The junior festival’s choral series makes its own quality joyful noise, and Supergeek tried to tell you about it in our May 23 preview issue — but it was cut for lack of space. Not one to waste the sweat of my brow, allow me to blog about it instead:
Piccolo Spoleto’s varied and dependable Choral Artists series shows off a total of 10 terrific choirs, mirroring the Holy City’s love for great choral music. Built around three top local groups, the series offers two leading college choruses, three select ensembles from across the Carolinas, a group specializing in ancient music, and a truly tantalizing pack of singers from New York called Antioch.
We’ll hear from our own esteemed Cathedral Choir of St. John the Baptist — under the brilliant direction of Mark Thomas. And two of local choral-meister Robert Taylor’s ensembles will offer special events again this year. The College of Charleston Concert Choir (recently recognized as one of America’s best college groups) will offer an appealing mixed bag of pieces, including a Russian motet by Chesnekov, some masterpieces by Poulenc, and Tavener’s Song of Athene (made famous at Princess Di’s funeral).
Taylor’s other group here is the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Singers — they’ll be performing with Donald Portnoy’s Conservatory Orchestra in “A Concert for the Earth.” Beloved local soprano Deanna McBroom will join them for the first of two main works from American masters: Libby Larsen’s Missa Gaia, a work that combines reverence for both the spiritual and natural realms. Then we’ll hear Stephen Paulus’s philosophical Echoes Between the Silent Peaks, based on the verses of Tu Fu, an ancient Chinese poet.
Don’t hesitate to try out any of these select outfits. Many groups seeking to perform at Piccolo simply don’t make the cut — and just about every one of them I’ve heard in this series over the years has been worth the trip.
