Baltimore Sun
Laquita Mitchell
www.laquitamitchellsoprano.com
Uzan International Artists
Uzan International Artists
Eric Conway, D.M.A., writes:
Hello Morgan Choir Community,
The
Morgan State University choir had another terrific weekend of music
making! We were asked last Spring if we would sing in the BSO's
centennial season of George Gershwin’s great American opera, Porgy and Bess!
The Morgan Choir has had quite the history with this piece over the
years. Back in the days of the now-defunct Baltimore Opera Company, the
Morgan choir often was called to be the chorus for their productions of
the opera. Also as recently as 2012, the Fine Arts Department produced
Porgy and Bess in Murphy’s Gilliam Concert Hall which was considered by
many who attended as one of the best productions of Porgy and Bess
every seen. I gladly consented knowing that the choir could sing the
piece well. Originally, I was told that it would be a concert-version,
without costumes, set, or very much of any acting. Well, with the
Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah (who simply calls
himself Kwame) the Meyerhoff was transformed from concert hall to an
opera house!
The
Morgan choir was very excited to participate in this production. 1) We
knew that performing with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra is always a very musically rewarding experience. 2) The choir
knew many of the principal singers in the production - Laquita Mitchell
was the soloist in our world-premier with the Philadelphia Symphony
last November and Lester Lynch and Lawrence Hylton (former choir member)
were professionals who sang in our Morgan production in 2012. 3) The
BSO was going to have an auditions for members of the choir to be hired
to sing some of the smaller solo roles on stage - what a great
experience! 4) Leah Hawkins, a choir member who graduated in 2013 and
subsequently finished graduate school at Yale, was hired as one of the
principal roles of Serena.
Now
this may sound like it was a slam-dunk performance for the choir,
however, that was not nearly the case. Just during the last week in
February, we sang a huge concert that featured Gustav Mahler’s 2nd
Symphony which took much time and energy for the performance. During
Holy Week in March, the choir went to Los Angeles during our Spring tour
for six days away from campus. Given that the Morgan Production was
in 2012, most the choir members that were in that production were no
longer students at Morgan or in the choir, consequently, I had to teach
this piece quickly to a choir that mostly had never sung many of the big
choruses from Porgy and Bess. Finally, the BSO was nudging me to try to have the piece memorized for some reason . . .
Well
during the first rehearsal it became crystal-clear why the BSO wanted
to memorize the score. The vision was to stage the opera as much as one
could do on the stage of a concert hall. I was suspect initially, as
opera is meant to be sung with the orchestra in the pit, as not to
compete with the sound or distract from the drama on the stage. Also,
typically there are weeks of rehearsal for musical productions such as
this one, however, all the BSO participants only had 5 days to make it
work!
Much to my
pleasant surprise, Marin Alsop and Kwame pulled-off quite the feat. The
opera was edited down to a length that worked within the constraints of
the BSO concert timeframe - from 3 1/2 hours to just over 2 hours. The
cuts were made so very well, the essence of the story was still intact
with some saying the story held together even better. All of the solo
performances were stellar in my opinion. I am always so very proud of
Morgan and the musical talent that continues to flow through the
university. The choir, in the matter of weeks, managed to learn and
memorize the music much to the level that most did not know how quickly
it was absorbed. For most the choir, many had never been on the “big
stage” before and enjoyed the crash course in being in "show business". The other strength of the Gershwin’s opera is that choir is
intrinsically involved in the drama of the story. The choir never felt
as though we were just back-up in the production, but thoroughly part of
fabric of the show, as much as the principals were.
At
the end of the day, the choir had yet another extraordinary musical
experience, that they will carry with them in their memories for a
lifetime. We have sung at the Meyerhoff many times before, but never
had the choir received more kudos form patrons and symphony players as
from this show. As one looked at the stage, between the principals and
choir, if you had any relationship with Morgan, you could not help but
be proud - as I was as the choir’s director.
See
links below to reviews from the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post both
giving powerful plaudits to the overall production and specifically to
the choir.
Also see
three one-minute excerpts giving the sense of the energy and drama in
the air with a Stacy Harley, a current Morgan student leading "A Woman
is a Sometime Thing", a former Morgan choir student in Leah Hawkins
singing, "My Man’s Gone" and another former choir member Lawrence
Hilton singing "It Aint Necessarily So”.
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