Volume 15 Issue 10 - July/August 2010

have found a richness of invention, in which melody can be made toilluminate and enhance the meaning of the text in a way that can bechallenging with even the most beautiful chant.From a Medieval cleric to a modern composer’s take on a Medievalsaint, to the proverbial King of Rock and Roll may seem like aunlikely leap – especially in a choral context. But Elvis Presley wasa deeply religious man, who loved singing gospel music as a vocalwarm-up prior to giving concerts, and whose earliest musical influenceswere the choirs and quartets that he heard attending church asa young child. On August 20 Hamilton’s Brott Festival Choir and NationalAcademy Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,in good classical fashion. But on August 4 the orchestra is joined by aGospel choir to perform Elvis: The Way it Was with vocalist StephenKabakos. Though the concert will likely focus on Presley’s pop songs,anyone familiar with Presley’s gospel singing can hear clearly the degreeto which a song like “Suspicious Minds” draws on that influence.Performing popular music in a choral context is much trickierthan it might seem. Ease with syncopated rhythms is an essential partof the performance of popular music, and classically trained musicianscan struggle to free themselves from the straightjacket of notatedmusic, in which syncopation is often difficult to convey convincinglyand idiomatically. An awareness of the backbeat (accents ontwo and four in a 4/4 measure) needs to inform the performance at alltimes, and often singers must re-jig their vocal style as well. A legatovocal line that serves Handel and Mozart is usually too heavy andrhythmically undifferentiated for popular music.I predict that even choirs mostly accustomed to classical repertoirewill begin to delve with increasing frequency into the world of popularmusic. The challenge for choirs and choral directors will be torecognize that good execution of popular music takes skills that classicaltraining has neglected, and adjust and even re-train accordingly.The term “performance practice” is often applied to early music:equal care and respect is needed in the area of popular and vernacularmusic as well.Some last notes.The Elmer Iseler Singersperform on July11 at Westben, and atParry Sound’s Festivalof the Sound on July 30and August 8. The 2010Ontario Youth Choir,directed this year byIwan Edwards appearThe Elmer Iseler Singers.from 27-29 August, inLondon, Orillia and Torontorespectively. And in a final Gospel context, at Toronto’s FringeTheatre Festival (June 30-July 11), the play “Maurice Carter’s Innocence”will feature a Gospel choir onstage, helping to illuminate andtell the true story of a miscarriage of justice that led to one man’swrongful imprisonment, and of the determination of those who foughtfor his release.Toronto Classical Singers2010/11 SeasonHandel: Messiah (Highlights)Sunday December 5, 2010Morten Lauridsen: Lux AeternaMozart: RequiemSunday February 27, 2011Mendelssohn: ElijhaSunday May 1, 2011Conductor: Jurgen PetrenkoThe Talisker Players OrchestraInteresting in joining email: members@torontoclassicalsingers.ca or call416-443-1490 to arrange an auditionSeason Tickets: Adult: $80 Senior/Student: $65Single Tickets: Adult: $30 Senior/Student: $25To order: tickets@torontoclassicalsingers.ca or 416-443-1490www.torontoclassicalsingers.caBenjamin Stein is a tenor and theorbist. He can be contacted at:choralscene@thewholenote.com.PETER MAHONSales Representative416-322-8000pmahon@trebnet.comwww.petermahon.comJuly 1 - September 7, 2010 THEWHOLENOTE.COM 21