by Dick Frantzreb

The Yuba Sutter Master Chorale’s annual Fall Pops Concert, this year titled, “Let’s Go to the Movies!” consisted of a mixed program of choral and solo music performed at the First Lutheran Church in Yuba City.  It started with the 30+ singers proceeding up the aisle of the church in silence to their position on the risers, the women in long black dresses accented by colorful boas, the men in tuxedos.

The program began with “I Got Rhythm,” and the energy the Chorale put into this piece made all of us in the audience sit up and take notice.  And that energy started with director, Kathryn Donovan Campbell.  Her active, expressive directing was reflected in the Chorale’s expressive singing in all the pieces that followed.  Many directors beg for eye contact from their choruses.  From what I observed, that didn’t seem much of a problem on Saturday night.  Even though they were mostly singing from scores, Kathryn gave the singers a lot to look at.   

(Click here to open the concert program in a new window.)  

At various points in the choral part of the concert, I was conscious of good tone and solid harmonies.  Occasionally, it seemed that the tenor sound was a bit thin (I understand they were under-strength due to illness).   But that was only a passing observation, and there were many highlights.  For example, “Through the Eyes of Love” ended with a surpassingly beautiful sound from the soprano section.  Then there were stirring moments, especially in “Dry Your Tears, Afrika” (in which some of the African language text had to be a challenge for the chorus).  And I recall moments of exquisite, gentle, expressive singing, which I noticed especially in “My Heart Will Go On.”

After the first 4 pieces by the Chorale (the last by the women alone), there was a section of 11 solos and 2 duets.  All of these selections were performed by members of the Chorale.  Giving members solo opportunities like this seems like a good idea to me.  Maybe it’s just my limited experience, but I think that one-third to maybe even half of the typical chorus’s members yearn for the opportunity to solo, even if it’s only an incidental solo in a choral piece.  This kind of concert scratches a lot of those itches.  Of course, there will be a certain number of would-be soloists who have the confidence, but not the vocal quality or ability to really deliver a song on their own.  So this kind of concert won’t draw a big crowd, but it’s great for the morale of the group.  And as I thought about this, I reflected that the Yuba Sutter Master Chorale must be a fun group to sing in.

In this section of the program, there were some really excellent solos.  Karen Trefzger and Joyce Campbell delivered professional-quality performances, as did Kathryn and her husband, Thor Campbell.  (Their duet had to be special for a lot of people.  I learned only afterwards that they are newlyweds of just a week’s duration.)  I don’t want to demean the other solos – for the most part they made for very pleasant listening.  And they deserve a lot of credit for the fact that they all sang from memory.  That tripped up one singer who forgot a lot of the complicated lyrics of her piece.  But she handled it with such grace that it seemed to me she earned the longest applause.

Remarkably, the hardest working performer Saturday night, accompanist Alda Turgieva (who played beautifully and confidently throughout) didn’t get her name included in the program – and I learned later that everyone in YSMC felt terrible about it.  The other instrumentalists, bass player David Bole and percussionist Dennis Hicks were mentioned in the program, and their support really enhanced every piece in which they played.

Personally, I liked the fact that a spokesperson introduced each piece, giving background on the song.  There was a mix of styles and periods, so the introductions were especially welcome for the few pieces that were unfamiliar.  For me, that was true for 2 of the 3 songs performed in the full Chorale's final set.  Indeed, one of my favorite parts of this concert was being introduced to those two beautiful, interesting new pieces, “Only Hope” and “When You Believe.”  The latter had particularly inspiring lyrics, and it was a credit to the singers (particularly the sopranos) that their good diction made it possible to make out nearly all the words (except, of course, the brief section when the lyrics went into another language).

I think that for most of the audience, though, the highlight of this last segment was “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”  It was obviously a lot of fun for the chorus (and the one piece they had memorized).   They moved with the rhythm while singing, and when it ended, there were smiles all around.

At the end of the concert we were told that the Chorale had learned this music in just 5 weeks of rehearsal.  That short preparation time wasn’t evident to me in what I heard, nor apparently was it evident to the audience who rewarded the Chorale and its accompanists with a standing ovation.