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CHORAL MUSIC REVIEW
June 30, 2006
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International Harmony By Kaneez Munjee
Nine choruses. Nine concerts. Five days of competition, camaraderie, and making music. The participants: children from Africa, China, Austria, and across the U.S. The music: a mix of classical works, contemporary works, and folk music. The children's experiences? Judging from the looks on their faces, thrilling. And the audience's reaction? Standing-ovation levels of enthusiasm.
The Golden Gate International Children's Choral Festival, which ran from June 27 till July 1, is the seventh international children's choral festival sponsored by the Piedmont Choirs, which founded the festival in 1991. Choirs must submit an application; those selected compete in both historical music (Medieval/Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic) and folk music categories. Additional options for competing in the Contemporary Music category and for having soloists enter the competition are also available. The nine concerts include four for the competitions, three community concerts, and an opening and closing concert.
Friday night's performance at Old First Church in San Francisco was a community concert, featuring the Choeur d'Enfants du Benin (West Africa), the Guangdong Experimental Middle School Choir (China), and an ensemble of Piedmont Choirs. The Choeur d'Enfants du Benin was a small group — 10 girls and three boys — with the youngest only 5 years old, and the oldest looking no more than 15. (The program indicated that the full ensemble is in fact much larger: It includes roughly 100 singers and performs frequently on national TV, radio, and state occasions, and has won prizes in international competition.) The group is led by Felix Nassi, who sometimes introduced pieces on the piano, with three other adult accompanists whose roles varied from call-and-response singing to melodic support to different kinds of percussion.
Percussion, and even more, rhythm and dance, play an enormous role in the West African music presented by the group. Most of the pieces presented by the Benin ensemble involved a significant amount of dance; even the pieces without full-scale choreography involved rhythmic foot movement. Nassi explained that the children were having a hard time adjusting to the loud effect of tapping their feet on the stage, because in their country, much of their performance takes place on the soft sand of the beach.
Nassi also told the stories behind many of the pieces: one that invites all to leave their houses, come out, and listen to the music; one that offers thanks to God for all that he has given; one that thanks everyone for a gracious welcome and response; and one that says, "I went to the white man's country and found that we resemble each other." All of these pieces reinforced the visible sentiment that the Benin performers were excited to be here, sharing bits of their culture, sharing their love of it, and making new friends.
Excitement was visible on the faces of the Chinese children as well — mixed with a consciousness that they were acting as well as singing, and a security and poise that comes with knowing their repertoire exceedingly well. The Guangdong choir is made up of roughly 50 singers and is directed by Xie Mingjing, who has won numerous accolades and prizes for his accomplishments in music education and conducting. The choir itself has won several choral competitions and has established itself as one of the best choirs in China and internationally. And from their performance on Friday, it was not hard to see why. From the first entrance, the choir was impressive. The voices were clear and strong; the singers processed onto the stage in perfect ensemble, with no conductor leading them. Their tuning was excellent, their diction extremely clear. Throughout the program, the singers changed formation, enabling them to sing in small clusters or interact with each other, or allow room for dancing and soloists. Their strengths were also apparent from their chosen repertoire: at least four of the pieces were written by living composers, and two of those required a high level of technical mastery to produce unusual sounds and aural effects. In Harry Freedman's Keewaydin, it seemed as though the Guangdong choir was physically sculpting the air with its sounds, and the pianist in Mark Winges' Magic Strings deserves singling out. Many of the other pieces were folk songs from different regions in China, showing off various styles of Chinese folk music. Three of the songs had soloists, all unnamed but equally sure-voiced and deserving of mention. The choir was brought back for a powerful encore.
Guandong Experimental Middle School Choir The Piedmont Choirs, hosting the festival, formed the third part of the program. The Choirs and conductor Robert Geary have also made many prominent national and international appearances and have earned several awards. (Geary was awarded the International Peace Child Medal for his role as cofounder of this festival.) One of their hallmarks is an interest in contemporary new music. Geary's singers exuded confidence, power, and fine harmonies. Beginning with a beautiful unaccompanied solo voice and filling out over four verses to full harmony and descant, they opened their section of the program with How Can I Keep From Singing? Their fluency with varied repertoire was evident in Geary's choice of program: The rest of their offerings represented new music (two pieces commissioned from Kui Dong), music of world cultures (Japanese and Caribbean), and American folk music, including Ol' Dan Tucker with 12 singers dancing. Geary introduced much of the music and explained to the audience that the pieces by Kui Dong were part of a larger work that the Piedmont Choir Ensemble will premiere in Hong Kong in just over a week at another international choral competition. The evening concluded with all three choirs coming together to perform Kirke Mechem's Sing All Ye Joyful — a rendition that could not have been more joyous, with a spirit that will no doubt stay with the participants of this festival for many years.
(Kaneez Munjee is a singer, writer, and editor. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University and is the media and publications director at Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.)
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