On tour with the Canadian Chamber Choir

Highschool and U of Ottawa Choirs assemble for a workshop at St. Joseph's in Ottawa

More than half of the tour with the Canadian Chamber Choir is complete and it is by far one of the most taxing and rewarding touring experiences I have been on thus far. I attribute it to the fact that in previous choirs that I've been in, by the time you go on tour, the music that you are planning to sing on tour is usually well-rehearsed and ready for the audiences you are about to meet. In this case, I am learning almost 30 new pieces. While I had prepared as much as I could on my own, there's always more work to be done when you are putting parts together with other voices. Creating ensemble takes so much listening work to the voices surrounding you and watching a conductor to interpret a new gestural style. 

The first day was a commute day. I set off from an Edmonton flight at 7 AM and arrived in Toronto at 12:30 PM.  Most of the singers either flew into Toronto or Ottawa and from there we all drove to Kingston. Select choristers were in charge of obtaining rental vans to pick up other groups of choristers from the airport.  There's nothing a like a road trip to start of the tour to introduce to me to the choristers I had just met at the arrivals gate. I was greeted with warm hugs from the Altos when they saw me arrive, dissolving apprehensions I had about approaching the group as an outsider.  The amazing thing is that I have met many of the choristers before at choral conferences, performances, tours, or just through visibility on social media networks. 

Sandy gave Kim and I lipsmackers as a welcome to the choir gift!

A meet and greet with our billets at the church led into our first rehearsal. My rehearsal performance felt pretty rough.  As much as you try to do to take care of yourself, the fatigue and dehydration of travel took a toll on my body and voice. It is difficult to expedite the recovery process without time for rest. Instead, I used a combination of caffeine stimulants and high sugar foods, with varying levels of success, to survive the evening with sufficient mental acuity. 

Sunday Service at St. George Cathedral in Kingston

My first time singing with Justin after our time in the U of A Madrigal Singers

The next day was by far the most challenging.  We were up and ready to sing Sunday church service at St. George Cathedral. It was a stunning service but there was something going with the heat in the church and I was shivering throughout the entire performance. The rest of the day was filled with rehearsal, as well as eating and layering enough clothing to conserve body heat. My anxiety decreased as rehearsals went on. I don't think I have ever been quite as fatigued on tour as I have been on this one. When I would get back to my billet's home, I would debrief over tea then crash on my bed. I was too tired to even text my family updates. Tuesday followed a similar rehearsal pace except we had our sound check that afternoon for our concert that evening.  As I approached the stage, it was quite moving for me to see so many similar faces in the audience. Jean, who had welcomed us as soon as we arrived at the church was looking after the choir during their stay. She had been constantly cooking and making beverages for us over the past two days. Jean was beaming in the back pew of the church with rosy cheeks and damp eyes during our entire concert. My own billet, Mary, was sitting in the front row, supporting me like a family member. She gave me gentle smiles and I would look over for an encouraging glance as I worked my way through the repertoire. 

St. George's Cathedral in Kingston, ON

It was my first concert with the Canadian Chamber Choir. I had these flashback moments during entire concert where I reversed my perspective and could remember my first moment seeing the CCC in concert while they toured Alberta in 2011. It blows my mind that four years later I would be on the other side. First and foremost, I am a fan of the CCC and the work that they do going into choral communities and sharing their song and choral presence with audiences. There is no concept of 'us' and 'them.' Instead, there is the concept of 'we' and how all music lovers can make music together.  There is a real sense of accessibility in regards to the music they have published in their CCC series with Cypress music. The sense of community building is further emphasized by the fact that singers are billeted with lovers of choral music. I have had such an amazing experience looking through the repertoire my billets are working on, showing them my music and how I use an iPad to read music, tales of bad auditions, and I have even had billets ask me about my love life. It makes me realize that even though we are all separated by distance, our connected love of singing brings an instant sense of familiarity.

The adorable Crossroads Tea Room in Perth, ON

One of the most challenging things I have had to deal with so far is how to manage and recharge my energy stores. I know I need dedicated focus during the entire rehearsal time; however, I also want to give my fellow choristers, workshop choristers, billet hosts, audience members my undivided attention. There is minimal to no time built into the schedule for free time, thus, it's about finding small pockets of time to recharge and capitalize on quiet time. One day it was taking a pain killer and taking a 45 min nap on a bed in the old nunnery behind the church; on another day it was riding down an ice slide set up for a winter festival. It has been an uphill battle getting music performance ready in three days let alone ensuring that I have sufficient energy for socialization. I only feel like I am now back in control at this halfway point in the tour. I was dragging myself along for the first few days. Much of the process is helped with my supportive network of CCC choristers checking in with me. They make sure I'm up to date on all music notes and confirm schedule times.  Arriving in Kingston feels like a lifetime ago, but it has only been five days since I first met everyone.  As I prepare to wrap up this last leg of the tour, I am making sure to do lots of mental check-in's to be thankful that I am singing with the CCC. The CCC workshop today with high school choirs at the University of Ottawa solidified that for me as they asked questions about how they get into the choir, how we prepare music etc. I had the exact same questions four years ago. It's a moment to be grateful, but to pick up and keep going since tour isn't finished quite yet! 

Ministry of Coffee break in Ottawa, ON to write this blog post

The men of CCC joins a mens youth choir during the workshop

Skating in the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, ON

The Power Duo: An Interview with the Queen of the Night, Teiya Kasahara, and Sarastro, Neil Craighead in Edmonton Opera's Magic Flute

It has been almost ten years since soprano, Teiya Kasahara, and bass-baritone, Neil Craighead, performed in their first production of the Magic Flute at the University of British Columbia. Edmonton Opera's current production unites the two UBC and COC Ensemble Studio grads. 

They play the contrasting principal roles with Kasahara as the vengeful Queen of the Night and Craighead as the prophetic Sarastro. Given their familiarity with the production having performed it in multiple forms, they both bring a thorough understanding of the text and story. "He is this enlightened personality but he is human and he is flawed," Craighead describes before continuing, "He tries to set the example for the rest of his enclave. He is representative of the light sun and good in the world, as opposed to Teiya." Kasahara picks up Craighead's thought process, "Basically, I have see myself as completely wronged, by my husband, by men in general, by this enlightened group. I’m trying to get what I rightfully believe is mine. I go to the extent of disowning my daughter and using her as my pawn and going too far. And reaching that point of no return of how corrupt and desire for power has made me completely evil." However, the Queen of the Night is not a completely unsympathetic character when viewed with a modern perspective. Kasahara describes her the Queen's inner motivations, "My late husband, on his death bed, gave all his power and this sevenfold circle of the sun to [Sarastro]. Because he believed [Sarastro] and [his] group, and that men in general, are the better sex. There is a huge dialogue in the original German that is generally cut down in English version, which I get, because it’s really long and breaks the flow of the whole opera. It’s really outdated and misogynistic. My husband is saying to me, I’m quoting him to my daughter,' You need to seek men’s leadership and be away with your wildly irrational womanly thinking and your duty is to men.' I don’t think she really likes it. That’s why she sings Der Hölle Rach." This seems like an understatement when this fiery coloratura aria is one of the most iconic pieces in operatic repertoire.

Magic Flute has a special place in the history with both of these singers. Craighead states that he never went into school thinking he would be an Opera singer. Nancy Hermiston cast him as the Speaker in Magic Flute before he even arrived at UBC. “I never sang a company recit. I was hooked. It’s just a classic story.  This is my eighth Magic Flute now. I’ve sang most of the mens parts now. I’ve been Speaker, Priest, Armed Guard, Sarastro. I haven’t done Papageno, but it’s within the realm of possibility. I know every single word of this Opera,” he states with a depth of maturity. Magic Flute played a formative role in Kasahara’s life as well: “It was the first Opera I ever saw, but it was on film, Igmar Bergman’s1971 Swedish production. It was done in a baroque theatre and it was filmed that way. I was at the UBC’s summer music institute. I was 15. Just watching everything come together and unfold with the music. Seeing the Queen of the Night and seeing that crazy high aria. 'What if I could sing that one day?' and having those kind of dreams at an early age it kept me focused on Opera. I was first spirit at UBC. I started learning Pamina and covered it at UBC. For me, it’s always been a part of my repertoire. I just love this Opera musically. The overture, I hear it in the dressing room… those beautiful chords and just start rocking out!" she says with a laugh and a soft headbang, "It’s always going to have a special place with me because it’s what introduced me to Opera.”

 
 
Kasahara and Craighead both acknowledge the challenges of being an Opera singer and laud their networks for providing them with the foundation to continue in this business. At the core of it, it’s the music that draws them both back. Craighead notes that he loves those moments when he is in “the presence of greatness” having a front-row seat as he gets to hear singers at the top of their craft. For Kasahara, she describes the allure of what keeps drawing her back: “Those magic moments on stage where you can hear that music live coming out of the pit, emanating your voice, and everything is just synergistic. It just comes together. You feel the lights on your face. You can see your colleagues through the legs of the backstage and they’re about to come on. All those perfect moments when you just realize, ‘wow, this is all happening right now and hundreds of people came together to put this one moment together on stage.’ Time slows down but speeds up. When you can stop on stage and have that realization.” 

 

 

Take a listen to the whole interview to get their thoughts on their understanding of the Opera, what they would do if they were ever able to direct the production, how they see their careers progressing, and their thoughts on who would win if the Queen of the Night and Sarastro had to have a musical face-off. 

The Magic Flute opens January 31, 2015 with performances on February 3 and 5. Tickets are available online. 

All photography by Nanc Price courtesy of Edmonton Opera

New Chorister on the Block

Greeting readers and a Happy New Year to you all!

I am in the works of preparing for two music projects:

1. Chorus in Edmonton Opera's the Magic Flute
2. Alto in the Canadian Chamber Choir

A reflective look at 2014 made me realize I had some amazing choral opportunities. I got the chance to tour to Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax with Pro Coro. However, the reality of finding only fleeting satisfaction with immediate achievements is that I always wonder: what's next?

In this case, what's next is that I am the newest Alto in the Canadian Chamber Choir (CCC). I have very vivid recollection of the first time I saw them sing. They were touring through the Prairies around 3-4 years ago. I was in my first season with Pro Coro as a substitute member and I was also still singing with my women's choir, Belle Canto. The CCC performed a concert at McDougall United Church and I sat there in awe at their elegance, precision, and clarity while executing choral music. I had never heard of them before. When I learned more about the group, how they incorporate professional singers from across the country and join together at a specific location in Canada to rehearse and tour, they appeared as a elite and untouchable entity. All the singers live in different cities and individually prepare their music so that they can just fly somewhere and form a cohesive ensemble. This appeared an impossible feat since I was raised in groups where we rehearse weekly. It is challenging enough as it is to form a cohesive ensemble while living in the same city. I tucked the prospect of being able to sing with such a group away in my mind and added their name to my choral bucket list.

Confidence: it is a significant mental barrier to overcome. My best approach at overcoming the inner voice of self-criticism is through thorough preparation, increasing experience, and patience with self. I didn't realize it, but in my past three full seasons with Pro Coro, I had been building skills in all the aforementioned areas. Pro Coro, to this day, has introduced me to some of the most challenging pieces of choral music that I have ever sung. There is something to be said of fear desensitization through repeated exposure. Only through practice can you find ways of preparing music that is efficient to your learning style while working with the focused intensity required in professional groups that run on constraints of time and money. My last year touring with Pro Coro also allowed to to meet other professional singers, blog readers, and reconnect with old chorus friends. Some of these singers sang with the CCC. For the first time, I began to realize maybe that it wasn't such a ridiculous idea to submit an audition tape. I had unknowingly acquired skills over these past few years to be able to be considered for ensembles such as CCC. My taste of singing with some of the CCC members at a pop-up music reading session for their Cypress music series at Podium 2014 solidified my resolve to apply when I got back to Edmonton at the end of May.


The rest is history. Well, not quite. It was easy enough to mail off an audition package. At the end of June, I received notification of my acceptance into the pool of CCC singers. I was ecstatic! I knew before applying that just because a singer is invited to be a part of the roster, you may not necessarily be chosen for tours. There is a core group of singers and additional singers are called for projects for varying reasons: repertoire requirements, vocal color, budget etc., There are a lot of changing variables. Singer expectations have to be managed, this I understood. In the middle of September, two weeks after starting a new job with the school board, I received an invitation to tour with the CCC in February 2015. I sat in shock at a staffroom table holding my iPhone in one hand and eating my lunch with the other. Elation was soon greeted with stress. I began brainstorming how exactly I would pitch this absence to my new administration. Over a two-week period of discussions with the admin and creativity regarding hours adjustments, they approved my absence. At this point, I did a fist pump into the air in the privacy of my office after reading the e-mail.

As I wrote to conductor, Dr. Julia Davids, in June when I was notified of my CCC acceptance, "I think that the CCC does amazing work, and while I feel like blogging does connect to choral readers, the way that the CCC materializes within choral communities does something words alone cannot do: create music."

And with that, I'm setting a goal to connect to singers and blog readers while I am touring Kingston, Perth, Ottawa and Montreal with the CCC. I'm excited to connect with more lovers of choral music throughout this country through social media and choir.

You know how to reach me.

The Making of The Great Human Odyssey Soundtrack - A Chorister's Perspective

Ready to perform for a live studio audience

It blows my mind what can happen in 28 hours.

That is the amount of time Pro Coro had to record all the vocal parts for the documentary, The Great Human Odyssey. We received a copy of the coiled music, still warm from the printers, on Monday at 6 PM and we finished recording at 10 PM on Tuesday. Furthermore, in that time, we also performed the work to a sold-out audience at the Winspear for the Sound, Light, Motion Event hosted by Make Something Edmonton.

I had an inkling that this would be a pretty cool project but it didn't fully hit me until I saw the amount of media exposure there was in anticipation of this unique event. It is not everyday that a project of this size is realized while recruiting so much participation from the local arts community. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra recorded all the orchestral lines and the film crew decided to use an live choral voices for all the recording instead of synthesizers.

The documentary gathers film footage and interviews from individuals all over the world over the span of 18 months. The documentary content investigates the journey of humans outside of Africa. There is an insightful interview and stunning teaser trailer released online for you to learn more. The three-part series airs on CBC in 2015 on David Suzuki's The Nature of Things. The unique part of this project is its connections to Edmonton. The filmmaker, Niobe Thompson, is from Edmonton as well as the composer, Darren Fung, who had less than seven weeks to compose the score.

Monday night was stressful because we had just received the music and two hours later we were performing it in front of a live audience. However, the warmth of the audience paired with the choir's first glimpses of the footage accompanying the music melted away most of our hesitation. Our vocal parts were just one component of this mammoth machine of Art. We were just coming in for a few hours to contribute our voices for aural storytelling. I can't even begin to imagine how the crew and filmmaker, Niobe Thompson, have been dreaming and living this project for the past few years. You just sense this grateful and excited energy from all of the crew which inspired us, as singers, to help them fully realize their vision.

It was my first time using a click track played through a one-sided headphone. It was a constant metronome click synced with the tempo markings in the music. The other ear was left open to listen. What I found right away is that having one ear blocked wiped out my ability to listen to singers around me and tune chords so I wore as much of the headphone off of my ear as possible during the actual recording on Tuesday. We also popped in some recording tricks to decrease noise, such as wearing slippers or flattening our music stand and turning them 180 degrees to help remedy the scrape of our page turns on the metallic stand ledge. The ESO had also been recording Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning so by the time Pro Coro arrived on Tuesday afternoon we were able to hear the metronome clicks as well as the orchestral parts played back into our ears as we were singing. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of quick turnaround the crew had to do in the recording booth since Darren was able to just say "two bars before measure 40" and they would be able to pull up those exact bars of orchestral accompaniment in our headphone and we could begin singing. The process also demonstrated the fluidity in music recording. We would add or remove lines, try different voicing on parts, sing different melodies in the piano reduction, change vowels, add more notes into the chord - it evolved into this organic process where the music was being created and tweaked right in that very recording session. Darren was having so much fun that there was no increased stress with the last-minute edits. There was an open willingness to experiment and see what we could come up with.

It is exhausting but satisfying to emerge from a 28 hour process that included six hours of recording and a two hour live concert. The entire spirit of the Make Something Edmonton movement is to take the visions of Edmontonians, and with community self-reflection, ask how we can help so individuals can realize their dreams. As a result, we create this common goal of a vibrant city that runs on community powered momentum. I'm left wondering when's the next time I can do something as cool as this.

Recording is a wrap!

I also had the chance to sing with Elizabeth, a blog reader and chorister in Pro Coro #CONNECT

Update: A The Making of a Filmscore Documentary has been released! January 14, 2014

mèi mei

Photo Credit: Nanc Price Photography

In October, I started a ukulele coverband with my sis. We had talked about forming a group for a while. We even had our band name picked out: mèi mei (translation: little sister in mandarin). However, securing a gig at the VIP Reception for a Nina Haggarty Centre of the Arts Fundraiser expedited our band's formation. 

It not confidence boosting to admit that you are the weakest link; however, it was true in this case. The only instrument I really had an ever trained was my voice. As you can imagine, there was as steep learning curve for me to be able to play basic chords on ukulele while singing at the same time. I have terrible fine motor skills. At the same time, nothing ever gets better without practice so I took the challenge to develop my brain's motor cortex regions. We carried off our first gig well enough with the ambient noise of the cocktail party to disguise any of my glaring musical errors. 

The whole process gave me a glimpse into how my neural networks consolidate new information. I gave myself very basic goals. My first week's focus was just holding my ukulele so I wouldn't be crushing my contorted thumb behind the bridge. The next week was trying to play chords and sing at the same time at a reduced tempo. The next week was learning that I can strum in different patterns to create rhythm. The following week was attempting to sing right words, play correct chords, strum, and keep a steady tempo. The only strength I have is that I am able to automatically sing a harmony line because I can hear it in my head. Plus, I am strumming the chords so I am supplying myself the notes.  

There were short intense periods of practice everyday. Drilling awkward chord transitions and willing my fingers to move with more accuracy between chord postures were at the top of my list. I felt a sense of satisfaction when my fingertips would tingle due to lack of sensation. I was forming callouses! One step closer into becoming a ukulele instrumentalist. I began learning on my niece's ukulele that is green and covered in tropical fruit. As the gig approached, I decided the week before I should pick up my own ukulele. While I was tempted to purchase a colored one, the sound was terrible so I opted for something in the mid-range.

Following the reception for the Nina fundraiser, we even had the chance to sing some holiday tunes for a private shopping event with Cory Christopher at Simons this past weekend.

 

 

Thanks to Nanc for these amazing pics from Simons!

While mèi mei's future is undetermined at this point in time, all I know it's fun to spend some time with my sis and have the courage learn something new.

A Leap of Faith - An Interview with Canadian Choral Composer, Jason Noble

 

Braving the icy chill from Edmonton's abrupt onset of Winter composer, Jason Noble, shakes off the bite of the windchill as he enters the warm surroundings of Remedy Café.  He sits down to discuss the premiere of his newest choral work, Missa Remissionem Peccatorum. Pro Coro Canada sings the debut of the piece at their concert on Sunday. In addition to his work as a choral composer, Noble is a musician and PhD researcher at McGill's Music Perception and Cognition Lab. Noble sings with voces boreales, a professional choral ensemble founded by Pro Coro's Artistic Director, Michael Zaugg. Missa Remissionem Peccatorum is Noble's largest choral work to date. Drawing upon his previous history with Zaugg as a singer, Noble states that it gave him a better perspective when writing a piece for one of Zaugg's choirs. "Zaugg has a compositional approach to conducting. He looks at scores so analytically. There might be sixteen independent lines going on at one time and he helps choirs see harmonic underpinnings, understand global textural effects, and how each note functions in terms of the overall sonority.  As a composer, that is how we would look at a score too,'" Noble says with a tone of deep appreciation. "He's also very passionate about contemporary music," Noble continues,  "to have somebody gifted at bringing out inner intentions and the compositional structure of a piece... it was a real gift," Noble states as he reminisces about his time when Zaugg conducting voces boreales in Montreal before moving to Edmonton.

This Sunday will not be the first time in which Pro Coro has premiered one of Noble’s works. "The first piece that I wrote for Michael was The Shadows Flee Away which Pro Coro did over a year ago. I think everybody would agree it was a difficult piece. It was 16 parts throughout with polytonal layering, lots of textures, and [Pro Coro] did a great job," he states.  "As much as I was happy with that piece, it helped me grow as a composer," he says.

Taking what he learned from that experience, Noble kept what worked and applied it to the Missa Remissionem Peccatorum.  As a result, there is some continuity between the two works. "In the beginning of the Gloria, for example, there are just four notes sustained but every singer is articulating the text at their own free pace. Later the Sopranos and Altos have this canon where there is a floating texture above and in the tenors and basses there is more of a homophonic chorale," he says before apologizing and continuing with a burst of explanatory excitement. "Basically, you've got two textures going on at the same time. One is the sparkly texture over top and the bottom appears as a unified statement of familiar chords.  Also, the crossfades where you have one choir decrescendo as the other choir does exactly the opposite with a crescendo," he explains. There is intent behind every aspect of Noble's musical construction: "There may be a straightforward D flat major chord but one of the voices on the third may make it major or minor. Other voices may move in microtonal intervals that are not major or minor but more like a band in pitch space. It is this destabilizing thing that takes you out of familiar harmony.  It is that moment of trepidation and instability which the audience will feel as much as the singers." There is also a section where singers are instructed to sing their lowest comfortable note. The pitch descends into a “black cloud of undefined sound,” ridding the section of any harmonic identity. These are all techniques that Noble uses to highlight the textual meaning in the piece. 

There are challenges associated with setting sacred text for secular audiences and still making it relevant. Noble casts a contemplative look downwards while he formulates his loci of thought into words: "Liturgical composers in earlier eras could just accept the text as something the audiences both know and believe. We live in a multicultural age now. Where we have people from all different backgrounds of faith and no faith. It would very naive to assume modern audiences will receive these texts as universal truths or as affirmations of unifying faith as audiences from previous eras might have. I think a lot of composers in the 20th and 21st centuries cut themselves off from tradition, whether that is musical or religious. The idea of complete renovation. Something radically new and different. I believe that we still have a lot to learn from the wisdom that has been handed down to us through the ages. The emphasis on the now and the new may be the sources of problems we face in the world today. Maybe those previous generations knew a few things that we would do well to learn from, including the teachings of faith. I try to find values in those teachings that are morally legitimate, even in the world today, without alienating people from any background.  For me, the concept of forgiveness is one of the most powerful ones. I don't want us to live in a world that loses the ability to forgive.  As opposed to radical individualism, where you're only thinking about yourself and your own needs. We all make mistakes and I want to believe that we can still forgive others and ourselves even in a secular world.”

The concept of forgiveness is poignant in Noble’s Kyrie section.  "The movement is about the confrontation with sin. Sin is the recognition of having done wrong in whatever moral sense that means to you. That sense of shame and self-reproach that is familiar to most people. The Kyrie is not a prayer to some sort of deity or God, although it can be interpreted that way if you wish, it's more of a hope that wrong can be set right. And wrong, once done, doesn't have to define you forever or be irreparable. Mercy is essentially a hope this can heal. Not a literal request for somebody to set things right for you. Just a hope and faith in the universe and in other people that forgiveness and reconciliation is still possible even wrong has been done," Noble summarizes with a philosophical fluency.

There is a sense of balance while Noble outlines how his personal upbringing has shaped his worldview: “I wasn’t brought up in a church-going family. My parents wanted me to grow up and make up my own mind. Now I sing in a Cathedral Choir, so I have more exposure to the teachings of Christianity than I did as a child. I think I take it in the same way I take philosophy books or other works of Art whether secular or sacred. All of them have something to teach me. All of them have something meaningful and beautiful that I can make meaningful in my own life. It’s not about which one is right or wrong. It’s about finding the value and meaning in all of them that come together in my own personal worldview. I'm hoping to convey something through the selection of text and through the music that I write.”

Art communicates through the transmission of meaning from one mind to another. This concept ties in with Noble’s research at McGill where he investigates the processes of thinking and interpreting that are common between people. Even though there are breakdowns in the message between his compositional intent and audiences, he notes that the process is a leap of faith. “As a composer, I know that meaning is always interpreted against a subjective context that is constantly evolving for everybody. By definition, it is impossible that the meaning that I have in my mind while writing is going to be the same for any one member of the audience let alone all of them,” he says while laughing at this lofty goal.

Noble views himself as a top down composer: “I don’t start with motives and materials and build something up out of them. I start with global intuition and feeling I am trying to work with. From that intuition, I get a sense of form. And then down from there into selecting materials that are appropriate to the concepts I am working with. Form and material and concept are all very interwoven with one another. There are still lots of choices to make, if I ever get it right!” he says while laughing before continuing. “What I want the work to be is clear from the beginning. If it is not clear, then I spend lot of time meditating on what I am trying to achieve. In the pieces I am most proud of, the musical choices follow almost as a matter of course once that concept is worked out.  I try to restrain myself from moving on until the concept is very clear. To the point where it’s almost self-propelling and the process unfolds where I feel like an observer and not an agent. That doesn't happen every single time but it happens at the best times,” he states in describing his compositional process.

There is an importance in how new music can document contemporary cultural identity: “We live in an age where identify is very plural and divided. In a big way, one of the reasons why I want to be a composer and write works like this is to draw attention to values that stand apart from the general cultural and moral currents around me. It would be far easier to produce music in a popular domain, using techniques, which are known to be popular. I don't want Art to be a commodity. I don’t want it to be something that’s just there to give people what they ask for because they ask for it. If you do that, then you just reinforcing people in what they already know. Which means Art will never move forward. Art will just become the perpetual recycling of things that are already known to be pleasant, and that’s not how new meanings are discovered. Our age deserves to have a unique voice. Our age deserves to have an expression through Art that documents and expresses what is unique about being alive today. How our age is not the same as ages past. What are the challenges we face? What are the feelings that we deal with? I don’t believe the best way to achieve that is by using the materials earlier musical ages have generated. But, at the same time, Art loses its power altogether if it’s written in a way that too esoteric or arcane that people can’t relate to. I don’t want to be a strictly academic composer that is only writing for my colleagues in the University while the rest of the world is unaware.  I want to write thing that have the potential to reach out to people but challenge them. Open their eyes to things that might not familiar or comfortable. I hope, by my leap of faith, that they find meaning in,” he summates, highlighting many of the themes from the conversation.

There is an overwhelming sense of gratitude when a Noble professes how honoured he is when a choir gives his music a voice. He clenches his fist in front of his chest, "it lives in here for months," he says before noting the sense of release he feels when he hears it live for the first time. “I really admire Pro Coro. I think it’s great you have a performing ensemble of this caliber here in Edmonton and that you do take on these challenging projects and master them to the degree that you do,” he says with affection. Thus, it was fitting that Noble’s opening statement to the choir at rehearsal on Friday night was just simply: “I love you.”

An Interview with Michael Zaugg, Conductor of the 2016 National Youth Choir

Michael Zaugg leads the way to his office. The hallway is filled with concert posters, which have been plaqued and mounted on the wall. A closer look at the posters reveals the signatures of soloists. The names amongst the array of posters include The Cantata Singers of Ottawa, voces boreales, and Pro Coro Canada. At the end of the hallway before turning into his office, there is a room lined with shelves, solely dedicated to music storage. Zaugg settles into the chair behind his desk and a quick look behind him shows a trio of glass message boards with dry erase etches of future repertoire ideas and thematic concert brainstorming. The board on the far right already has repertoire and commission thoughts for the National Youth Choir 2016. 

In the past ten years since arriving in Canada, Zaugg has been Artistic Director of the Cantata Singers of Ottawa, The St. Lawrence Choir, voces boreales, the Montreal Choral Institute, Chorusmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and is now beginning his third season as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Pro Coro Canada. During the Podium 2014 conference in Halifax, it was announced that Zaugg would be the next Conductor of the NYC in 2016. Conducting a mass choir of elite youth choristers is not unfamiliar territory as Zaugg has conducted the Ontario Youth Choir and Nova Scotia Youth Choir in previous years and also World Voices, a 40-voice choir of World Youth Choir alumnae; however, it will be his first opportunity at the helm of the NYC. Singing as a tenor was an integral part of Zaugg's musical upbringing. His choral experiences included tours with the Swiss Chamber Choir, the Chamber Choir of Europe, the Stockholm Chamber Choir, and five sessions in the World Youth Choir. Zaugg outlines his aims for the NYC choristers, which include, exposing them to great choral works and certain musical techniques. “I hope these young adults work in their communities and carry on some aspects of what they will be doing into the future,” he states. Zaugg makes it clear that there will be no slackening in his professional-level expectations of these youth choristers. He wishes to instill a high-performance work ethic in these budding young professionals. For those looking to become conductors, they can transfer teachings to their own work and increase their tools to help better prepare them for positions of musical leadership.

Zaugg reminisces upon his own memories from the World Youth Choir with fondness. “I arrived in Helsinki and then we took the ferry over to Tallinn. From that moment I stepped into a different world and it was only the morning on my flight back to Zurich that I realized that I had to get back into real-life. It had been a month of other-worldly experience,” he said.  Prior to WYC, Zaugg’s interest in conducting was already developing since he was teaching highschool music in his early 20s, conducting a girls choir and amateur choir, and was assistant conductor for a symphonic choir. “My early career path leaned towards pedagogy. There was always the element of making music, but being a musical pedagogue was foremost. Later on it was key moments, like hearing fantastic choirs, and saying: ‘That's what I want to do! I want to learn how to create that sound and do that particular music,’” he states. Upon arriving in Canada, Zaugg worked primarily as a conductor and in his position with the Cantata Singers of Ottawa, he tried to implement sound ideals from Scandinavia. Once he founded voces boreales in Montreal, he began to see how he could shape the free and colorful textures of voices and demonstrate a different evolution of choral sound. His approach with Pro Coro Canada has continued in this direction. “Pro Coro's full and vibrant sound wasn't here when I came 2.5 years ago. Working with a youth choir is very similar, young singers just need more guidance. The best thing is to always model what you want. I think my ears are tuned to hear individual voices, so my instruction is always very direct and that transfers into the work with the choir. I think the choirs had to get used to direct feedback," he says with a smile, breaking his stoic expression. His approach to differentiate between different voices stems from his Stockholm training. "I've sung so much for so many different voice teachers and conductors, I have acquired the vocabulary to solve various problems. It solves the problem without have to rehearse a section over and over," he says providing a rationale for his direct approach. 

Epic Photography Inc., Ian Jackson

In the two weeks given to prepare the NYC, Zaugg recognizes there will be no problem so long as the singers are prepared. He notes that he rarely takes pieces out of a concert program. "My programs have a theme. It is hard to cut something out because the story falls apart," he says. Indeed, a quick glance again at his brainstorming notes behind him reinforces how carefully he plans each repertoire item. 

Zaugg hopes that NYC singers will recognize that Alberta is a great choral province. Perhaps it will attract some young talent to Alberta and these singers will return home to transfer these teaching and experiences into their own communities. Furthermore, Zaugg notes that it is important that choristers have a great social time, forming bonds that they will keep for a lifetime. As any chorister knows, it is the on-stage and off-stage bonding that completes a musical experience. 

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Catching up with Phillip Addis, Figaro in Edmonton Opera's Barber of Seville

Metallic shelving units line the perimeter of the Jubilee Auditorium rehearsal hall. They are laden with props. A quick glance around the room reveals a barber’s chair in one corner. There is a side cart decorated with razors, combs, and a tall glass jar ready to disinfect any used combs. The stage manager helps me to clear a spot on the wooden prop vanity to interview Edmonton Opera’s leading man, Phillip Addis, playing Figaro in the Barber of Seville. Addis relaxes back in his seat with a sense of calm. He is no stranger to Principal roles having sung the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande with the Opéra Comique in Paris and Il Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Pacific Opera Victoria earlier this year; however, this is Addis’ Figaro debut.

 

“It’s been a good rehearsal process because the first time through a role, you prepare as much as you can. But when you start staging, often you start to have realizations as to why the show flows the way it does,” Addis says with a mature sense of insight. “Once you start listening to what your colleagues are saying in the dialogue, it just changes. Instead of imagining what they’re singing, you become a listener engaged in a conversation. There’s something more immediate about the relationships as opposed to when you’re just reading it from the score, trying to picture how they’re going to deliver their lines in between your lines,” he states highlighting the collaborative importance of his fellow cast members.  

 

In preparing for his debut role, Addis reveals that he did not want to watch any videos prior to coming to the rehearsal process. He elaborates on his rationale: “I didn’t want to end up being a copycat. I know there’s a lot to be learned and there’s a lot of great resources out there but I wanted to make sure I was fresh and a clean slate for the direction both dramatically and musically. It gave me more freedom to figure it out myself, who Figaro is for me.” By unraveling the layers of his character, Addis found that Figaro’s primary motivation is money. The prospect of success and reward is irresistible.

 

Figaro is the grease that makes the town run. He maximizes on his influence as a barber and is able to exploit the knowledge of his diverse networks. As a result, he anticipates outcomes as problems are approaching. Addis also sees Figaro as being very observant character that soaks up facts and emotions behind what people are saying. However, at the core, Addis views Figaro as a sympathetic character. “Figaro just wants people to be happy and he wants people who love each other to be happy because that translates into success for him and money as well,” he states. 

 

There is an overall sense of urgency because Figaro is constantly juggling multiple storylines. In order to convey this to the audience, Addis must exude an energized physicality on stage. “I don’t want him to come across is just having had too much coffee, although there is a bit of that. I am trying to be fairly wide-eyed and physically exuberant… he knows there is no time to lose. Overnight, this opportunity could pass him… otherwise [Rosina] will be forced to marry Bartelo. He is keenly aware of the pressures of timing and that excites him instead freezing him into a panic.” 

 

Figaro’s opening aria is in no way relaxing. Addis laughs as he reflects on this fact. “The singing is challenging and we’re doing a lot of active things. He’s not just singing about his life, he’s reenacting it all,” he says. However, once everything is cleared from the stage, there is one brief moment of quiet before the Count arrives in his barbershop. From that point onwards, it’s non-stop for Figaro until the closing curtain.

In order to generate the energy required for the role of Figaro, Addis shares that he is still searching for that balance. “Occasionally, we’ll run through a scene and I’m a bit out of breath by the end of it. But that’s good. It means it’s a proper challenge. Hopefully, it means that what I’m doing is not boring,” he states before elaborating on the importance of breathing. “If you’re holding your breath the whole thing is off... I think that ties in with the idea that if [Figaro] is truly anticipating the problems that are going to arise then I need to anticipate where I need to take a deep breath before a burst of activity. The idea of that deep breath, wherever it may lie, it is supportive musically but it can also work dramatically too. If you want [Figaro] to be clear-headed, then he can’t be tense and frantic,” explains Addis. He notes that the goal of the whole ensemble has been working on exuding energy but being in control of the situation as well.

There is an allure of the Operatic form for Addis: “The thing about Opera is that so much that goes into the storytelling. It can be really engaging. But there’s a certain comfort in it. I find it less exposed than concert and oratorio work. In those other forms, it’s just you and your voice. You’re doing all the storytelling. And it’s between you and the accompanist and the conductor telling the story musically as well. There is no visual crutch so you have to be so precise. It’s just more exposed… In Opera it’s quite different. First of all you rehearse in the same setting for a few weeks. You get to pass the responsibility of the storytelling between more people… It’s a more complicated collective relationship.” 

As Addis prepares for future projects, he finds himself drawn back to the fundamentals of his craft. “I’m more aware not of things I want to improve and explore technically, which I think will serve me well for the larger roles that come along, and truly essential to get through the larger roles in the repertoire. [The idea of being a lead character] that, in itself, I don’t find scary. But it’s everything that goes behind making a performance that much more engaging… I’m trying to make sure that I’m always trying to put the best performance forward,” he states with a sense of humility.

In the days leading up to opening night, Addis is looking forward to the sitzprobe. The singers will get to rehearse with the Orchestra for the first time. “I’ll be grinning. I sometimes get excited to the point where I get teary-eyed. I love it. It’s a gut reaction. There’s nothing artificial about how profoundly orchestral music moves me” says Addis. He summates his thoughts on Opera: “The blend of great orchestral music with great vocal writing. That’s why I’m in this. It’s what I love the most about Opera and other classical vocal repertoire. It’s got two things I absolutely adore fused into one.”

All photography by Nanc Price courtesy of Edmonton Opera

Tickets are available from the Edmonton Opera Box Office (780-429-1000) and online.

Barber of Seville Shows:


Saturday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.