Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble
Concert on June 5th 7:30PM At First United Methodist Church Of Saranac Lake
The Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble (NAVE) will give a performance entitled "British Choral Masters" on Tuesday, June 5th at 7:30 p.m. at the Saranac Lake United Methodist Church. The concert will feature two extended works of the British choral tradition: Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and John Rutter’s Magnificat. Featured soloists will be soprano Ms. Elena Galván and baritone Dr. Brad Hougham, with collaborative pianist Ms. Jennifer Moore. Admission Donation is $10.
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NAVE, under the musical direction of Andrew M. Benware, is a mixed chamber choir of professional and amateur singers that performs choral music from a variety of periods and styles with harmonies of four to eight parts.
NAVE's membership is truly indicative of its nomenclature, “Northern Adirondack,” being comprised of membership from points in Clinton, Essex, and Franklin counties. Distinct from other choral groups in our region, NAVE is essentially an a cappella chamber choir focusing on the rich and historical repertoire composed specifically for chamber choir, quite frequently unaccompanied by instruments.
The program will open with the Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Composed between the years 1906 and 1911, the work draws its texts from four poems by the seventeenth-century Welsh-born English poet and Anglican priest George Herbert (1593-1633). This overtly sacred text may seem a curious choice for Vaughan Williams who was an atheist at the time of composition. Nevertheless, a deeply spiritual nature is conjured in the listener as the music presents a vibrant vehicle for the poetic verse.
The first four movements are rather similar in style and in the dominant role played by the baritone soloist: Dr. Brad Hougham. The opening movement and the second split the text of the poem “Easter” and exclaim images of new life, triumph over the grave, and a natural world of flowers and the sun whose daily rising pales in comparison to the Resurrection of Christ. Joyful triplets pervade the piano accompanimental figures of the first movement in which the choral interjections serve to underscore and augment the joy of the baritone solo line. The second movement is a bit more straightforward with no repetition of text and the choir playing the role of vocal accompaniment to the solo line until the last when all sing together the singular glory of the Easter miracle.
The third movement is a setting of the poem “Love Bade Me Welcome” and features near constant eighth notes in the piano undulating under the baritone solo line. The chorus does not enter until the end of the movement, and even then sings only hushed and wordless interjections of the plainsong chant O Sacrum Convivium. Introspective joy is the affect of the fourth movement: “The Call.” This, of all the movements, is reserved for the soloist who alone carries the audience through a personal reflection of faith referencing the Lord in such terms as “my Way, my Truth, my Light,” as well as “Joy, Love, and Strength.”
The final movement, “Antiphon,” is the most distinct of all the movements and is delivered as a triumphant hymn of praise sung by the full chorus without the soloist. The choir oscillates between a ringing, bell-like quality and one that is smoother and tranquil – this set overtop the joyful scalar accompaniment that propels the movement forward through many iterations of the declamatory “my God and King.”
Following a brief intermission, NAVE will be joined by soprano Elena Galván for John Rutter’s Magnificat. Completed in 1990, Magnificat is a musical setting in seven movements of the biblical canticle from the Gospel of Luke declared at the meeting of Elizabeth with her kinswoman Mary. While the text is almost exclusively in Latin, the second movement “Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose,” is taken from an anonymous English poem on Marian themes.
Of the work, the composer writes:
The Magnificat – a poetic outpouring of praise, joy and trust in God, ascribed by Luke to the Virgin Mary on learning that she was to give birth to Christ – has always been one of the most familiar and well-loved of scriptural texts, not least because of its inclusion as a canticle in the Catholic office of Vespers and in Anglican Evensong. Musical settings of it abound, though surprisingly few of them since J.S. Bach's time give the text extended treatment. I had long wished to write an extended Magnificat, but was not sure how to approach it until I found my starting point in the association of the text with the Virgin Mary. In countries such as Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico, feast days of the Virgin are joyous opportunities for people to take to the streets and celebrate with singing, dancing and processions. These images of outdoor celebration were, I think, somewhere in my mind as I wrote, though I was not fully conscious of the fact till afterwards. I was conscious of following Bach's example in adding to the liturgical text – with the lovely old English poem 'Of a Rose' and the prayer 'Sancta Maria' (both of which strengthen the Marian connection) and with the interpolated 'Sanctus', sung to the Gregorian chant of the Missa cum jubilo in the third movement. The composition of Magnificat occupied several hectic weeks early in 1990, and the première took place in May of that year in Carnegie Hall, New York.
The first movement, “Magnificat anima mea” is a true tour de force encompassing many styles and orchestrations, changes in meter, and a rollicking, repeated chorus that the composer has described as distinctly Spanish in nature. As stated above, the second movement is the only one with a poetic text source, though truly Marian in its allusions. It is constructed in a quasi-rondo form with a musical refrain returning in between contrasting verse material. Added contrast is accomplished through treble verses bass voicings as well as soli verses.
The third movement presents thematic material that, combined with that of the first movement, return to make up the final movement. It opens with a triumphant and fanfare-like declaration of “Quia fecit mihi magna,” building with the addition of voice parts and the expansion of the choral range. A contrasting middle section undergoes three rising iterations of the same cascading melody before ending with a soprano plainchant delivery of the Sanctus text. The first movement to feature the soprano soloist is the fourth: “Et misericordia.” A simple, disjunct series of six eighth notes weaves in and out of all vocal lines in this movement, through a wide array of tonal centers.
Rutter again uses the compositional technique of vocal addition in “Fecit potentiam,” the fifth movement. Rhythmic drive, syncopation, accent, and imitative entrances are all explored in the opening of this movement before the programmatic “casting down of the mighty” through falling unison lines. Contrast this with the tentatively ascending “exultation of the humble” through disjointed dissonances that bring the movement to its conclusion.
Written as a parallel movement to movement four, the sixth, “Esurientes,” again uses a repeating eighth note motive and features the soprano soloist. Difference lie in this movement’s compound meter with tugging duples in the choral writing, and a contrasting middle section, as well as more variety of vocal texture.
The final movement, “Gloria patri,” employs themes and techniques heard previously in the work, including the triumphant fanfares and crescendo by addition from the third movement as well as the joyful triple meter melody from the opening movement. Although the text is different in this final movement, one cannot help but feel a sense symmetry and conclusion in the final pages. Serving almost as an interruption before the end, the soprano solo delivers one more deviation from the Magnificat text: a humble prayer to the Virgin, written in a style clearly inspired by plainchant. The final “Amen” is presented in block chords of increasing complexity before arriving on a unison last note underscored by an accompaniment that rushes to a joyful conclusion.
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About the featured performers
Praised for her “voice [that] shines with a winsome, lyric luster” (Opera News), soprano ELENA GALVAN, from Ithaca, NY, is gaining recognition as a young soprano with “deft timing and repartee of a natural comedienne” (South Florida Classical Review). In 2017/18, Ms. Galván debuted as Lisette in La Rondine with Opera San Jose. She also joined Out of the Box Opera to sing in their “Diva Cage Match” and First Coast Opera as Kay in The Stranger’s Tale. She recently returned to Florida Grand Opera as a Young Artist where she performed Frasquita in Carmen and Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera to critical acclaim. Other performances with Florida Grand Opera include Norina in Don Pasquale and Yvette in The Passenger. Ms. Galván as performed with Nu Deco Ensemble singing the world premiere of Jorge Martín’s A Cuban in Vermont. She also performed Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Ithaca. Additionally, Ms. Galván has performed with Livermore Valley Opera, Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Saratoga, Lamplighters Music Theatre, San Francisco Opera Guild, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio.
BRAD HOUGHAM, baritone, has served on the voice faculty at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York for 12 years, where he is Associate Professor of Voice. He is an avid recitalist, opera, and concert singer, and has sung throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States. As a sought-after pedagogue, Dr. Hougham has taught master classes and lessons in Italy, Germany, Canada, England, and China. He was on the voice faculty of The Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium for 10 summers in Spoleto, Italy. He holds degrees in singing from the University of Saskatchewan, Mannes College of Music, City University of New York and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Pianist JENNIFER MOORE is the PreK-12 music teacher for the Willsboro Central School District. She holds degrees in piano performance and music education and has also devoted time studying choral conducting throughout her professional life. She studied vocal accompanying and coaching with Steven Blier, Dalton Baldwin and JJ Penna and stays very active in the region accompanying soloists, choral ensembles and musical theater productions. Jennifer is the organist and choral director for St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex, serves as the education coordinator for the Piano By Nature Concert Series in Elizabethtown, is the director of the Adirondack Community Children's Chorus in Westport and serves on the board for Artistry Theatre Company in Keeseville. Her performances have taken her to Lincoln Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, UNESCO (Paris), the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Town Hall Theater of Middlebury, VT, the Strand Theater in Plattsburgh, Carnegie Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh and Ithaca College. Her opportunities to collaborate with the Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble are always a highlight of her artistic world and she would especially like to thank Drew Benware and the beautiful NAVE voices for the opportunity to collaborate once again.
---
NAVE, under the musical direction of Andrew M. Benware, is a mixed chamber choir of professional and amateur singers that performs choral music from a variety of periods and styles with harmonies of four to eight parts.
NAVE's membership is truly indicative of its nomenclature, “Northern Adirondack,” being comprised of membership from points in Clinton, Essex, and Franklin counties. Distinct from other choral groups in our region, NAVE is essentially an a cappella chamber choir focusing on the rich and historical repertoire composed specifically for chamber choir, quite frequently unaccompanied by instruments.
The program will open with the Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Composed between the years 1906 and 1911, the work draws its texts from four poems by the seventeenth-century Welsh-born English poet and Anglican priest George Herbert (1593-1633). This overtly sacred text may seem a curious choice for Vaughan Williams who was an atheist at the time of composition. Nevertheless, a deeply spiritual nature is conjured in the listener as the music presents a vibrant vehicle for the poetic verse.
The first four movements are rather similar in style and in the dominant role played by the baritone soloist: Dr. Brad Hougham. The opening movement and the second split the text of the poem “Easter” and exclaim images of new life, triumph over the grave, and a natural world of flowers and the sun whose daily rising pales in comparison to the Resurrection of Christ. Joyful triplets pervade the piano accompanimental figures of the first movement in which the choral interjections serve to underscore and augment the joy of the baritone solo line. The second movement is a bit more straightforward with no repetition of text and the choir playing the role of vocal accompaniment to the solo line until the last when all sing together the singular glory of the Easter miracle.
The third movement is a setting of the poem “Love Bade Me Welcome” and features near constant eighth notes in the piano undulating under the baritone solo line. The chorus does not enter until the end of the movement, and even then sings only hushed and wordless interjections of the plainsong chant O Sacrum Convivium. Introspective joy is the affect of the fourth movement: “The Call.” This, of all the movements, is reserved for the soloist who alone carries the audience through a personal reflection of faith referencing the Lord in such terms as “my Way, my Truth, my Light,” as well as “Joy, Love, and Strength.”
The final movement, “Antiphon,” is the most distinct of all the movements and is delivered as a triumphant hymn of praise sung by the full chorus without the soloist. The choir oscillates between a ringing, bell-like quality and one that is smoother and tranquil – this set overtop the joyful scalar accompaniment that propels the movement forward through many iterations of the declamatory “my God and King.”
Following a brief intermission, NAVE will be joined by soprano Elena Galván for John Rutter’s Magnificat. Completed in 1990, Magnificat is a musical setting in seven movements of the biblical canticle from the Gospel of Luke declared at the meeting of Elizabeth with her kinswoman Mary. While the text is almost exclusively in Latin, the second movement “Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose,” is taken from an anonymous English poem on Marian themes.
Of the work, the composer writes:
The Magnificat – a poetic outpouring of praise, joy and trust in God, ascribed by Luke to the Virgin Mary on learning that she was to give birth to Christ – has always been one of the most familiar and well-loved of scriptural texts, not least because of its inclusion as a canticle in the Catholic office of Vespers and in Anglican Evensong. Musical settings of it abound, though surprisingly few of them since J.S. Bach's time give the text extended treatment. I had long wished to write an extended Magnificat, but was not sure how to approach it until I found my starting point in the association of the text with the Virgin Mary. In countries such as Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico, feast days of the Virgin are joyous opportunities for people to take to the streets and celebrate with singing, dancing and processions. These images of outdoor celebration were, I think, somewhere in my mind as I wrote, though I was not fully conscious of the fact till afterwards. I was conscious of following Bach's example in adding to the liturgical text – with the lovely old English poem 'Of a Rose' and the prayer 'Sancta Maria' (both of which strengthen the Marian connection) and with the interpolated 'Sanctus', sung to the Gregorian chant of the Missa cum jubilo in the third movement. The composition of Magnificat occupied several hectic weeks early in 1990, and the première took place in May of that year in Carnegie Hall, New York.
The first movement, “Magnificat anima mea” is a true tour de force encompassing many styles and orchestrations, changes in meter, and a rollicking, repeated chorus that the composer has described as distinctly Spanish in nature. As stated above, the second movement is the only one with a poetic text source, though truly Marian in its allusions. It is constructed in a quasi-rondo form with a musical refrain returning in between contrasting verse material. Added contrast is accomplished through treble verses bass voicings as well as soli verses.
The third movement presents thematic material that, combined with that of the first movement, return to make up the final movement. It opens with a triumphant and fanfare-like declaration of “Quia fecit mihi magna,” building with the addition of voice parts and the expansion of the choral range. A contrasting middle section undergoes three rising iterations of the same cascading melody before ending with a soprano plainchant delivery of the Sanctus text. The first movement to feature the soprano soloist is the fourth: “Et misericordia.” A simple, disjunct series of six eighth notes weaves in and out of all vocal lines in this movement, through a wide array of tonal centers.
Rutter again uses the compositional technique of vocal addition in “Fecit potentiam,” the fifth movement. Rhythmic drive, syncopation, accent, and imitative entrances are all explored in the opening of this movement before the programmatic “casting down of the mighty” through falling unison lines. Contrast this with the tentatively ascending “exultation of the humble” through disjointed dissonances that bring the movement to its conclusion.
Written as a parallel movement to movement four, the sixth, “Esurientes,” again uses a repeating eighth note motive and features the soprano soloist. Difference lie in this movement’s compound meter with tugging duples in the choral writing, and a contrasting middle section, as well as more variety of vocal texture.
The final movement, “Gloria patri,” employs themes and techniques heard previously in the work, including the triumphant fanfares and crescendo by addition from the third movement as well as the joyful triple meter melody from the opening movement. Although the text is different in this final movement, one cannot help but feel a sense symmetry and conclusion in the final pages. Serving almost as an interruption before the end, the soprano solo delivers one more deviation from the Magnificat text: a humble prayer to the Virgin, written in a style clearly inspired by plainchant. The final “Amen” is presented in block chords of increasing complexity before arriving on a unison last note underscored by an accompaniment that rushes to a joyful conclusion.
---
About the featured performers
Praised for her “voice [that] shines with a winsome, lyric luster” (Opera News), soprano ELENA GALVAN, from Ithaca, NY, is gaining recognition as a young soprano with “deft timing and repartee of a natural comedienne” (South Florida Classical Review). In 2017/18, Ms. Galván debuted as Lisette in La Rondine with Opera San Jose. She also joined Out of the Box Opera to sing in their “Diva Cage Match” and First Coast Opera as Kay in The Stranger’s Tale. She recently returned to Florida Grand Opera as a Young Artist where she performed Frasquita in Carmen and Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera to critical acclaim. Other performances with Florida Grand Opera include Norina in Don Pasquale and Yvette in The Passenger. Ms. Galván as performed with Nu Deco Ensemble singing the world premiere of Jorge Martín’s A Cuban in Vermont. She also performed Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Ithaca. Additionally, Ms. Galván has performed with Livermore Valley Opera, Virginia Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Saratoga, Lamplighters Music Theatre, San Francisco Opera Guild, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio.
BRAD HOUGHAM, baritone, has served on the voice faculty at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York for 12 years, where he is Associate Professor of Voice. He is an avid recitalist, opera, and concert singer, and has sung throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States. As a sought-after pedagogue, Dr. Hougham has taught master classes and lessons in Italy, Germany, Canada, England, and China. He was on the voice faculty of The Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium for 10 summers in Spoleto, Italy. He holds degrees in singing from the University of Saskatchewan, Mannes College of Music, City University of New York and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Pianist JENNIFER MOORE is the PreK-12 music teacher for the Willsboro Central School District. She holds degrees in piano performance and music education and has also devoted time studying choral conducting throughout her professional life. She studied vocal accompanying and coaching with Steven Blier, Dalton Baldwin and JJ Penna and stays very active in the region accompanying soloists, choral ensembles and musical theater productions. Jennifer is the organist and choral director for St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex, serves as the education coordinator for the Piano By Nature Concert Series in Elizabethtown, is the director of the Adirondack Community Children's Chorus in Westport and serves on the board for Artistry Theatre Company in Keeseville. Her performances have taken her to Lincoln Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, UNESCO (Paris), the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Town Hall Theater of Middlebury, VT, the Strand Theater in Plattsburgh, Carnegie Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh and Ithaca College. Her opportunities to collaborate with the Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble are always a highlight of her artistic world and she would especially like to thank Drew Benware and the beautiful NAVE voices for the opportunity to collaborate once again.
