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The Madison Diocesan Choir will bid farewell to the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison when it presents its final spring concert in the center’s chapel on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. Here they sing at the 2013 Lessons and Carols with Dr. Patrick Gorman directing and Glenn Schuster accompanying the choir along with guest musicians.(Catholic Herald file photo) |
MADISON — On Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m., the Madison Diocesan Choir will present its final concert at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, and under the direction of Dr. Patrick Gorman, members will bid farewell to their principal venue for many years with a spring concert to remember, featuring an orchestra, guest soloists, and two seldom-heard, but stunning and inspiring pieces.
Only a year ago, it was in the O’Connor Center chapel that the choir celebrated 40 years of music ministry. Its more than 70 active members from parishes throughout the diocese swelled to over 100, as former members returned. Together, they performed a spring concert as an anniversary choir.
Leaving the center
Since then, the Diocese of Madison announced its decision to leave the center, located at 702 S. High Point Rd., and lease it to a developer. Under the tentative agreement announced last fall, the former seminary will become an apartment complex with up to 150 rental units.
“I think everybody’s sad in their own way, but it seems to be a practical move,” said Gorman, choir director for 22 years in addition to being director of the diocesan Office of Worship.
“I trust that that’s what needs to be done. But as I’ve said before, my favorite place to sing in the diocese always had been St. Raphael Cathedral. It was such a lovely cathedral. I was very sad when that burned, and there’s a similar sadness here in that we have a nice home, it’s convenient, it’s a good acoustic. People like to come here. Good parking. That’s all going to have to change.”
In planning a new headquarters, the diocese has been very gracious in allowing rehearsal space for the choir, Gorman said.
“Then it’s a matter of finding a location for Lessons and Carols as well as our spring program that maybe aren’t the same location, but then be able to hold them consistently in those places,” he said.
Seldom-heard pieces
The immediate focus, however, is the concert the evening of Friday, May 9.
“The first two pieces, Zadok the Priest and Five Mystical Songs, aren’t heard that often in this country, and I think they will be a nice little treat,” Gorman said.
Composed by Handel for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline in 1727, Zadok the Priest remains a favorite today, listed on what one might describe as the all-time, top 10 chart of choral music.
Vaughan Williams may not have that distinction, they are just as moving. Once heard or sung, they make a lasting impression. Days later, people are likely to find themselves quietly singing or humming the phrase, “Rise heart, thy Lord is risen” or “Let all the world in every corner sing!”
But more on these two selections later; first, Gorman’s reasons for choosing them.
“I wanted this year to do some works in English because I think in our last two concerts, they were entirely in Latin, which is fine for the listener, but it makes it a lot harder for the choir,” he said.
“I also kind of wanted to make a statement that not all great music is written in Latin. A lot of it is, but a lot of it is in other languages, and these two fit that model. They also fit the model in that, in my mind, they aren’t overdone in this country.”
Finally, he said, they are ideal for this concert with orchestra, because the instrumentations are similar for each piece, as well as the third and final selection, Vivaldi’s Gloria, which is, of course, in Latin. “So all three pieces have very similar orchestrations,” he said.
Orchestra for concert
The choir will be accompanied by more than 20 Madison area musicians, some who perform with the Madison Symphony, some with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and others who are freelance performers.
“They’re really, really fine people, and it’s nice, I think, both for the choir and the audience that we get this nice orchestra,” Gorman said. “I think it elevates our own singing. It’s an experience that we don’t normally deal with. We usually sing over an organ or piano. But here it’s a whole orchestra with all the different colors that it has, and I think it’s quite exciting.”
The instruments include strings, oboes, bassoons, timpani, and trumpets. Assistant Director Glenn Schuster also will accompany the choir on piano and organ.
“The biggest orchestration is for Zadok the Priest,” Gorman said. “It’s very stately.”
In top 10 ‘OMG moments’
Not that it influenced his decision, but Gorman happened to find, by way of social media, that Zadok the Priest made the Chorus America “10 OMG Moments in Classical Music” list.
The piece opens with 20 or so measures for orchestra only. The Chorus America description perhaps says it best. Quoting in part, it says, “You’re just . . . minding your own business, maybe there’s some baroque music in the background . . . KAPOW! Mass choral entry! Something about a priest! Make sure you’re sitting down for this one.”
There’s an amusing, historical footnote as well. As Gorman explained in an interview, and covers in his concert program notes, it was the second of four anthems Handel wrote for the coronation. But from the start, it was referred to as Coronation Anthem No. 1 and has been listed and performed as such in every coronation of a British monarch since then.
“Because of a error in the program, it became the first,” he said. The error has been repeated in programs for 300 years. “It just made me laugh.”
Guest soloists
For the Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, only strings and piano will accompany the choir and guest soloist Benjamin Schultz, a baritone who performed with the choir at its 2011 spring concert featuring the music of Schubert and Mozart.
On April 5 at Holy Mother of Consolation Church in Oregon, the choir gave a spring concert preview. Schultz had a scheduling conflict, so early on, Gorman asked tenor Dan Gallagher to be the soloist for the Oregon performance. Even then, the choir only had one rehearsal with Gallagher prior to the performance in Oregon.
“They are hard to rehearse without the soloist, but when you get together with the soloist, it’s a whole other experience,” Gorman said. “Dan just did magnificently. Dan had sung the mystical songs before, but they’re really written for baritone.”
Gorman said Schultz was sure to give an exceptional performance, just as he did for the Schubert and Mozart spring concert in 2011. “He’s got a nice, high baritone voice,” Gorman said.
Also returning for solo appearances with the choir are soprano Shannon O’Brien Kaszuba, who performed at the same 2011 spring concert, and alto Michele Gillett, who has sung with the choir at liturgical services.
Making her debut with the choir is soprano Katherine Rusch, who sings with the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, as does O’Brien Kaszuba. Gorman also directed the chorus.
The three women are the featured soloists in Gorman’s final selection for the concert, Vivaldi’s Gloria. Rusch will sing one part of the Gloria with O’Brien Kaszuba.
“It’s a little soprano duet that is just really happy and joyful,” Gorman said. “It’s the Laudamus te. ‘We praise you’ is the text, and — it’s just hard to describe, but they sing almost like one voice. They keep passing the lines back and forth, very quickly, and it’s a really nice sound. I chose them because I remember how nice they sounded, singing together O Salutaris in the Philharmonic Chorus tudor dinner concert.”
In the Gloria, Gillett has solos either performed with the choir and alone. “She just has a nice, rich alto voice; I really like,” he said.
Exceptional singing
With the concert drawing near, Gorman said the choir’s singing has been exceptional.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard the choir sing more beautifully than I heard at the Chrism Mass this year,” he said. “It was just well beyond their singing in rehearsal. And I thought our concert in Oregon went very well. So I’m really looking forward to it.
“We do have our work cut out for us, but I think that we’re in a place now where we can really polish as opposed to cram. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Bishop O’Connor Center is wheelchair accessible, and while the concert is free, the choir appreciates a free-will offering to support its music ministry.