Willow Glen Resident, September 27, 2006
Photograph by Diana Diroy
The Choral Project Makes Beautiful Music
by Laura Rheinheimer
Singers in The Choral Project, a 46-member voice ensemble, are rocking the house as they rehearse in Lincoln Glen Church, and their enthusiasm is understandable as the group celebrates 10 years of success.
Continually hitting all the right notes, the voice ensemble closed out last season at the California Theater with the performance “One Is the All,” composed by Daniel Hughes, The Choral Project’s creative director and founder. The performance was a fully staged theatrical work that depicted life experience through song, Hughes says, and included “choralography,” choral movement during the performance.
The opening piece, “Kéramos,” is a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem set to music, and written especially for the ensemble by Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz.
Members of the ensemble draw from a variety of musical backgrounds but become one Monday evenings as they pool their talents and volunteer their time to rehearse. Most of the repertoire is unaccompanied, but a few pieces have accompanying piano, and other pieces use instruments such as percussion and wine glasses.
Campbell resident Suzanne Butler is in her second season with the ensemble and says the talent and ardor of the members floored her.
“People are doing music not because they are studying it or have to, but because they have a passion for it,” Butler says.
Butler’s background in classical music hadn’t prepared her for a full theatrical performance, but under the direction of Hughes and guidance of The Choral Project’s members, Butler has strengthened her singing skills.
“We’re singers, we’re not actors or dancers. It was a challenge to be mentally prepared for it,“ Butler says.
This season, she says, the ensemble will return to the nuts and bolts of choral music, using facial expressions and some movement to add emotion to the performance, but the focus will be on singing.
Campbell resident Josh Palkki is new to the ensemble. He joined the group this season in order to practice what he teaches. He’s the choir director at Hoover Middle School and Lincoln High School, but when the school day ends he finds little time for his own singing. He calls the group the finest community choir in the Bay Area and is pleased with this season’s music selections.
Willow Glen resident Steve Crane has been singing tenor with the group for four years. Like many other members of the group, Crane joined the chorus after he attended a concert and found the music beautiful and complex. He continues to work on expanding his musical abilities with The Choral Project, while enjoying the camaraderie of the group.
“It’s always a challenge—musically and vocally,” Crane says. “You always strive to improve.”
Improve and recognize is exactly what The Choral Project accomplished by the time it was 5 years old.
The group gained an international following in July 2001, when it toured Central America. In July 2004, the group put its skills to the test in Wales, where the voice ensemble placed second in [a] international mixed-choir competition.
The group also has a best-selling CD on the CLarion label, Water and Light, which executive director Johnathon Atwood credits with keeping the group afloat financially. There’s been an increase in the quality of the music, and an increase in the choir’s following, Atwood says.
The recordings have enabled the group to reach a much larger audience. “We have people from all over the country and around the world buying our CD,” Hughes says.
The group opens its 11th season right where it left off, with a performance of “Kéramos” and other pieces from One Is the All on Sept. 29-30 at Christ the Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Willow Glen. Other selections will include Richard Strauss’ rarely heard 16-part setting of “Der Abend,” and Finnish composer Veljo Tormis’ haunting runic choral work “Jaanilaul.”
During the holidays, concerts are scheduled in Santa Clara, Hollister and Santa Cruz. All three performances are with the San José Chamber Orchestra, a collaboration that began two years ago in an effort to combine creative forces.
Folksongs from Africa and the Philippines are on the bill, along with classical pieces such as “Tafellied” by Brahms and “Into the West,” a piece from the movie Return of the King.
Hughes describes the upcoming performances as “a tapestry of music that spans the centuries and the globe.”
Choral members like Allan Hughes of Willow Glen are excited about the upcoming performances.
Allan Hughes, who is not related to Daniel Hughes, joined the ensemble in its infancy and the experience has been a true labor of love.
“I recognized that the group had enormous potential to perform,“ says Allan Hughes, who has been with the ensemble for 10 years. “The director’s choice of music is so interesting; it’s certainly different from other choral groups I’ve sung with.”