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Review by Stanley Schmidt: Gala Concert 2003

I am speaking to you of a choral festival for young voices which has grown into one of the finest in the country. The Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival (PICCFEST), the brainchild of Artistic Director Peter Robb, has established a gathering where treble choirs come from the four corners of this country and beyond to listen to and encourage each other’s ensembles. They challenge their own abilities and raise their musical intellect to new heights as they set aside differences of culture, religion, skin color and other ideologies.

I am speaking to you of 300 voices who sang one of the best unisons I’ve ever heard; whose phrasing, intonation and general musicality is of the highest artistry.

I am speaking to you of a young, exciting conductor from the University of Michigan who moved with energy and confidence as she led the impressive festival chorus. It was obvious from the opening note that the audience was in for a musical experience of long lasting value.

Assisted by the Oregon Mozart Players, who have worked with the festival since its inception, guest conductor Sandra Snow led “Sing Creations Music On” by internationally known American composer Stephen Paulus. The performance featured the premiere of the composer’s orchestration of the piece, commissioned for this concert.

Robb then guided the gifted singers in a short piece from the pen of Johann Ludwig Bach as edited and arranged by Dr. Doreen Rao.

Next, Snow and the large cast of musicians turned their serious attention to the West Coast premiere of “I Dream of Peace” by composer Robert Jager, professor of music at Tennessee Technological University. The work is based on the poetry, letters and artwork of child witnesses to the cruel ethnic wars which resulted in the dissolution of Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The texts under the title “I Dream of Peace” were published in 1994 by UNICEF/Harper Collins.

Jager’s stunning work opens with a short, austere symphonia employing strong dissonance that paints a stark mood of the realities of war where a wasteland is left and nothing is present.

There is an immediate segue into the second movement, “I Am Speaking To You…..as you suffer I suffer,” this disease of war. I thought: can these singers know what they are musically saying even though they have not experienced war? Can this professor from Michigan convey the real meaning of this work to the choir?

“War is the saddest word that flows from my quivering lips,” begins Movement Three. The young soloist, one of many solo voices, had a gifted vocal quality conveying the sadness of war and at the same time offering the listener a hope for our future.

The next two sections were performed by the St. Louis Children’s Choir, featured ensemble of PICCFEST 2003. Movement Four, “In My Dreams,” was enhanced by percussive striking of the gong, symbolizing the sound of canons and the dropping of bombs. The growing force of strong uneven rhythms along with pervasive dissonances in the orchestra and the intense aleatoric speaking from the chorus created the chaos of a raging battle.

“Testimony” (the fifth part) was one of the most moving sections of this sensitive composition. As members of the St. Louis choir moved slowly forward to give testimony, the orchestra background enhanced the narration of the singers who showed us terror and hopelessness with their body language and their voices.

Movement Six “If I were President” was portrayed by four more soloists who sang their thoughts about turning guns into plowshares.

Finally composer Robert Jager leaves us with the dream of peace. We hear a relaxation of the tonal structure, but yet the essence of war remains somewhat in the background. The choir sings, “When I close my eyes I dream of peace.”

Dona nobis pacem instructs the musical mood. The choir repeats the word Peace, and one lone soul stands at stage right gazing to the heavens in hope of Lux Aeterna (perpetual light).

How is it possible that these singers can articulate such an intellectual thought? Is it because they actually believe that Peace is right? I think so!

As they closed the gala program we heard another musical question: “How Can I Keep From Singing” followed by an African praise song, “Glory to God in the Highest.” And, we began to believe that Peace is possible.

I am speaking to you: Believe in Music. It develops the soul. Believe in music as it molds our young people into citizens who can work for fairness and justice for all of God’s human creatures.

Now in its sixth season, the Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival is changing the lives of hundreds of young choral musicians with excellent planned guidance. Equal parts wonderful for audience members, musicians and conductor alike

 

Stanley Schmidt Bio

Stanley Schmidt recently stepped down as Artistic Director of Omaha’s Clarion Chamber Chorale which he founded in 1982. He is president of CollegiumUSA, the recording label of John Rutter and The Cambridge Singers.

He recently launched Clarion Records and anticipates releasing about a dozen new CDs during the next two years.

Schmidt also hosts Omaha’s KVNO-FM choral program "Going Beyond Words" and, with his wife Norma, directs music for Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Westmar College and a master’s degree in music from the University of California at Sacramento.

Schmidt has studied with Norman Luboff, Roger Wagner, Elmer Iseler, Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter. He also has studied choral music in Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, Stuttgart and London. Stan has served as guest conductor for many choirs, including the renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Previously, he taught choral music at the high school level for 27 years.