A 40th anniversary is a major milestone for any arts organization — perhaps more so for one composed entirely of volunteers, like the venerable Northwest Chamber Chorus.
"There have never been any paid members," says University of Washington music professor Steven Demorest, who served as the group's director from 1996 to 2005. "And the musicianship is quite high, really top quality."
So when Mark Kloepper, the Northwest Chamber Chorus' fourth music director in as many decades, invited past directors Demorest and Joan Catoni Conlon to guest-conduct a portion of a 40th-anniversary program this weekend, they happily accepted.
"I was thrilled to be invited back," admits Conlon, a renowned choral scholar at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "It's always a joy to make music with people who love to make music. And it's exciting to see the choir in good hands."
Conlon directed the ensemble for 24 years, from 1971 to 1995. She started out as an alto with the group that local composer and early-music expert Peter Seibert first gathered in 1968. When Seibert left to concentrate on other projects, the choir reorganized and chose for its new director Conlon, who was a doctoral student in choral music at the UW School of Music.
Conlon has many fond memories of her long tenure with the choir. Not only did she meet her husband, Frank Conlon, there, but the group helped her premiere five Telemann cantatas that she discovered in Europe during her doctoral studies.
While there is no new Telemann on the 40th-anniversary program, there is a world premiere. Kloepper, now in his second year as director, commissioned Portland composer Joan Szymko's "Carpe Diem" for the occasion — a heady experience: "I don't know what it's like to be pregnant, but it must be like hiring someone to write a piece of music for you. Such an astonishing, lustrous thrill! The piece is so expressive, with very contrasting sections, some really rhythmic stuff and some really romantic parts."
All three conductors wax deeply passionate about the highlights on the program, including unaccompanied pieces by Scarlatti, Rheinberger, Randall Thompson and Alice Parker, among others.
A noted Monteverdi scholar, Conlon chose the Italian composer's "Ecco momorar l'onde" because it "distills all of Monteverdi's compositional craft." For his guest stint, Demorest picked a personal favorite, Rachmaninoff's "Bogoroditse Devo."
"The Rachmaninoff was the first piece I ever conducted with [the Northwest Chamber Chorus]. I auditioned with it." Widely considered the Russian Orthodox version of "Ave Maria," this choral gem is a Christmastime staple, but its appeal transcends seasons. "There's a peaceful, prayerful start," Demorest explains, "that crescendos to a passionate outcry."
Kloepper says the anniversary program showcases the Northwest Chamber Chorus' historical strengths and also points to its future. A couple dozen alums will be called onstage to join the current ensemble of 39, which still includes two original members (Dina Myers and Wendy Roedell).
"The whole program reflects where I want to go with the chorus. Steve's doing a big late-19th-century Russian piece. Joan is doing a 400-year-old Italian madrigal. Two very different styles. That's exactly what I love about this chorus: that we can step gracefully from one style to the other."
Sumi Hahn: sumi@bewodo.org
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