June 22, 2024 • 30 mins
Robert Simpson is the founder and artistic director of Houston Chamber Choir and Dr. Betsy Cook Weber Houston Chamber Choir Artistic Director Designate. The Houston Chamber Choir celebrates its 30th anniversary season which will be founder Robert Simpson’s last as he hands over the directorship to Dr. Cook Weber.
"From Startup to Standout" will feature the annual free show at Miller Outdoor Theater: “I Just Want to Celebrate! Songs from the ‘70s” and a world premiere from brilliant English composer Patrick Hawes: "Son of Man."
And don't miss their Christmas show: “Glory in the Highest: Christmas at the Villa” performed at the Chapel at the Villa de Matel.
Go to https://www.houstonchamberchoir.org for tickets and info.
"From Startup to Standout" will feature the annual free show at Miller Outdoor Theater: “I Just Want to Celebrate! Songs from the ‘70s” and a world premiere from brilliant English composer Patrick Hawes: "Son of Man."
And don't miss their Christmas show: “Glory in the Highest: Christmas at the Villa” performed at the Chapel at the Villa de Matel.
Go to https://www.houstonchamberchoir.org for tickets and info.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show. An iHeartMedia broadcast ourdis
laimer says that the opinions express onthis show do not necessarily reflect was held
by this radio station, it's managementstaff for any of its advertisers. I
don't know what an oplinion is.My name is Laurent I am the Texan
(00:28):
from France and I get to welcomethe Houston Chamber Choir on the show again.
Robert Simpson is the founder and artisticdirector of Houston Chamber Choir and with
him is doctor Betsey Cook Weber.She is the Houston Chamber Choir Artistic Director
designate. And if you think thatthat means that there may be a big
change coming for the Houston Chamber Choir, that's because it's true. Robert is
(00:53):
going to direct this last season forhis career. It's the thirtieth anniversary season.
It's called from Startup to stand Out. And then Robert is going to
stand down as the artistic director andhe's going to hand the reins to doctor
Betsy Cook Weber, who comes fromthe University of Houston from Mayma almer Mater
and she used to teach at theMore School of Music. He has created
(01:19):
one of the most successful chamber choirsin the world. Actually, and then
you, I guess you're going tostay mysteriously undefined in your near future.
But I was going to say,y'all want a Grammy, which matters because
the audience. That's something that theaudience recognizes. But the truth is that
your success as a chamber choir inHouston is something that is not given to
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most organizations. Most nonprofit organizations don'tlast very long. That's a fact.
And here you are, thirty yearson and you're about to hand the rains
to somebody else. This is anextremely successful organization. You must be extremely
proud. And why on earth areyou leaving you're so young. Well,
I am very proud, and Icouldn't be happier about the transition. But
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you know, there comes a timewhen a founding director can outlive his or
her usefulness. And I think thatthe chamber Choir has achieved a certain amount
of success and it's now time forthe chamber Choir to step out into a
new stage. And I couldn't bemore proud or pleased that Betsy is going
to be my successor her reputation intown has been well earned as a choral
(02:29):
educator, as the director of thesymphony chorus, as a person who travels
the country being asked to do clinicsand to speak to choral musicians. So
we have within Houston the perfect personto take over this ensemble and to direct
its future growth to greater things.Yeah, one of the things that you
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must be proud of is that thisorganization is going to keep going. That
absolutely, I just think that you'vecreated something that's going to stay. Like
the Houston Symphony. You're adjuscent toit because as you're in the same business
as you have put your finger righton My greatest goal when I started this
with my wife Mariana thirty years ago, was to create an ensemble that would
be a continuing part of the culturalscene of Houston. Houston had a great
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symphony, ballet, opera, thearts were thriving, but it didn't have
a professional choir. It actually hadhad one in the nineteen eighties that couldn't
withstand some of the economic turbulence ofthat time. And so when I came
to town in nineteen ninety three,I asked about that, and I predictably
got two responses from people who knewthe previous choir. We tried that in
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Houston. It doesn't work. Don'tsave your time. The other group said,
we had it, we loved it, we miss it, let's get
it back. So I listened tothat second group of people, and little
by little, just sitting at ourkitchen table, putting things together, step
by step, we've arrived now ata point where we have a significant budget,
we have a large and really creativestaff, and we have been able
(04:00):
to accumulate some of the great awardswithin the choral community. The Chorus America
Margaret hillis award which is given tooutstanding choral organizations because of their achievements.
The American Prize is a well respectedaward that was granted to both the chamber
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choir into me and then, ofcourse, the crowning achievement is a Grammy.
So we are ready to take thisnext step with Betsy, to greater
and greater things. What was theGrammy for Best Choral Performance? We had
recorded the complete works of the Frenchcomposer Maurice Durafle, and he was a
(04:42):
magnificent composer, known perhaps most forhis Requiem which is on our CD,
but he wrote other smaller pieces andso we included those. The complete works
fit nicely onto a CD, andno kidding, was that fifty five minutes
or so he wasus. He wrotevery slowly, but every note is just
as you would want it to be, and so it sounds inevitable. But
(05:05):
he struggled and worked very hard tomake his music everything that he wanted it
to be. So that was avery exciting moment because we had not had
a CD even nominated before, andso a small group of us went to
La just to have a party,just have fun, just to see what
(05:26):
it was like. Yeah, andlo and behold. We got to the
end of the evening down to thechoral awards, and they had been announced
Robert Simpson, Houston Chamber Choir CompleteWorks of Maurice daur Offlay, along with
the other nominees. And so whenit came time to announce the final winner,
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the person standing up there said thecomplete Works of Maurie dea Offlay Houston
Chamber Required Robert Simpson. I didn'tmove a muscle because I was waiting for
the way they had announced the nominees. It wasn't until my wife started to
shriek. Next to me. Mariannawas just saying, we won, we
won, we won, And shekept saying that all the way down the
red carpet to the acceptance speech.We won, we won. You you
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watched the video and Mariana is justthrowing her hands in the air and exclaiming
with joy. It's only marian again. It's emblematic, I guess of your
success. But for Houston, you'resomething that we can be proud of because
we have an arts community that producessome great work worthy where I think one
of four or five cities in thecountry that has all five performing arts.
No, I think the thing iswe're one of four cities that has the
(06:38):
five performing arts. Is that right, Betsy, You're an educator, you
would know this. Maybe, Likethere's there's New York, Houston, I
think Chicago and Boston. Well LAhas no. La ain't gotten nothing.
They don't even have good theater.They have a great arts community for Shaw,
I don't believe it. But Houstonhas, I mean they have.
(07:00):
We have yeah, very strong artscommunity and people are surprised. Uh well,
just because people just don't know muchabout Houston. I mean, I
still have people ask me if Iride a horse to work, and I'm
not kidding. Yes, especially inEurope, do you ride a horse?
No, I mean only recreationally.But the police some some police officers do
and that's something else that's surprising.So do they wear cowboy hats? Yes?
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Do they wear guns? Yes?And so it's like the far West.
There's a lot of concrete in Houston, you know. Yeah, it's
kind of funny. We do,we just don't have a reputation for that.
True. The Houston Grand Opera isone of the few opera companies in
the world that is still commissioning works. So they're actually driving innovation and bringing
(07:45):
in people. And that's what y'allare doing too, because all are You'll
you'll have a concert every year thatlooks to the future, right. You
bring in schools, yes, thatis that is part of our educational outreach.
We do commission new works, andI think it's very important and I
think that'll be a continuation to inspirecomposers to focus on the choral art.
(08:05):
But here the Future is an educationaloutreach in which we invite three schools to
attend middle school, an elementary,a middle school and a high school and
they're selected because of their achievements andthings that have been done that set them
apart. On Saturday before that,eight additional schools are invited, and they
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are schools that have been identified ashaving great potential but have not developed that
potential yet, and so we bringin a very well known clinician, usually
a college choral director to work withthem and inspire them. So we have
both those schools that are on theirway to achieving great things, and then
a showcase for three choirs the followingday who have already achieved great success.
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So we have a wonderful weekend.Worth mentioning that. Obviously we're talking about
professional music here. These are peoplethat you know they live their craft.
But the truth is that you canjoin choirs and corrals around town on an
amateur level and where you go practicemaybe every week. Obviously lots of people
seeing in church, but there isa communion when you seeing with a lot
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of the people. That is theonly way to feel that well. Here
the future is designed for schools,so they're students from elementary through high school.
But then, as you've said,the coral field is rich, yeah
opportunities. It can be show choirs, barbershop chamber choirs, symphony choruses,
(09:39):
community choruses, of all sides,of all sizes. So it is a
field in which people can really contributeand find themselves inspired at every level and
be part of a community. Youwere going to add. The NEA commissioned
to study about three years ago andthey estimate that fifty four million Americans singing
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a choir at least once. Really, that's way more than I would have
guessed. It's astonishing number. Andso you think about a group like the
Houston Chamber Choir is like the Astros. Every little leaguer in town goes to
sea an Astro's game and looks upto this, yeah, those players,
and the same is true, andwe hope to make it even more true
(10:22):
in the future in terms of allthese people are singing choral music at whatever
level they're capable of. Looking tothe very tip of the point at the
Houston Chamber require exciting to have anopportunity to work with real professionals like this
durn journa clinic is obviously something thatany of the students would be interested in.
You can go to Houston Chamber Choirdot org. For information Houston Chamber
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Choir dot org. The twenty fifthannual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival is
going to be on January twenty sixth. It'll be at South Main Baptist Church.
You are listening to Houston PA,Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name
is Laurent. My guest are BetsyCook Weber. She is the Houston Chamber
Choir Artistic Director Designate and Robert Simpsonis the founder and Artistic director of Houston
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Chamber Choir. They're celebrating their thirtiethanniversary season. It starts on September twenty
first at South Main Baptist Church.They're doing Son of Man by Patrick Halles.
And that's one of the things youdo is that you open people's ears
to extraordinary compositions that they wouldn't hearin you anywhere else. That's possibly true,
and certainly there are many, manywonderful composers whose names are not well
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known, but who are deserving ofan audience, and Patrick is one of
them. He's English, he hashad significant success. He's been played at
the Proms, BBC, three places, music a lot, and he actually
heard the Duraflay recording and contacted mefrom England saying, I think you're the
choir that I would like to inviteto premiere this major work my perhaps my
(12:01):
magnum opis k I'm preparing right now. It's called The Son of Man and
he pitched it to me as thetwenty first century take on Messiah. That's
the masterpiece by Handle that chronicles jesuslife from birth to his crucifixion. And
Patrick is taking that same some ofthose same iconic biblical passages and setting them
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but this time for symphony, orchestraand chorus and doing it in a way
that I think will bring an additionalmeaning to the text that we know so
well and give us one more greatpiece of choral music. And so we're
going to be doing that premiere onSeptember twenty first, a world premiere with
Patrick here in attendance. So it'sa world premiere it is. That's fantastic.
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So how did he know about you? He heard our Durafla recording.
By the way, is that availableon streaming services? So you can just
look up Houston chamberquir and Spotify,Apple Music, etc. And listen to
this record. You'll find several otherrecordings there as well, not just that.
Oh yes, right, we arelimiting ourselves to only talking about the
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ones that win win awards. That'sjust ridiculous. Another way to discover all
these musicians, I would say it'sboth the blessing and the curse of live
performances. You can only experience itby going to see the show. It's
wonderful to have a recording, butyou have to go into a studio to
do that. Probably, do youever record some of your performances? We
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record all of our podcases, Yeah, and some of them are produced in
Toto. For example, the Christmasof the Villa. Yeah, we make
a video of that that is usedthroughout the Houston Hospital system at Christmas.
And other bits are put on YouTube, so you know, people, people
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can go on and hear the HoustonChamber cors on YouTube or on our page.
You'll get an idea of what it'slike. We're very accessible. The
website again is Houston Chamber Choir dotorg. One thing that is going to
be accessible is on the show you'redoing on October nineteenth at the Miller Outdoor
Theater. Every show at the MillerOutdoor Theater is free, every single one
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of them. There's never an exceptionto this. They have a lottery system
where you can get tickets to sitdown under the covers if you want.
They've got a covered area with seats, but they've got that beautiful hill,
that green hill that's behind the coveredseats in theaters, and that's where probably
you want to sit, although Iguess for a for a choir in a
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corral, you might want to bea little closer. But in any case,
they're doing I just want to celebratesongs from the nineteen seventies and Betsy,
that's going to be your first timeconducting the choir, right, Well,
I conducted them this spring, butthat will be my first show of
the coming season. So yes,we're gonna do pieces by the Beg's Carly
Simon Abba. So no guitars ordrums on stage, right, There will
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be, Yeah, there will be. And that's one of the things that's
relatively unique about Bob's Choir is thatthey're not a specialist choir. They do
a program of William Bird from thelate fifteen hundreds and then they do the
Beg's and they do it all.Well, that's the goal. They closed
this past season with music by DaveBrubeck. That was spectacular. Yeah,
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so you know, I mean,it's a little easier to be a specialist.
It's hard to do everything well,and I think Bob Squire does it
all. We're really excited about theMiller Show and it is free and it'll
be fun. There will be audiencesing along opportunities as well. Yeah,
since the songs are well known,that's kind of cool. You're going to
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say another words, you're augmented thechoir by exponential amounts if you can get
the people on the hill to singa lot. Yeah, so they will.
When you bring in the musicians.They're playing electric guitars and drums,
which are have a tendency to belouder than the human voice that in this
instance will also be the mid Yeah, it will have good balance. The
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singers will also be singing solos,a lot of pop music, and they're
all classically trained, so it's funto hear them break out a little bit
this mixture of music styles. Likeyou said, Betsy, it's easy to
be more specialized. Well, Boband I just have concluded five days of
auditions. We only have a fewopenings of the choir. But we are
looking for really, really talented,skilled, flexible singers. It's not easy.
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The standard is so high it's funto hear. How do you conduct
these auditions? Are the performers behinda curtain the way they know that that's
just for chests orchestras. Auditions arethat way. Now they come in and
they vocalize for us, and thenthey sing a prepared piece and then we
have them sing sight singing a piecethey've never seen before. And this time
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I picked the piece and Bob said, well that was hard. What was
it? I'm not telling you,I'll tell you we won't use it.
It was a piece by Elgar,a romantic British composer, but it was
Elgar at his kind of trickiest.And you know, everybody looks at and
their eyes get big, And whatdo you mean by tricky? What does
(17:30):
that mean in musical terms? Itdoesn't. It means that the music doesn't
go where you expect it to go, So you truly have to use your
training and read the pitches instead ofjust kind of guessing. Are these we're
separating the good singers, yeah,from the great singers, And we're looking
for great singers. So do thegreat singers can they? How long do
they have to look at the musicsheet? Twelve seconds? Are you serious?
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You just hand it to them andsay sing yes, and they have
to just sing as they read yes. So it's like reading out loud,
except that you're singing. Yes.We have to have singers with that skill
because this choir does so much music. I mean, they're doing eight big
concerts this coming year and they're notfull time. They come in and rehearse
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on Monday nights and they need tocome in and it needs to be ready
really the first rehearsal, and astonishinglyit is. So they have day jobs,
yes, all of them, allof them. They are paid,
yeah, by the chamber choir,but sadly they're not full time singers.
There's only one full time choir inthe United States. That's Chanta Clair in
San Francisco, which is an allmale ensemble. But they have singers who
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can sing in the soprano range,alto, tenor, and bass, so
they have the same same music.They sing the same music. But they
are the only professional, full timeprofessional choir and two of those twelve singers
are University of Houston alums Nice GoKoog's Yeah the more school music is way
said with the Chamber Choir before headingto send Yeah, have that connection.
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You are listening to Houston PA Houston'sPublic Affairs show. My name is Laurent.
My guests are here from Houston ChamberChoir. There are online at Houston
Chamberchoir dot orgy Houston Chamberchoir dot org. You should check out their program.
They have a lot of YouTube videosthat you can watch and listen to.
You can also string their music fromyour streaming service, whether it's Apple Music
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or Spotify or whatever you like tolisten to. It's a way to get
into this. But I'm telling youseeing these people seeing live is something that
is completely irreplaceable. Recording can't astereo recording cannot actually record what it sounds
like when you have professional players seeingin especially in a church, in a
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place where the music resonates in sucha beautiful way. Doctor Betsy Cook Weber
is the Houston Chamber Choir Artistic DirectorDesignate, and Robert Simpson is the founder
and artistic director of Houston Chamber Choir. This is going to be their thirtieth
anniversary season and is going to beRobert Simpson's last season as he is stepping
(20:03):
down. That's why Betsy is theartistic director designate and I want to go
through real quickly because I want totalk about the transition. That's what's so
interesting. But the free show atthe Mileru Door Theater is going to be
on October nineteenth at seven thirty pm. That's when the weather gets really nice
to be sitting out there, folks, so it's a wonderful opportunity. It'll
be songs from the seventies. They'redoing several more shows coming through the end
(20:29):
of the year, including one byone of my favorite composer, Rville Pert,
whose name I had been mispronouncing foryears. That'll be From Darkness to
Light. It'll be on April fifth, and the last show will be Gather
Around. It's a sampling of musicthat we've sung over the years, as
well as music that we're going totake on tour. Your last act as
artistic director will be to take thiscompany on tour in Europe, so it's
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got I'm kind of jealous that you'regoing to be finishing up elsewhere than any
but I have a feeling that you'renot really going anywhere, and certainly you're
leaving the company in good hands.We mentioned this, but Betsy cook Weber
taught for thirty years at the Universityof Houston, and she just abandoned them
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to take on this job. AndI can imagine why. But Robert,
how did that come about? Youcould have looked around the entire world to
find somebody to replace you, becausewhat you have is a real diamond.
There's a lot of people they wouldhave wanted to this job. I'm sure
I think that's true. Did alot of people call you up when they
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found out this was happening, ordid you keep it? There were several
people who were checking it out.They didn't know I was leaving this season,
but they were just checking it out. Betsy carries a gun, by
the way, No, I'm kidding, stay away from it. But you
know, it was just a wonderfulset of circumstances. And I'm going to
turn this over to Betsy to actuallymake it officially the right chronology. But
(22:02):
I don't believe that you had intendedto leave the university when we first spoke,
I had not told you that Iwas going to leave the universe.
Okay, yeah, I mean youhad made the decision to leave before he
offered, Wow, that's a coincidence. We then, yeah, I had
decided end of April that it wasjust time. So much about Bob's leaving
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is similar to my leaving the university, and that I wasn't tired of it.
I still felt I was doing reallygood work, but I cared deeply
about the program, and I feltit was a good time for the program
to have another person. It justI think his thinking is exactly the same.
So I had decided, and thenthe chain require. Bob talked to
me, and the president board talkedto me, and their executive director talked
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to me, and I kept saying, no, I don't think I don't
think I'm the right person for that. Why. Well, because it's a
big job and Bob's shoes, well, he's very tall. He is very
tall. I mean, what hehas accomplished is is truly remarkable. And
(23:14):
so yeah, I'm a little nerve. I was. It is daunting,
but but I also think now thatI can do a good job, primarily
because Bob is I mean, heis right with me. We talk about
every aspect of the choir Musically,I feel confident. It's all the other
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stuff that's a little bit daunting.And there's so much stuff. So you
mean conducting the music, choosing themusic, You've got that down, Pat
well E said that anybody does havethat down. Pat. Yeah, I
have confidence in those skills in mybuilding to put together a good concert.
And but then I've gotten to knowthe staff and they're fantastic. They are
(23:59):
the envy of every arts organization,honestly, I think, And so it's
going to be loads of fun.I'm going to work. One thing I
know I can do is work reallyhard. What about the musicians, because
something that is not said very oftenis that musicians, no matter what they
play, voice or instrument, theiregos, walk into the room about half
an hour before they show up.Sure, uh huh so, and they
(24:22):
kind of they'll chew up a conductorwho isn't up to, who wasn't prepared
right as we should. Yeah.Well I conducted concert with the Chamber Requir
in April, and that was myown personal We had already announced my moving
in and that was felt a littlebit out of order because I felt as
though I should work with the singersand then we would announce but it was
(24:42):
healthier for the organization for them toknow. I knew immediately that we were
going to connect. I knew withinfive minutes that we were going to connect.
You knew some of the students problem. I mean, I know some
of the singers who used to bestudents, and they like you. I
think they do, and I likethem too. And so by the end
(25:06):
of the first rehearsal, which wentfine, I thought, yeah, this
is good, and that it's atribute to Bob. You know, the
conductor builds the personality of the organization. This is true if Houston Symphony,
with whom I worked for many years, the conductor, you know, just
that that person's personality infuses the organization. And Bob's warmth and caring for humans
(25:32):
and caring for the music extremely highstandards. That's the choir. And so
they were very generous and gracious inaccepting me. I think it's gonna go
great, doubt, and I'm excitedabout this year because we're team. Yeah,
you're alternating programs, right, Andso I've been watching Bob and thinking
(25:52):
a lot about what he does,and he gives me a lot of great
feedback and thoughts. I think it'sa healthy transition. Think this is going
to be so much fun. AndBob, you're not going to change your
phone number when you step down,right, You're going to let her call
you up. Are you going tosit in the audience? Have you thought
about what you're going to do?It's going to be their emotional There are
(26:15):
a lot of things that I wantto do, and I want to do
each and every one of them appropriately. I have I will always be doing
whatever is best for the choir andto support Betsy and to make sure that
everything is healthy and happy and movingforward. But I wanted to go back
for just a second to the kindof people that are in the choir,
(26:37):
because when we audition, people who'reauditioning their personalities as well as their voices,
and so we need the combination ofa great talent and a person who's
easy to work with. To borrowa phrase from another ensemble. We have
a no diva clause, and theirdivas don't last in the chamber choir.
And I've actually found over the yearsthat the people who have true confidence are
(27:02):
very easy to get along. Yeah. Always the ones who are worried about
how they shape they're they're they're measuringup that need to kind of prove themselves
and develop the attitude. Go toHouston Chamber Choir dot org. Houston Chamber
Choir dot org. Perus their thirtiethanniversary season from startup to stand out.
It'll be Robert Simpson's last season asfounder and artistic director of the Houston Actually
(27:26):
know he'll always be the founder ofthe Houston Chamber Choir. Something to be
very proud of. And listen totheir music on your on your music service.
Just look up Houston Chamber Choir.It'll pull up their CD including the
one that's that's Grammy winning. That'show good the recordings are. Oh,
I've got one last question I meantto ask you. You're mostly performing in
(27:49):
churches. In fact, you're performingin churches every every concert except for the
Miller Outdoor. What is it aboutthese churches and how do you choose the
one that has the right kind ofresonance? Well, that is exactly it.
We are looking for an environment thathas great acoustics. Yeah, and
we have found two wonderful places thatwe have used on a number of occasions.
(28:14):
South Maine Baptist Church in Midtown andSaint Philip Presbyterian Church right here on
the Loop, and they are wonderful, wonderful partners of the arts well beyond
the Chamber Choir. They have significantcontributions to the arts scene throughout the year.
And we will conclude our season atSaint Luke's United Methodist Church on Westheim
Or a beautiful, beautiful building,And because it's my last concert, we
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thought we might need an even largerroom for those who are coming to say
farewell as I step down. Sowe have loved being at Saint Luke's over
the years, and their director ofMusic, Sid Davis, has been a
good, good friend. So I'mhappy for many reasons that my last concert
with the Chamber Choir the United Stateswill be at Saint Luke's United Baptist Church
(29:03):
for your Christmas show, though you'reat the chapel at the Villa de Matteas,
that's true, and that is avery special place in Houston. It
is a convent and it is notoften open to the public in a concert
setting, but we have been performingthere for a number of years and we
love returning there. That is onethat I can truly say. If you
(29:26):
have not attended a Christmas concert.Come for the music that stay for the
architecture. That chapel is a beautifulitalianate building. You step in and you
think you're in Italy. It's gorgeousand it's an awesome tradition to go listen
to these musics that have been associatedwith Christmas. I personally love it and
(29:48):
highly recommend it. Folks, ifyou have any questions related to the show
you want to, I'll send youthe link to Houston Chamber quired dot org
if you want you know, ifyou're driving and you don't want to text,
and you're a good person, andif you have any suggestions, because
I'm always looking for local organizations tohave on my show, you can just
send me an email. Texan fromFrance at gmail dot com. Texan from
(30:11):
France at gmail dot com. Ithank you for listening and caring about the
issues I put on this show andI will see you next week at the
same time. My name is LaurentI am the Texan from France and this
has been Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show, Houston Strong
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show. An iHeartMedia broadcast ourdis
laimer says that the opinions express onthis show do not necessarily reflect was held
by this radio station, it's managementstaff for any of its advertisers. I
don't know what an oplinion is.My name is Laurent I am the Texan
(00:28):
from France and I get to welcomethe Houston Chamber Choir on the show again.
Robert Simpson is the founder and artisticdirector of Houston Chamber Choir and with
him is doctor Betsey Cook Weber.She is the Houston Chamber Choir Artistic Director
designate. And if you think thatthat means that there may be a big
change coming for the Houston Chamber Choir, that's because it's true. Robert is
(00:53):
going to direct this last season forhis career. It's the thirtieth anniversary season.
It's called from Startup to stand Out. And then Robert is going to
stand down as the artistic director andhe's going to hand the reins to doctor
Betsy Cook Weber, who comes fromthe University of Houston from Mayma almer Mater
and she used to teach at theMore School of Music. He has created
(01:19):
one of the most successful chamber choirsin the world. Actually, and then
you, I guess you're going tostay mysteriously undefined in your near future.
But I was going to say,y'all want a Grammy, which matters because
the audience. That's something that theaudience recognizes. But the truth is that
your success as a chamber choir inHouston is something that is not given to
(01:42):
most organizations. Most nonprofit organizations don'tlast very long. That's a fact.
And here you are, thirty yearson and you're about to hand the rains
to somebody else. This is anextremely successful organization. You must be extremely
proud. And why on earth areyou leaving you're so young. Well,
I am very proud, and Icouldn't be happier about the transition. But
(02:06):
you know, there comes a timewhen a founding director can outlive his or
her usefulness. And I think thatthe chamber Choir has achieved a certain amount
of success and it's now time forthe chamber Choir to step out into a
new stage. And I couldn't bemore proud or pleased that Betsy is going
to be my successor her reputation intown has been well earned as a choral
(02:29):
educator, as the director of thesymphony chorus, as a person who travels
the country being asked to do clinicsand to speak to choral musicians. So
we have within Houston the perfect personto take over this ensemble and to direct
its future growth to greater things.Yeah, one of the things that you
(02:49):
must be proud of is that thisorganization is going to keep going. That
absolutely, I just think that you'vecreated something that's going to stay. Like
the Houston Symphony. You're adjuscent toit because as you're in the same business
as you have put your finger righton My greatest goal when I started this
with my wife Mariana thirty years ago, was to create an ensemble that would
be a continuing part of the culturalscene of Houston. Houston had a great
(03:15):
symphony, ballet, opera, thearts were thriving, but it didn't have
a professional choir. It actually hadhad one in the nineteen eighties that couldn't
withstand some of the economic turbulence ofthat time. And so when I came
to town in nineteen ninety three,I asked about that, and I predictably
got two responses from people who knewthe previous choir. We tried that in
(03:38):
Houston. It doesn't work. Don'tsave your time. The other group said,
we had it, we loved it, we miss it, let's get
it back. So I listened tothat second group of people, and little
by little, just sitting at ourkitchen table, putting things together, step
by step, we've arrived now ata point where we have a significant budget,
we have a large and really creativestaff, and we have been able
(04:00):
to accumulate some of the great awardswithin the choral community. The Chorus America
Margaret hillis award which is given tooutstanding choral organizations because of their achievements.
The American Prize is a well respectedaward that was granted to both the chamber
(04:21):
choir into me and then, ofcourse, the crowning achievement is a Grammy.
So we are ready to take thisnext step with Betsy, to greater
and greater things. What was theGrammy for Best Choral Performance? We had
recorded the complete works of the Frenchcomposer Maurice Durafle, and he was a
(04:42):
magnificent composer, known perhaps most forhis Requiem which is on our CD,
but he wrote other smaller pieces andso we included those. The complete works
fit nicely onto a CD, andno kidding, was that fifty five minutes
or so he wasus. He wrotevery slowly, but every note is just
as you would want it to be, and so it sounds inevitable. But
(05:05):
he struggled and worked very hard tomake his music everything that he wanted it
to be. So that was avery exciting moment because we had not had
a CD even nominated before, andso a small group of us went to
La just to have a party,just have fun, just to see what
(05:26):
it was like. Yeah, andlo and behold. We got to the
end of the evening down to thechoral awards, and they had been announced
Robert Simpson, Houston Chamber Choir CompleteWorks of Maurice daur Offlay, along with
the other nominees. And so whenit came time to announce the final winner,
(05:50):
the person standing up there said thecomplete Works of Maurie dea Offlay Houston
Chamber Required Robert Simpson. I didn'tmove a muscle because I was waiting for
the way they had announced the nominees. It wasn't until my wife started to
shriek. Next to me. Mariannawas just saying, we won, we
won, we won, And shekept saying that all the way down the
red carpet to the acceptance speech.We won, we won. You you
(06:14):
watched the video and Mariana is justthrowing her hands in the air and exclaiming
with joy. It's only marian again. It's emblematic, I guess of your
success. But for Houston, you'resomething that we can be proud of because
we have an arts community that producessome great work worthy where I think one
of four or five cities in thecountry that has all five performing arts.
No, I think the thing iswe're one of four cities that has the
(06:38):
five performing arts. Is that right, Betsy, You're an educator, you
would know this. Maybe, Likethere's there's New York, Houston, I
think Chicago and Boston. Well LAhas no. La ain't gotten nothing.
They don't even have good theater.They have a great arts community for Shaw,
I don't believe it. But Houstonhas, I mean they have.
(07:00):
We have yeah, very strong artscommunity and people are surprised. Uh well,
just because people just don't know muchabout Houston. I mean, I
still have people ask me if Iride a horse to work, and I'm
not kidding. Yes, especially inEurope, do you ride a horse?
No, I mean only recreationally.But the police some some police officers do
and that's something else that's surprising.So do they wear cowboy hats? Yes?
(07:25):
Do they wear guns? Yes?And so it's like the far West.
There's a lot of concrete in Houston, you know. Yeah, it's
kind of funny. We do,we just don't have a reputation for that.
True. The Houston Grand Opera isone of the few opera companies in
the world that is still commissioning works. So they're actually driving innovation and bringing
(07:45):
in people. And that's what y'allare doing too, because all are You'll
you'll have a concert every year thatlooks to the future, right. You
bring in schools, yes, thatis that is part of our educational outreach.
We do commission new works, andI think it's very important and I
think that'll be a continuation to inspirecomposers to focus on the choral art.
(08:05):
But here the Future is an educationaloutreach in which we invite three schools to
attend middle school, an elementary,a middle school and a high school and
they're selected because of their achievements andthings that have been done that set them
apart. On Saturday before that,eight additional schools are invited, and they
(08:28):
are schools that have been identified ashaving great potential but have not developed that
potential yet, and so we bringin a very well known clinician, usually
a college choral director to work withthem and inspire them. So we have
both those schools that are on theirway to achieving great things, and then
a showcase for three choirs the followingday who have already achieved great success.
(08:54):
So we have a wonderful weekend.Worth mentioning that. Obviously we're talking about
professional music here. These are peoplethat you know they live their craft.
But the truth is that you canjoin choirs and corrals around town on an
amateur level and where you go practicemaybe every week. Obviously lots of people
seeing in church, but there isa communion when you seeing with a lot
(09:16):
of the people. That is theonly way to feel that well. Here
the future is designed for schools,so they're students from elementary through high school.
But then, as you've said,the coral field is rich, yeah
opportunities. It can be show choirs, barbershop chamber choirs, symphony choruses,
(09:39):
community choruses, of all sides,of all sizes. So it is a
field in which people can really contributeand find themselves inspired at every level and
be part of a community. Youwere going to add. The NEA commissioned
to study about three years ago andthey estimate that fifty four million Americans singing
(10:01):
a choir at least once. Really, that's way more than I would have
guessed. It's astonishing number. Andso you think about a group like the
Houston Chamber Choir is like the Astros. Every little leaguer in town goes to
sea an Astro's game and looks upto this, yeah, those players,
and the same is true, andwe hope to make it even more true
(10:22):
in the future in terms of allthese people are singing choral music at whatever
level they're capable of. Looking tothe very tip of the point at the
Houston Chamber require exciting to have anopportunity to work with real professionals like this
durn journa clinic is obviously something thatany of the students would be interested in.
You can go to Houston Chamber Choirdot org. For information Houston Chamber
(10:46):
Choir dot org. The twenty fifthannual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival is
going to be on January twenty sixth. It'll be at South Main Baptist Church.
You are listening to Houston PA,Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name
is Laurent. My guest are BetsyCook Weber. She is the Houston Chamber
Choir Artistic Director Designate and Robert Simpsonis the founder and Artistic director of Houston
(11:11):
Chamber Choir. They're celebrating their thirtiethanniversary season. It starts on September twenty
first at South Main Baptist Church.They're doing Son of Man by Patrick Halles.
And that's one of the things youdo is that you open people's ears
to extraordinary compositions that they wouldn't hearin you anywhere else. That's possibly true,
and certainly there are many, manywonderful composers whose names are not well
(11:35):
known, but who are deserving ofan audience, and Patrick is one of
them. He's English, he hashad significant success. He's been played at
the Proms, BBC, three places, music a lot, and he actually
heard the Duraflay recording and contacted mefrom England saying, I think you're the
choir that I would like to inviteto premiere this major work my perhaps my
(12:01):
magnum opis k I'm preparing right now. It's called The Son of Man and
he pitched it to me as thetwenty first century take on Messiah. That's
the masterpiece by Handle that chronicles jesuslife from birth to his crucifixion. And
Patrick is taking that same some ofthose same iconic biblical passages and setting them
(12:28):
but this time for symphony, orchestraand chorus and doing it in a way
that I think will bring an additionalmeaning to the text that we know so
well and give us one more greatpiece of choral music. And so we're
going to be doing that premiere onSeptember twenty first, a world premiere with
Patrick here in attendance. So it'sa world premiere it is. That's fantastic.
(12:54):
So how did he know about you? He heard our Durafla recording.
By the way, is that availableon streaming services? So you can just
look up Houston chamberquir and Spotify,Apple Music, etc. And listen to
this record. You'll find several otherrecordings there as well, not just that.
Oh yes, right, we arelimiting ourselves to only talking about the
(13:15):
ones that win win awards. That'sjust ridiculous. Another way to discover all
these musicians, I would say it'sboth the blessing and the curse of live
performances. You can only experience itby going to see the show. It's
wonderful to have a recording, butyou have to go into a studio to
do that. Probably, do youever record some of your performances? We
(13:37):
record all of our podcases, Yeah, and some of them are produced in
Toto. For example, the Christmasof the Villa. Yeah, we make
a video of that that is usedthroughout the Houston Hospital system at Christmas.
And other bits are put on YouTube, so you know, people, people
(14:00):
can go on and hear the HoustonChamber cors on YouTube or on our page.
You'll get an idea of what it'slike. We're very accessible. The
website again is Houston Chamber Choir dotorg. One thing that is going to
be accessible is on the show you'redoing on October nineteenth at the Miller Outdoor
Theater. Every show at the MillerOutdoor Theater is free, every single one
(14:24):
of them. There's never an exceptionto this. They have a lottery system
where you can get tickets to sitdown under the covers if you want.
They've got a covered area with seats, but they've got that beautiful hill,
that green hill that's behind the coveredseats in theaters, and that's where probably
you want to sit, although Iguess for a for a choir in a
(14:45):
corral, you might want to bea little closer. But in any case,
they're doing I just want to celebratesongs from the nineteen seventies and Betsy,
that's going to be your first timeconducting the choir, right, Well,
I conducted them this spring, butthat will be my first show of
the coming season. So yes,we're gonna do pieces by the Beg's Carly
Simon Abba. So no guitars ordrums on stage, right, There will
(15:11):
be, Yeah, there will be. And that's one of the things that's
relatively unique about Bob's Choir is thatthey're not a specialist choir. They do
a program of William Bird from thelate fifteen hundreds and then they do the
Beg's and they do it all.Well, that's the goal. They closed
this past season with music by DaveBrubeck. That was spectacular. Yeah,
(15:33):
so you know, I mean,it's a little easier to be a specialist.
It's hard to do everything well,and I think Bob Squire does it
all. We're really excited about theMiller Show and it is free and it'll
be fun. There will be audiencesing along opportunities as well. Yeah,
since the songs are well known,that's kind of cool. You're going to
(15:56):
say another words, you're augmented thechoir by exponential amounts if you can get
the people on the hill to singa lot. Yeah, so they will.
When you bring in the musicians.They're playing electric guitars and drums,
which are have a tendency to belouder than the human voice that in this
instance will also be the mid Yeah, it will have good balance. The
(16:18):
singers will also be singing solos,a lot of pop music, and they're
all classically trained, so it's funto hear them break out a little bit
this mixture of music styles. Likeyou said, Betsy, it's easy to
be more specialized. Well, Boband I just have concluded five days of
auditions. We only have a fewopenings of the choir. But we are
looking for really, really talented,skilled, flexible singers. It's not easy.
(16:45):
The standard is so high it's funto hear. How do you conduct
these auditions? Are the performers behinda curtain the way they know that that's
just for chests orchestras. Auditions arethat way. Now they come in and
they vocalize for us, and thenthey sing a prepared piece and then we
have them sing sight singing a piecethey've never seen before. And this time
(17:06):
I picked the piece and Bob said, well that was hard. What was
it? I'm not telling you,I'll tell you we won't use it.
It was a piece by Elgar,a romantic British composer, but it was
Elgar at his kind of trickiest.And you know, everybody looks at and
their eyes get big, And whatdo you mean by tricky? What does
(17:30):
that mean in musical terms? Itdoesn't. It means that the music doesn't
go where you expect it to go, So you truly have to use your
training and read the pitches instead ofjust kind of guessing. Are these we're
separating the good singers, yeah,from the great singers, And we're looking
for great singers. So do thegreat singers can they? How long do
they have to look at the musicsheet? Twelve seconds? Are you serious?
(17:52):
You just hand it to them andsay sing yes, and they have
to just sing as they read yes. So it's like reading out loud,
except that you're singing. Yes.We have to have singers with that skill
because this choir does so much music. I mean, they're doing eight big
concerts this coming year and they're notfull time. They come in and rehearse
(18:14):
on Monday nights and they need tocome in and it needs to be ready
really the first rehearsal, and astonishinglyit is. So they have day jobs,
yes, all of them, allof them. They are paid,
yeah, by the chamber choir,but sadly they're not full time singers.
There's only one full time choir inthe United States. That's Chanta Clair in
San Francisco, which is an allmale ensemble. But they have singers who
(18:37):
can sing in the soprano range,alto, tenor, and bass, so
they have the same same music.They sing the same music. But they
are the only professional, full timeprofessional choir and two of those twelve singers
are University of Houston alums Nice GoKoog's Yeah the more school music is way
said with the Chamber Choir before headingto send Yeah, have that connection.
(19:00):
You are listening to Houston PA Houston'sPublic Affairs show. My name is Laurent.
My guests are here from Houston ChamberChoir. There are online at Houston
Chamberchoir dot orgy Houston Chamberchoir dot org. You should check out their program.
They have a lot of YouTube videosthat you can watch and listen to.
You can also string their music fromyour streaming service, whether it's Apple Music
(19:22):
or Spotify or whatever you like tolisten to. It's a way to get
into this. But I'm telling youseeing these people seeing live is something that
is completely irreplaceable. Recording can't astereo recording cannot actually record what it sounds
like when you have professional players seeingin especially in a church, in a
(19:42):
place where the music resonates in sucha beautiful way. Doctor Betsy Cook Weber
is the Houston Chamber Choir Artistic DirectorDesignate, and Robert Simpson is the founder
and artistic director of Houston Chamber Choir. This is going to be their thirtieth
anniversary season and is going to beRobert Simpson's last season as he is stepping
(20:03):
down. That's why Betsy is theartistic director designate and I want to go
through real quickly because I want totalk about the transition. That's what's so
interesting. But the free show atthe Mileru Door Theater is going to be
on October nineteenth at seven thirty pm. That's when the weather gets really nice
to be sitting out there, folks, so it's a wonderful opportunity. It'll
be songs from the seventies. They'redoing several more shows coming through the end
(20:29):
of the year, including one byone of my favorite composer, Rville Pert,
whose name I had been mispronouncing foryears. That'll be From Darkness to
Light. It'll be on April fifth, and the last show will be Gather
Around. It's a sampling of musicthat we've sung over the years, as
well as music that we're going totake on tour. Your last act as
artistic director will be to take thiscompany on tour in Europe, so it's
(20:55):
got I'm kind of jealous that you'regoing to be finishing up elsewhere than any
but I have a feeling that you'renot really going anywhere, and certainly you're
leaving the company in good hands.We mentioned this, but Betsy cook Weber
taught for thirty years at the Universityof Houston, and she just abandoned them
(21:15):
to take on this job. AndI can imagine why. But Robert,
how did that come about? Youcould have looked around the entire world to
find somebody to replace you, becausewhat you have is a real diamond.
There's a lot of people they wouldhave wanted to this job. I'm sure
I think that's true. Did alot of people call you up when they
(21:37):
found out this was happening, ordid you keep it? There were several
people who were checking it out.They didn't know I was leaving this season,
but they were just checking it out. Betsy carries a gun, by
the way, No, I'm kidding, stay away from it. But you
know, it was just a wonderfulset of circumstances. And I'm going to
turn this over to Betsy to actuallymake it officially the right chronology. But
(22:02):
I don't believe that you had intendedto leave the university when we first spoke,
I had not told you that Iwas going to leave the universe.
Okay, yeah, I mean youhad made the decision to leave before he
offered, Wow, that's a coincidence. We then, yeah, I had
decided end of April that it wasjust time. So much about Bob's leaving
(22:26):
is similar to my leaving the university, and that I wasn't tired of it.
I still felt I was doing reallygood work, but I cared deeply
about the program, and I feltit was a good time for the program
to have another person. It justI think his thinking is exactly the same.
So I had decided, and thenthe chain require. Bob talked to
me, and the president board talkedto me, and their executive director talked
(22:48):
to me, and I kept saying, no, I don't think I don't
think I'm the right person for that. Why. Well, because it's a
big job and Bob's shoes, well, he's very tall. He is very
tall. I mean, what hehas accomplished is is truly remarkable. And
(23:14):
so yeah, I'm a little nerve. I was. It is daunting,
but but I also think now thatI can do a good job, primarily
because Bob is I mean, heis right with me. We talk about
every aspect of the choir Musically,I feel confident. It's all the other
(23:36):
stuff that's a little bit daunting.And there's so much stuff. So you
mean conducting the music, choosing themusic, You've got that down, Pat
well E said that anybody does havethat down. Pat. Yeah, I
have confidence in those skills in mybuilding to put together a good concert.
And but then I've gotten to knowthe staff and they're fantastic. They are
(23:59):
the envy of every arts organization,honestly, I think, And so it's
going to be loads of fun.I'm going to work. One thing I
know I can do is work reallyhard. What about the musicians, because
something that is not said very oftenis that musicians, no matter what they
play, voice or instrument, theiregos, walk into the room about half
an hour before they show up.Sure, uh huh so, and they
(24:22):
kind of they'll chew up a conductorwho isn't up to, who wasn't prepared
right as we should. Yeah.Well I conducted concert with the Chamber Requir
in April, and that was myown personal We had already announced my moving
in and that was felt a littlebit out of order because I felt as
though I should work with the singersand then we would announce but it was
(24:42):
healthier for the organization for them toknow. I knew immediately that we were
going to connect. I knew withinfive minutes that we were going to connect.
You knew some of the students problem. I mean, I know some
of the singers who used to bestudents, and they like you. I
think they do, and I likethem too. And so by the end
(25:06):
of the first rehearsal, which wentfine, I thought, yeah, this
is good, and that it's atribute to Bob. You know, the
conductor builds the personality of the organization. This is true if Houston Symphony,
with whom I worked for many years, the conductor, you know, just
that that person's personality infuses the organization. And Bob's warmth and caring for humans
(25:32):
and caring for the music extremely highstandards. That's the choir. And so
they were very generous and gracious inaccepting me. I think it's gonna go
great, doubt, and I'm excitedabout this year because we're team. Yeah,
you're alternating programs, right, Andso I've been watching Bob and thinking
(25:52):
a lot about what he does,and he gives me a lot of great
feedback and thoughts. I think it'sa healthy transition. Think this is going
to be so much fun. AndBob, you're not going to change your
phone number when you step down,right, You're going to let her call
you up. Are you going tosit in the audience? Have you thought
about what you're going to do?It's going to be their emotional There are
(26:15):
a lot of things that I wantto do, and I want to do
each and every one of them appropriately. I have I will always be doing
whatever is best for the choir andto support Betsy and to make sure that
everything is healthy and happy and movingforward. But I wanted to go back
for just a second to the kindof people that are in the choir,
(26:37):
because when we audition, people who'reauditioning their personalities as well as their voices,
and so we need the combination ofa great talent and a person who's
easy to work with. To borrowa phrase from another ensemble. We have
a no diva clause, and theirdivas don't last in the chamber choir.
And I've actually found over the yearsthat the people who have true confidence are
(27:02):
very easy to get along. Yeah. Always the ones who are worried about
how they shape they're they're they're measuringup that need to kind of prove themselves
and develop the attitude. Go toHouston Chamber Choir dot org. Houston Chamber
Choir dot org. Perus their thirtiethanniversary season from startup to stand out.
It'll be Robert Simpson's last season asfounder and artistic director of the Houston Actually
(27:26):
know he'll always be the founder ofthe Houston Chamber Choir. Something to be
very proud of. And listen totheir music on your on your music service.
Just look up Houston Chamber Choir.It'll pull up their CD including the
one that's that's Grammy winning. That'show good the recordings are. Oh,
I've got one last question I meantto ask you. You're mostly performing in
(27:49):
churches. In fact, you're performingin churches every every concert except for the
Miller Outdoor. What is it aboutthese churches and how do you choose the
one that has the right kind ofresonance? Well, that is exactly it.
We are looking for an environment thathas great acoustics. Yeah, and
we have found two wonderful places thatwe have used on a number of occasions.
(28:14):
South Maine Baptist Church in Midtown andSaint Philip Presbyterian Church right here on
the Loop, and they are wonderful, wonderful partners of the arts well beyond
the Chamber Choir. They have significantcontributions to the arts scene throughout the year.
And we will conclude our season atSaint Luke's United Methodist Church on Westheim
Or a beautiful, beautiful building,And because it's my last concert, we
(28:38):
thought we might need an even largerroom for those who are coming to say
farewell as I step down. Sowe have loved being at Saint Luke's over
the years, and their director ofMusic, Sid Davis, has been a
good, good friend. So I'mhappy for many reasons that my last concert
with the Chamber Choir the United Stateswill be at Saint Luke's United Baptist Church
(29:03):
for your Christmas show, though you'reat the chapel at the Villa de Matteas,
that's true, and that is avery special place in Houston. It
is a convent and it is notoften open to the public in a concert
setting, but we have been performingthere for a number of years and we
love returning there. That is onethat I can truly say. If you
(29:26):
have not attended a Christmas concert.Come for the music that stay for the
architecture. That chapel is a beautifulitalianate building. You step in and you
think you're in Italy. It's gorgeousand it's an awesome tradition to go listen
to these musics that have been associatedwith Christmas. I personally love it and
(29:48):
highly recommend it. Folks, ifyou have any questions related to the show
you want to, I'll send youthe link to Houston Chamber quired dot org
if you want you know, ifyou're driving and you don't want to text,
and you're a good person, andif you have any suggestions, because
I'm always looking for local organizations tohave on my show, you can just
send me an email. Texan fromFrance at gmail dot com. Texan from
(30:11):
France at gmail dot com. Ithank you for listening and caring about the
issues I put on this show andI will see you next week at the
same time. My name is LaurentI am the Texan from France and this
has been Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show, Houston Strong
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