“This performance showed the wide capacity of the music faculty,” said Timothy McDonnell, associate professor of music and director of sacred music. “The diversity of talents in the music department was on full display.”
Hillsdale College’s Chamber and College Choir presented a varied program last Sunday during the Spring Choir Concert in Christ Chapel.
McDonnell and James Holleman, professor and chairman of the music department, worked together to create a variety of repertoire, ranging from contemplative to folk selections.
The chamber choir performed works including “I Will Arise and Go” by Shawn Kirchner and “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” by Moses Hogan.
“I really enjoyed the song ‘When We Love,’” junior Ethan Tong said. “I got chills singing the tender part that talks about how our simple love can transform our weary world, especially with how much angst everyone goes through. It was so relaxing to sing beautiful, tender harmonies to such moving lyrics.”
Tong has found that performing choral music is entirely different from instrumental performance.
“My experience with being a violist is that you rarely get to interact with the audience since you’re communicating mainly through your instrument,” Tong said. “But it’s much more intimate with the voice. You’re almost speaking directly to the audience, facing them and sometimes even making eye contact. I really enjoy the intimate experience of vocal performance, and there’s something different about making music with the natural instrument God has given all of us—the voice.”
After the intermission, the college choir performed selections including “Elegischer” by Ludwig van Beethoven and “Hallelujah” by Shawn Kircher.
“The works I chose were those by Ludwig van Beethoven and Lili Boulanger,” McDonnell said. “I chose these for several reasons. First, they could not be more dissimilar. Beethoven’s work is an elegy focusing on the end of life, while the Boulanger is an ode to the rising sun—full of color and electricity. I also thought that these works would speak well in the acoustical environment of the chapel.”
Halfway through the concert, the performance featured several soloists in a piece called “Serenade to Music” by Ralph Vaughan Willaims. Soloists included junior violinist Michael Eller, senior mezzo April Smith, Emily Douglass, voice area coordinator and artist-teacher of voice, Nicholas Nestorak, adjunct professor of voice, and Katherine Rick, adjunct piano instructor and staff accompanist.
“My favorite part of the performance was towards the very end of the Vaughan-Williams,” Eller said. “Both myself and the soprano soloist, Professor Douglass, ended the music in ascending motion to our last notes. Everyone, including the choir, cut out, and Rick played her last chords to conclude the music. It provided for a very calming, accomplished feeling once the music faded away.”
McDonnell also shared a few special moments for himself from the concert.
“In the Beethoven, there was a fast diminuendo in a harmonically complex moment that I asked the choir to handle deftly in the rather large acoustic of the Chapel,” McDonnell said. “They managed this turn beautifully in the concert—better than any of the rehearsals. In the Boulanger, there is a place where the sopranos have to ‘float’ a high G with the quietest possible dynamic—it’s very challenging. I had to reduce the number of singers to achieve this crystalline effect, and in the performance, they absolutely nailed it!”
Before the final piece of the afternoon, senior Ellen Hancock led the senior members of both the chamber and college choir in a performance of Hillsdale College’s alma mater, “White and Blue.”
Holleman expressed his gratitude toward the choirs for their flexibility in following two conductors and executing the difficult repertoire well, despite the concert being performed earlier than usual.
“The timing worked out,” Holleman said. “I thought the choir stepped up to that and performed well from the beginning to the end of the concert. I’m really happy.”
McDonnell also conveyed his appreciation.
“The process for the concert preparation was unique in that Professor Holleman and I were sharing the podium,” McDonnell said. “It took coordination and a lot of cooperation from the musicians to pull the concert together at a date that was somewhat earlier than the typical spring concert. The students were great sports. I’m grateful for their focus and energy in bringing the music to life.”