When one goes to a Remembrance Day concert, they would expect music that is somber and vaguely patriotic. However, this University of Victoria choir put on a unique performance with a variety of songs that left viewers reflective and contemplative.
The University of Victoria’s Chamber Singers and Singing for the Stage students are a collection of vocal majors lead by Kinza Tyrrell, and on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 7 P.M., they put on a choral concert entitled In Remembrance at the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall.
Considering the program was comprised of mainly acapella and Latin choral songs in the theme of remembrance, I was not expecting there to be so much diversity in the tones of the songs. Some of the songs were mournful and somber, but what surprised me was the songs in major keys. Kinza Tyrrell, explained between songs that she didn’t want remembrance to just be rueful and heavy hearted, but also a celebration of life. By using a diverse repertoire that evoked an equally diverse emotional response, she accomplished this vision of remembrance in her concert.
The singers were all strong overall. I found myself very impressed by those who sang the tenor voice parts, their voices were very resonant and managed to draw my attention without overpowering the rest of the ensemble. The sopranos had some notable moments as well, notably in the chorus songs with the entire group. High notes can be risky in choral performances, as the shrill nature of the notes can lead them to cut through the ensemble and ruin the balance of the different vocal parts, but the singers did a beautiful job at keeping the high notes at a low volume.
The repertoire of the concert consisted of two halves. Half of the performance consisted of full ensemble pieces, and the other half was 12 sets of trios by modern composer Kevin Allen, three placed after every large chamber group song. I enjoyed that the trios were broken up like this, I think it would have been too overbearing to have all 12 sets of trios performed in a row and that would have risked losing the attention of the audience.
Two students provided piano accompaniment for two separate large group songs, and I found those songs to be the most captivating to listen to. The piano added a whole new dimension of sound and contrast to the voices of the choir.
At some points during the trios’ performances, I had trouble telling if the chords were meant to not sound harmonious, or if one of the singers was out of tune. Either one is feasible, as non-harmonious chords are popular in works by modern composers such as Allen, but trio pieces are quite vulnerable as there are only three voices and mistakes are hard to hide.
In large ensembles of musicians such as this choir, attention to detail within musical elements can make or break the performance. Within each piece of music are written instructions called dynamics, and they dictate changes in volume in order to maximize the musicality of the song. This group did an excellent job at performing these dynamics. The climax moments in each song were made much more striking by making the softer moments even softer to make contrast between the two volumes, giving the pieces an emotional impact.