Recap of the 2013 ACDA National Conference in Dallas- Saturday

As I stated in the previous blog entry, I had to leave Dallas early Saturday to get back to Chicago for a commission premiere. I was sad to leave Dallas and its warm weather, its amazing Arts District of grand performance spaces and excellent art museums, and a variety of dining offerings, but we composers need to be at premieres! So my good friend Reg Unterseher is guest blogging about Saturday, the last day of the Dallas conference. 

Reg Unterseher

Reg is a very cool guy- he has a great baritone voice, wonderful chops as a composer (he is Washington State Music Teachers' Association Composer of the Year for 2013), and is quite visionary about the future of choral music. He is also NW Division Men's R and S chair, and sings with MEN- Male Ensemble Northwest, a truly great group. Reg's website is here. Here is Reg's recap of his Saturday in Dallas:

By the time the last day of any ACDA National Conference rolls around, my ears are full and my body is spent. Saturday in Dallas was no exception. My day started with an 8 AM Men's Chorus Reading session. I am NW Division Men's Choirs R and S chair, so I conducted a couple of pieces. The thing that especially made it worth waking up for was the inclusion of the Turtle Creek Chorale (directed by Trey Jacobs), who served as demonstration choir for three pieces. 

Trey Jacobs

The use of demonstration choirs is something that I think improves the usefulness and musicality of reading sessions. Turtle Creek Chorale stayed for the R and S roundtable session, where they sang some more and took part in the discussion of why men sing, how to get and keep men singing, and how a community of choral singers can have such a huge impact on a person's life. They brought me to tears several times with their stories and their singing.

By the time that session was over, I was even more wrung out, physically and emotionally. Even though there were marvelous choirs on the next scheduled concert, I decided to pace myself and headed to the food trucks instead of the Opera House.

Ah, the Dallas food trucks, and yet also a nod to the goodness that was the Dragonfly Bar at Hotel Zaza (order the Moscow Mule off the drink menu also the Wasabi Wonton Potato Pouches). These trucks were a wonderful aspect of the conference both for the varied and good food and the social aspects. I loved the Ssahm BBQ truck, with their fusion Tex-Korean Daeji and Ddak tacos and kimchee fries. I did not try the bacon wrapped hot dog, but it got my attention. My other favorite was the Cajun Tailgaters truck with the crawfish pistolette, red beans and rice. I did not sample from every truck, so maybe what would have been my favorite passed me by. That’s the way it is with so many things at these conferences, you can't do everything. In any case, with the weather so perfect, I frequently found myself at the picnic tables, in conversation with interesting people who I had never met before and felt like instant friends.

The early Saturday afternoon Gold Track concert in Meyerson featured mixed choirs from Florida State directed by Kevin Fenton, the Fullerton College Chamber Singers directed by John Tebay, and the Kennesaw State Men's Ensemble directed by Leslie Blackwell. I loved the whole thing--varied, excellently prepared, visually interesting without becoming gimmicky; all three choirs exhibiting different ways to be wonderful. My R and S responsibilities will show in my particular enjoyment of the men's ensemble. I had attended Dr. Nicole Lamartine's excellent session on Wednesday morning on women conducting men's ensembles, and Dr. Blackwell's leadership was a great example of how successful this can be. I loved their literature and the creative use of unusual percussion sounds without it turning into a percussion concert.

Nicole Lamartine

Leslie Blackwell

By this time I was starting to feel the onset of a cold, and I had heard so many performances of depth and power that I was considering calling it good and skipping the last concert. In my defense for even considering such a thing, it was my second National Conference of the week, as I had been at the MTNA Conference in Anaheim for four days before coming to Dallas. I had a student in the Senior Voice Finals there, and I am very proud to say she took third place. The opportunity to hear the Tallis Scholars live, though, was too great an opportunity to pass up. I considered hopping tracks to hear them in the glorious acoustic of Myerson Symphony Hall, but had to weigh that against how I felt physically. I bit the bullet and headed to my hotel room to lie down for an hour before hearing them in the Winstead Opera House at the evening performance.

Feeling much better for having taken the break, I arrived early and found myself in the company of Bruce Browne, Kevin Memley, and Ethan Sperry. I am constantly amazed at the brilliant, open, friendly folks I am allowed to rub shoulders with at ACDA, such a treat. We were in the center close to the front, which we all felt was the best place to hear well in Winstead. In Meyerson, I loved sitting on the side in the box seats, where I could both see well and almost watch the sound swirl around the hall and perfectly tail off towards heaven through that dome above the balcony. Getting to hear the organ in those AGO sponsored pre-concert mini-concerts was fantastic, BTW.

The first chorus, the University of Delaware Chorale directed by Paul Head, had well-balanced literature, from Byrd to Bruckner to modern composers, including some that I did not know but will now look out for. They gave an energetic, excellent performance.

The second chorus was the San Antonio Chamber Choir directed by Scott MacPherson. I was immediately struck with the richness of the sound, especially the basses, in a room that seemed to me to favor the upper voices. They had a mature sound, a rich and dense program, different than any of the other programs I heard. I always love the infinite variety of excellence that can exist, and how different choirs can sound so different from each other and still be spectacular.

Scott MacPherson

Then, the Tallis Scholars came out on stage and began singing what was for me the standout performance of the entire conference. A quick aside—I tried something for all the concerts that I had never done before, which was to not take or read any programs, just listen to the music and watch the performance to see if this reduced the influence of my prejudices. I would not do this every conference, but I am glad I tried it. They began with Palestrina, as so many things should. It was fascinating to hear them take a few bars to really find each other's voices in the hall, having just come from singing the same program in the very different acoustic environment of Meyerson. It was, of course, well sung right from the start, but then it became almost miraculous. Next, they sang the piece commissioned for their 40th anniversary season, Whitacre's "Sainte-Chapelle." I am glad to say that it was truly crafted for the approach, sound, and programming of the Tallis Scholars, starting with a chant melody that moved into contrapuntal textures and allusions. It was not just another series of cluster chords, something I had heard more than enough of by the end of the conference, though by the middle it was identifiably a Whitacre piece and did have plenty of his signature harmonic structure and movement.

The Tallis Scholars

Then, the Pärt Nunc Dimittis-from the first bar, my eyebrows went up at the thought of doing this piece with just ten singers. It was a revelation, in so many ways. When the C# Major “Lumen” progression rang that room, I could not breathe for a few seconds. I could feel the sound in my whole body. Now, I had happily felt the power of opening up the floodgates of a large chorus many times during the conference, but this was different. True, they were singing with full resonance, but it was not the volume that gave it such power. It was the alignment, balance, and connectedness of the sound. I will remember that sound, I can still hear it in my head. In the whole conference, those 15 seconds were the absolute peak for me. When Pärt writes a major chord, it sounds more major than when anyone else does. I feel like now I know what a major chord really sounds like.

From the Pärt Nunc they took us straight into the Palestrina Nunc, perfect Palestrina bookends. When they were done, the audience of course would not sit down or stop clapping until they came out for an encore. The Tallis “Loquebantur variis linguis” was another perfect choice. With its unapologetic dissonances, it sounds timeless.

These three choirs of the last concert represented so well for me three very important faces of choral music--the energy of a large ensemble of young singers, the depth of a medium sized group of mature singers, and the pinnacle of what a world-class, targeted, visionary small ensemble can achieve.

COMING UP NEXT: Uncle Paul's short recap of the whole conference, with shout-outs to some of the people who made this whole thing happen.

Hey readers, please consider posting a comment and/or subscribing to this blog. It's almost painless! I am also looking for m0ore guest bloggers- you can write about anything you think is interesting.

Recap of the 2013 ACDA National Conference in Dallas

The Friday evening concert at the ACDA 2013 National Conference in Dallas held three choirs- the Union High School Chamber Choir from Vancouver, WA directed by Mikkel Iverson; Chroma, the womens ensemble of Seattle Pro Musica directed by Karen Thomas; and the University of Louisville Cardinal Singers directed by Kent Hatteberg. The Cardinal Singers were happy to be back from Vatican City after electing a new pope.

Union High School presented a program of music all by living Washington state composers. The choir sang with great skill and confidence and as each piece finished the audience grew more and more enthusiastic. A new Ethan Sperry Indian-influenced piece in manuscript titled Albela Sjan was led by a tabla player with great effect- this will no doubt be another hit for Ethan.

Ethan Sperry

The totally engaged audience spurred the choir on and by the time this program ended with two movements of John Muehleisen's Eat your Vegetables (very campy in the best sense of the word) it was obvious that this choir was on a par with many a university choir. Iverson and the choir are high-achievers and it was an absolute delight to hear a fine high school ensemble singing advanced, adventurous (yet still appropriate for their age) music. I would also like to applaud the composers on this program for cultivating their own voice- I heard no blatant Lauridsen or Whitacre imitations, and also generally  heard no blandly simplistic forms of homophonic music. This concert made all the many ACDA members in attendance from Washington state and the Northwest division quite proud.

Mikkel Iverson

The NW flavor continued with one of the few women's ensembles at this years conference, Chroma directed by Karen Thomas. Their program was probably the most adventurous one I heard in the whole conference. Some of the pieces were moderately avant-garde which something really missing from this conference- most of the "new" music on programs were safe plays and, again, mostly homophonic pandiatonicism in one way or another). Thomas led the ensemble with great skill and the ensemble was an apt model of the new sound that has developed in women's choirs in the last 10-15 years- strong, full-bodied women's voices covering large territories of tessitura and dynamic range. To me the highlight of their program was an odd, very subdued and mysterious setting of the Charles Orleans text Quant j'ai ouy le tabourin. The choral tone palette of the choir here was mystical and intimate. Thomas' own Wild Nights, a setting Emily Dickinson's R-rated poem was passionate and - oh yeah, sexy and wild! The group then finished their set with a rollicking Bulgarian folk song sung expertly in the style made famous by the Bulgarian State Radio Female Vocal Choir. Thomas displayed expertise in this, to many, unusual singing style both in this concert as well as in her "Into the Mind" session a day earlier. This was another state of Washington triumph.

Karen Thomas

The evening ended with a performance by one of the premiere choral ensembles in the country, the University of Louisville Cardinal Singers directed by Kent Hatteberg. This was the third time I have heard them- the first time was an epic all-Baltic program at the ACDA 2009 Southern Division conference and their more recent NCCO performance here. For this evening Hatteberg once again showed his great knowledge of current  non-American choral repertoire. The program opened with a piece I am a big fan of- Josep Vila i Casana's Salve, Regina, which I first heard in a performance at the Western division conference of 2010 in Tucson directed by Brady Allred (review here). There is an absolutely magical passage when Casanas music becomes mesmerizingly polytonal. This is no bland,  accidental pandiatonic collision of notes, but true dissonance created by clashing chords. This Salve, Regina is something more conductors need to discover. After some great Monteverdi and Max Reger, an actual four-part fugue broke out (it was kind of like a fugue flashmob, man) in Swedish composer Michael Waldenby's Hominus dies. While the piece seemed a bit too long and not that great, I was pleasantly shocked to hear some- wait for it- REAL COUNTEPOINT! Hurray to Hatteberg for presenting such a musical curiosity. The entire program was excellent and beautifully sung- that's what this choir does! If you have never heard them, try to find a way to get to one of their concerts. Bravo to Hatteberg for being one of standard-setters not only in choral sound but also in presenting high quality repertoire, much  off it off the proverbially beaten path.

Kent Hatteberg

My evening ended with a visit to the NCCO (National Collegiate Choral Organization) reception where I had a chance to chat with cool folks like Josh Bronfman, Steve Grives, Steven Sametz, Giselle Wyers, as well as Mike Murphy from Idaho who I had not yet met. The NCCO reception was great and we all look forward to the NCCO conference in late October in Charleston, South Carolina hosted by Rob Taylor and of course led by current president Lisa Graham.

ADDENDUM to any earlier blog: During the Friday afternoon gold track concert Tim Sharp gave a state of ACDA address. It was pretty positive information about membership, initiatives and so on. Tim has led this group so successfully into the twenty-first century and has expanded the association into global initiatives and collaborations. Bravo, Tim and and to all at the national office in OKC. Tim also announced that the Brock commission composer for 2013 will be Alice Parker and for the 2014 national conference in Salt Lake City the composer will be Jake Heggie- quality folks, although Heggie has written very little choral music.

I had to leave early Saturday morning to get back to Chicago for the premiere of a new commission later on that day. I went from 75 degrees and sunny in Dallas to 25, cloudy, windy, and the streets filled with 20-somethings who had already been drinking way too much cheap beer in "celebration" of  St. Paddy's Day. The shift in weather was a shock, but the drinking wasn't. I'm pretty much used to seeing the ridiculous drinking that goes on here on St Paddy's Day-ugh. So......

COMING UP: The final day of ACDA 2013 in Dallas from guest-blogger Reg Unterseher. Reg has some good stuff for you (including some great insight into listening to The Tallis Scholars), and I think he's a better writer than me- so enjoy this when I post it!