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[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS] MARISSA GRILL: Hello, everyone. My name is Marissa Grill, and I'm the president of the Cornell University Chorus. I'm so excited to welcome you to part two of our concert series as part of Empowerment Through Music-- a Collegiate Treble Choir Conference.
This weekend, singers from six collegiate treble choirs gathered on Cornell's campus for a weekend of collaboration, discussion, workshops, and now performance. All of our works at these concerts, and as well as our workshops and our discussions, have centered around the theme Empowerment through Music. Hope you enjoy.
[APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "BE LIKE THE BIRD"]
[SINGING] Be like the bird that, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her and sings and sings and sings, knowing she hath wings. Be like the bird that, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
[WHISTLED MELODIES AMONG VOICES]
--and sings and sings, knowing she hath wings.
[WHISTLED MELODY]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "O VIRTUS SAPIENTIAE"]
[SINGING] O virtus, O virtus, O virtus sapientiae,
Que circuiens circuisti, que circuiens circuisti, que circuiens circuisti--
Comprehendendo omnia in una via que habet vitam, vitam,
Tres alas, tres alas, tres alas, tres alas habens, quarum una in altum volat, et altera de terra sudat et tertia, et tertia undique volat.
Laus tibi sit, sicut te decet, O Sapientia.
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTIE CHENG: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Should I use this?
[LAUGHTER]
Hi. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Christie Cheng, and I'm the president of the Radcliffe Choral Society. And, on behalf of all the singers on stage, we are so excited to be here.
A little bit about us. Every fall, we choose a mantra which we use as a guiding force for the rest of the year. And this year our mantra is "to create, share, and appreciate." And we are thrilled to be able to do just that with you all this weekend.
[APPLAUSE]
The piece you just heard, and the one you will hear next, were both composed by composers in the Pacific Northwest with whom we've had the privilege of rehearsing and performing with during our January tour. So, without further ado, let me welcome our resident conductor, Margaret Weckworth.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS"]
[SINGING] When despair, when despair for the world grows, when despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night, I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and children's lives may be--
I go lie down, I go lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things, I come into the peace of wild things, I come into the peace of wild things, wild things, who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief, who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I--
I come into the presence of still water. And I feel, I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting in their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
CAROLINE MURPHY: Good evening. My name's Caroline Murphy, and I'm a senior in the Radcliffe Choral Society. And it's my pleasure to introduce the next piece.
So, this piece is very special to me. It's one of the pieces I transcribed as part of my senior thesis project. I'm a Music major at Harvard and have taken a liking to Renaissance vocal polyphony. And so I found it fitting that we would take this song that was composed in 1542, and possibly not performed since then, and bring it to a new audience.
There are no modern editions for Pierre Certon's liturgical motets, so I hope you enjoy a piece that may not have been sung since 1540-something. So thank you so much for this opportunity.
[APPLAUSE]
[PITCH GIVEN]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "SANCTA MARIA SUCURRE MISERIS"]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
[PITCH GIVEN]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "SARO"]
[SINGING] I came to this country, 18-and-49. I thought myself lucky for to be alive. I looked all around me. No one could I see that could compare to my pretty Saree. Oh, Saro, Saro, Saro--
If I were a turtle dove, had wings and could fly far away to my Saro's lodging, I'd fly a straight line. I'd lay in her arms for all of the night and watch through the windows for the dawn's first light. Saro, Saro, Saro--
But her parents they won't have me, as I understand. They want some freeholder, and I have no land. O Saro, pretty Saro, am I on your mind? Your parents, they told me to leave you behind.
I wish I was a poet, could write in fine hand. I'd write my love a letter, one she'd long understand. I'd send it by the water, where the islands overflow, and dream of pretty Saro wherever I go.
[SUSTAINED "OO" NOTE]
'Tis not this long journey that grieves me for to go. Nor the country that I'm leavin', nor the debts I owe. There's one thing that grieves me and bears on my mind. That's leavin' my darlin' pretty Saro behind.
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
ELISE ALEXANDER: Good evening, everybody. My name is Elise Alexander. I'm the manager of the Radcliffe Choral Society. And I want to say one more thank-you, on behalf of RCS, to the Cornell Chorus and everybody who's made this weekend so excellent for RCS.
We especially want to thank the student leadership of the Cornell Chorus, especially Steph Woo and Marissa Grill, for all their hard work in making this weekend possible.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
RCS has been so grateful for this opportunity to learn from and sing for and with all of you wonderful groups out there. And we'll leave you with one last song-- "Golden Callings," by Harvard composer-in-residence Carson Cooman and text by Elizabeth Kirschner. Enjoy.
[APPLAUSE]
[PITCHES GIVEN]
[MUSIC - RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY, "GOLDEN CALLINGS"]
[SINGING] On the silky hillocks of the sea, peach-scented rays are splayed against turquoise waters while sky lifts its heavy lids. I walk along the trail, surrender to melodies that move through solitude, dream of the elegant bones inside birds, their tiny voice boxes, golden callings, golden callings, golden callings, rising and falling at once.
The compost in my wounds composes me as does the rich roux of sorrow that burrows into my soul's creamy marrow. I see wintry, ghostly cocoons pinned like corsages on low brush, red, red berries impaled upon very broken branches.
Within the spun strands, the promise of flurrying wings, within the spun strands, the promise of flurrying wings, and soon, soon, my wounds, your wounds--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
To go on means to go in, give in, to rise and fall at once because that's what grace does. Resist at first, if you must, but then hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold--
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
AMANDA HUNTLEIGH: OK, before I start the next set, I want to say a bunch of thank-yous, because this whole process, being here, working on this music, all of this is a real group effort. And I get to stand up here and have them all sing, like, through me. But it's really mostly them.
So, I just want to acknowledge all the people that are helping specifically with this last work. First and foremost-- I'm sorry, you're setting up-- I want to think Cass Martin and Erin Pratt, two Music majors at Smith who are here making us sound amazing and traveling with us. And we are so grateful that you are joining us today. So thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE]
Secondly, there are a number of solos in this piece, and they happen right away. And if I don't say something now, I'll never say something. So, our soloists are primarily in the front row, so you can know where you're going to look-- not in order of the solo, because that would make too much sense.
This is [INAUDIBLE], and Emma Schubert, and Gwen Jones. Skip Hannah-- she's just centering-- sorry, Hannah, you're great, too.
[LAUGHTER]
And this is Megan Mendenhall. Hodge! Sorry. It's my problem. This is Isabel Hodge and MacKenzie McMahon.
[APPLAUSE]
And the third people to acknowledge are-- I don't actually have to think about all the logistics and things, because we have people that do that for us. And the people are also in this group, because they do everything.
So our three ensembles managers are Elena [INAUDIBLE]. And now you can all thank Hannah Grasso and Caroline Lim. So, without all these people, we couldn't do this.
[APPLAUSE]
And, also, we don't know why, but we can't live without Megan Mendenhall. She just, like, comes up randomly. Like, she made a pronunciation guide. She got housing for us in New York. We don't know-- it's not--
It's an unofficial role. And a lot of these students play those unofficial roles. So, I am so grateful for them and for the opportunity to do this work, here. So, thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - SMITH COLLEGE CHAMBER SINGERS]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
[APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE]
[RHYTHMIC CLAPPING, GETTING FASTER]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
ROBERT ISAACS: Thank you so much for coming out, and especially to everyone who's taken part in the conference. I know I speak for not just myself but everyone on stage. It's been tremendously inspiring, just all the conversations we've had, all day, and over meals, and in the formal sessions. And the beautiful singing, last night, over in Sage Chapel.
It's been about a week long. It's been really intense, so I'm giving you all a week off from classes when you go back to your respective schools. And we're going to jump in and just sing a few pieces. And then, at the end, a really special treat of getting together all of these singers in one tremendous sound, as you can just imagine.
We'll start with a piece called "Heaven Bound Train," which is really about breaking the chains that hold you in place, both in the literal sense, in terms of chain gangs, but also in every metaphoric sense that you can imagine.
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "HEAVEN BOUND TRAIN"]
[SINGING] One day, we gonna wake up.
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow.
I done tole you.
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow.
Early in a mohnin'.
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow.
Don't you hear that--
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow.
--whistle a-blowin'? (LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow, wow, wow-wow. Wow-wow. Oo--
[IMITATING HISSING ENGINE]
Chain, chain, I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break it down, down, down, way down.
My mother's on that train. I see her face, bound for glory.
Lord, my mother's on that train.
Have mercy, Lord, bound for glory.
Yes, my mother's on that train.
That ghostly train, bound for glory! Now, don't you--
I done tole you.
--hear that--
Great God almighty.
--whistle--
Early in a mohnin'!
--blowin'?
Oh, Lord, have mercy.
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow, wow-wow, (LONG) wow.
[HISS]
Chain, chain--
[RHYTHMIC MOUTH PERCUSSION]
--I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break this chain, chain. I'm gonna break it down, down, down, break it down.
My child is on that train.
I see his face, bound for glory.
Oh, Lord, my child is on that train.
Have mercy, Lord. Bound for glory.
Yes, my child is on that train.
Holy train, bound for glory! Now, don't you--
I done tole you.
--hear that--
Early in a mohnin'.
--whistle--
Whistle blowin'.
--blowin'?
Oh, Lord, have mercy.
(LIKE TRAIN WHISTLE) Wow-wow, wow-wow, (LONG) wow--
We gon' break this chain, chain.
That whistle blowin'!
We gonna break this chain, chain. We gonna break this chain, chain. We gonna break this chain, chain.
[HISSING]
Don't you know how we gon' ride that train.
I see my face, bound for glory. Now we gon' ride that train.
Have mercy, Lord, bound for glory. Yeah, we gon' ride that train.
That peaceful train, when you're bound for glory, bound for glory, children, tell me.
Now, don't you hear that whistle (LONG) blowin'? (LONG) Wow, wow! Wow, wow! Yeah!
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
ROBERT ISAACS: Thank you. We learned in January of the very tragic passing of the composer Veljo Tormis, of Estonia. And if you don't know that name, it's because he spent much of his career working in relative obscurity within the Soviet Union, which Estonia was under the thumb of at the time. But I firmly believe he's one of the greats, really, one of the composers whose music will last, not just in this generation and the next but for 500 years or so. Check out his Forgotten Peoples series, and a lot of other beautiful music.
So, when we discovered this news, I wanted to program a piece in honor of Veljo Tormis. Just a beautiful, simple setting, but I think it shows you just how he manages to take such simple material and make such beautiful moments out of it. "Soit Imemaale."
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "SOIT IMEMAALE"]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE]
ROBERT ISAACS: The inspiration for this conference-- which, I must say, as with virtually everything that the Cornell Chorus does, came from the students, themselves-- almost two years ago, was inspired by the theme of our commissioning program. My wonderful predecessor, Scott Tucker, noticed that there's a lot of fine music for women's choirs, but an overpreponderance deals with themes of, you know, pretty flowers in the spring or "oh, woe, my man done left me."
[LAUGHTER]
And he thought maybe we should redress the balance, in our own small way. So they established a commissioning program whose informal and really now formal title is "No Whining, No Flowers." And so we have the great fun of discovering a composer every year, a woman composer, who will set texts by women on less-traditional subjects.
And I've had, for some years, in the back of my mind that there's not enough music about science, which is a beautiful, beautiful enterprise in itself. And certainly Cornell, at the forefront of so many of those fields, should celebrate that. So we commissioned a composer from Finland, Mia Makaroff, to set the text of a poet from Boston, Mary Alexandra Agner, on two poems, actually.
We're going to do just one of them for you tonight, the beautiful "Perception Test," which is a wonderful text. It's a wonderful poem, and it's in the program. For me, it sort of talks about how the scientist goes through the day, fascinated and trying to understand, on the detailed level, and then stepping back and just being overcome with awe at the beauty of the whole, in itself. Which do you choose to perceive, in every moment-- the infinite, or the finite, in that moment?
Mia Makaroff is famous for her wonderful arrangements, particularly for the close-harmony group from Finland, Rajaton. And she set us a piece that's really kind of in that style of close harmony, and we've had a great time learning it and love to sing it for you now.
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "PERCEPTION TEST"]
[SINGING] To think we've counted all the stars, all the stars, all the stars, all the stars, counted all the stars, counted all the stars! Astrologers would say our fate is fixed, but suns are speeding atoms, atoms part, atoms part by fission, spreading, by fission, spreading, bomb and birth admixed, bomb and birth admixed.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
The common cloud's both particle and whole and can transform to rainbow or to fog. Its optics understood, who'll count the whales, who'll count the whales and faces, listen to their monologues?
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Ignoring blueness, depth, the lunar tide, sonar removes the ocean's negligee. That naked rift, this secret shelf-- no pride, no pride turns pink, turns pink to find bathymetry displayed. Each moment asks-- which do you choose to see-- each moment asks-- which do you choose to see, the infinite, or finite, mystery?
Mystery, mystery, mystery. Each moment asks-- what do you want to see, the infinite, or finite, mystery?
[WORDLESS SINGING]
Each moment asks-- which do you choose to see-- each moment asks-- which do you choose to see-- which do you choose to see-- the infinite, or finite, mystery? Mystery, mystery, mystery. The infinite, or finite, mystery?
To think we've counted all the stars! All the stars! All the stars, counted all the stars!
Each moment asks-- which do you choose to see-- the mystery.
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
ROBERT ISAACS: I think we talk about empowerment through music, and we sing music about strength, the ability of communal group's decision to break a chain, or the sense of community that you'll feel in the final piece. But one of the most scary things to do, for anyone to do, is to tell a joke-- you know, in public, in front of a large group of people-- to be silly, for example. To kind of go there. Musicians have to take risks of all kinds, but this is an interesting one.
So we're going to do a piece right now that is absolutely absurd. But we had great fun learning it. It's by Jaakko Mantyjarvi. And Jaakko Mantyjarvi is also from Finland. It seems to be our theme. And he's sending up his own language-- in fact, all the languages in any nearby country.
This is not a real language. He says that the inspiration was partly the Swedish Chef, on The Muppet Show, and various others. And he also is sending up, as he says, the great enthusiasm but minimal skill of certain folk musicians.
So, a "hambo" is a traditional Finnish piece in 3/4. This piece is usually in closer to 4/4 or sometimes 5/4.
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "EL HAMBO"]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
ROBERT ISAACS: Yeah, I forgot to mention, we'll explore a couple of different keys, there, too. I'm going to invite them to move back to their original positions. And then I think Sam is going to come and say something. Apparently I'm supposed to tell a joke, at this point. Oh, good!
SAMANTHA REIG: Thanks. Hi my name is Samantha Reig. I'm the general manager of the Cornell Chorus. And I just wanted to say a few words about a couple of people that have really made this conference come together.
So, you met-- actually, you didn't meet-- Steph Woo. Steph is our conference manager. Steph, wave your hand! She's right here.
[LAUGHTER]
You're going to have to come get flowers, anyway, so-- Steph has been putting hours of time and hours of effort and so many smarts into this entire conference that we're holding right now. So, thank you, Steph. We couldn't do it without you.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
Thank you. Just put them down, by the risers!
[LAUGHTER]
And the other person I'd like to thank is Marissa Grill, who you did meet. Marissa is the president of the chorus, and this entire conference is something that she has been working on for two years. It's her it's her brainchild. It's her baby project.
And, together with everybody who's been working on the conference-- can you wave your hand if you've been working on the conference? This is our amazing team of people.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
But Marissa had a vision, and the vision came to life. So, Marissa, thank you. Come down. [LAUGH] Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ROBERT ISAACS: OK, some flowers.
[LAUGHTER]
Our final piece is a somewhat unusual one. You're going to see the screen coming down, because it's a piece called "Snow Forms." The Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer was just fascinated by the shapes in which the snow lay, outside his farmhouse in Ontario. And he started to sketch them.
And then he realized that that in itself has some beauty, and couldn't that be just a line of music? And why bother putting it on a staff? So he started taking some of those doodles and just putting them onto the staff.
And what you're going to see, projected above me here and throughout the piece, is the actual score that we see. There are no notes. There are only sketches and indications of line. And it's a wonderful sort of alternate notation that affords a wonderful kind of sound space, to sort of see and connect those sounds.
The various words that do come in, here and there, are, appropriately enough, various different Inuit words for "snow"-- all different kinds of snow. Hard, biting snow, dusty snow, newly fallen snow, et cetera.
So this is "Snow Forms," by R. Murray Schafer.
[PITCH IS GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "SNOW FORMS"]
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
ROBERT ISAACS: Now there's some scurrying, while we try to create one great circle. The circle will fill the entirety of Bailey Hall. And, if you're lucky enough to be in the center section, here, you'll be at the focal point of it.
And we're going to sing a piece which is called "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" It's become a real anthem of the Cornell Chorus for the past few years. We've sung it on many important occasions.
The text is a wonderful one, because it talks about community and it talks about circles of togetherness. But it asks the question, and it issues a challenge. The question is, will the circle be unbroken? Right now, we're building a circle. This whole weekend, we've been building a circle and a sense of community.
And that's not so hard. The question is whether it will remain unbroken, whether it will be unbroken. And this text also says "there's a better home awaiting, if we try"-- if we really reach for that. And that spirit of the energy that it takes to continue building community, to maintain connections, after the easy first meetings, is what we really vow to want to do and to hope that some of the connections that have been made this weekend, with all of these singers, and all of these leaders-- because our conference has been as much about leadership as about music-- will stay connected with each other.
That's certainly my hope and, I hope, yours, as well. And it's easier, these days, with all of that technology of [INAUDIBLE]. So I hope that you will stay connected with each other and continue to affirm each other. This is "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" And I'm thrilled to get a chance for you to hear it with this group.
[INAUDIBLE] bring up the house lights just a little bit more, so everybody can see the whole circle. Great. You can give us just a little bit [INAUDIBLE].
[PITCHES ARE GIVEN]
[MUSIC - CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS, "WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?"]
[SINGING] Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home awaiting, if we try, Lord, if we try.
I was singing with my sisters, I was singing with my friends. And we all can sing together, 'cause the circle never ends.
Oh, will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home awaiting, if we try, Lord, if we try.
I was born down in the valley, where the sun refuse to shine. But I'm climbing up to the highland, gonna make that mountain mine.
Oh, will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home awaiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky, in the sky, Lord, in the sky!
[MUSIC ENDS]
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
Concert featuring the Cornell University Chorus, Harvard’s Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Smith College Chamber Singers, performed March 4, 2017 as part of the Collegiate Treble Choir Conference, "Empowerment Through Music," hosted by the Cornell University Chorus.