Kona Choral Society, Oahu Choral Society present Spring Collaboration
This May a coordinated choral partnership has blossomed as two of the state’s choruses unite to share the stage in song. The Kona Choral Society and the O‘ahu Choral Society will jointly welcome audiences to their Spring Collaboration – Kona and O‘ahu, featuring a work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and two works by the famed American composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein.
The concert tour will take place over two weekends, at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, at the Outrigger Kona Resort &Spa in Kailua-Kona and at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, at the historic Kawaiaha‘o Church in Honolulu.
Artistic Director Susan McCreary Duprey of the KCS and Artistic Director of the OCS Joshua Habermann’s joint collaboration marks the first time the two organizations will come together with 32 accompanying instrumentalists from Hawaii Island, Maui, and Oahu. Habermann shared that the merging of choral societies will create the state’s largest community-based chorus.
“This will be a state first,” said Habermann of the inter-island musical alliance. “We (Duprey) and I have known each other for a long time and we’re a small community here in Hawai‘i and this was an opportunity for all of us to come together.”
Habermann, who has had a lengthy career conducting mainland choral groups in Santa Fe and Dallas, has been with the OCS for three seasons. He will be conducting the approximately 130 singers for each island performance.
“Josh called me and asked if we would like to collaborate,” said Duprey. “It was new to us to join together and I was touched by him asking and I was excited to explore this opportunity.”
Duprey and Habermann centered their conversation on the concert’s repertoire and the conducting pair landed on a connection point, a fusion of Psalms.
The first performance will be Mozart’s sacred classical six-movement work, Vesperae solemnes de Confessore, K. 339. Duprey explained that this collection of psalms in Latin is an extraordinary work and praised the intensity in which her chorus has taken to rehearsal of such a specialized piece. The liturgical work, written for evening prayer, features bright Baroque sounds, quick-tempo movements that feature soprano, and ends with the “Magnificat” canticle, which highlights the timpani and trumpets.
Following Mozart, the concert’s religious works move from Christian Psalms and are juxtaposed with three movements in Hebrew from the Old Testament in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Bernstein was commissioned to write this piece for the Cathedral of Chichester in Sussex, England, for a 1965 music festival. The tonal work with the flair of West Side Story is the idiom of 20th century music that tucks in the influences of jazz, explained Duprey. She went on to explain that the piece includes polyrhythms, irregular meter, and a dissonance where “nothing makes sense.” The conductor likened the piece to a 1,000-piece puzzle whose shape and color come to light as the pieces fit together. “This piece has a huge percussion section,” she said, contrasting it to the delicate Mozart orchestra. “It’s very catchy.”
To round out the concert will be “Make Our Garden Grow,” the closing number from the operetta “Candide,” composed by Bernstein in 1956 and based on Voltaire’s novel of the same name. The piece, which has become a classical favorite, is a musical celebration that showcases a beautiful melody. Audiences will be treated to the precision of Bernstein’s masterful scoring, as the song moves between a whimsical opening where soloists sing back and forth to one another, to a powerful crescendo where the entire ensemble joins together to end the number.
The inter-island concert tour will include several musical spotlights, including soloists Thea Mills, soprano, Wendy Buzby, alto, Guy Merola, tenor, and Kyle Sandall, bass. Members of the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra will be led by guest concertmaster Patrice Weed Shearer. Lastly, collaborative pianist Gloria Juan will be featured on “Make Our Garden Grow.”
Tickets for the Kona concert can be purchased online at www.KonaChoralSociety.org or at the door. General admission is $35, reserved tickets are $50, and tickets are free for those 18 and under.
The Outrigger Kona Resort, 78-128 Ehukai St, Kailua-Kona, will have free parking for the concert. For more information, go online or email KonaChoralSociety@gmail.com.
