyond that, david,
thank you so much for joining metoday.
If you're interested inlearning more about Delaware
Coral Arts, I encourage you tovisit their website at
DelawareCoralArtsorg.
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