ESCC AT CARNEGIE HALL
Eastern Sierra Community Chorus members pose in front of Carnegie Hall, just before their performance onstage.
Seth Houston/Courtesy
By Nancy Holland (ESCC Chorus Director)
Special to the Mammoth Times and Nancy for this article about the Eastern Sierra Community Chorus (ESCC)
For our April 13 performance in Carnegie Hall, we began rehearsals on Dec. 11, reading through the music and beginning to learn a few phrases. Over the winter break, singers started studying the music and listening to practice tracks. The music was exponentially more challenging than anything we had ever attempted, including a cappella — without instrumental accompaniment.
We had to practice for eight-part works, meaning there are two soprano lines, two alto lines, two tenor lines, and two bass lines. With 32 singers participating, that averages four singers per part. Plus, the production company demanded that we memorize all the music. We started in January, learning a few pages a week. Each singer put in an enormous amount of time and energy to learn the music, and by March we were able to create videotapes of all us singing all the music memorized. The production company, Distinguished Concerts International New York, had asked us to send in a video showing that we all had memorized all the music and we did!
When we arrived in New York, we had three rehearsals with Eric Whitacre, our composer conductor. He was generous, gracious and humorous in his approach to the singers and the music. He encouraged us to get to know other singers seated around us from the ten choirs that were participating. He knew that in the six hours of rehearsal we had together, we had to transform from ten individual choirs into one unified ensemble, and we did just that. He was masterful in lending us insights into his creations, inviting us to sing “gently as if you were singing to the baby in your arms” in “Seal Lullaby” and to swell and diminish “like waves on the beach.”
Eric also talked about the drama in the second “Hebrew Love Song,” among five that were performed. It’s about a newlywed couple, and the young husband (sung by the tenors and basses) is wooing his bride, softly and suggestively, trying to get her in the mood, while the wife (sung by the sopranos and altos) is having none of it, dancing around the room “light as a feather.” At the end, the tenors and basses “show up on a white horse and take off across the desert.” He really painted a vivid picture that brought the music to life for us.
Chorus bass singer Ryan Mills, Bishop Union High School Band Director and also an accomplished percussionist with the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra, was selected to play the tambourine and got to make his debut on the Carnegie Hall stage in while playing in that “Hebrew Love Song.”
Eric talked about the swells of the chords in “Lux Aurumque” as “teaching audience how to breathe.” He taught us how the chords could grow and diminish seamlessly. HIs conducting is gentle, matching the subtle changes in harmony and texture. It was an absolute delight to work and learn from him.
All in all, we had six hours of rehearsal with him, plus the dress rehearsal in Carnegie Hall. In order to accommodate so many singers, we had to divide up into several green rooms (holding rooms before we go onstage). Because I am fairly tall, I was standing in the last row, at the top of the risers, and our green room was on the sixth floor.
Carnegie Hall is an absolutely gorgeous, acoustically perfect space in which to perform. Eric successfully transformed us into a living breathing, working ensemble. On stage, we sang as one, breathing together and creating magical sounds and harmonies. It really felt otherworldly, swept up in this magnificent sound, following Eric’s every gesture and smile.
Steve Miller, a member of our tenor section, said, “Performing at Carnegie Hall was never something I thought I could experience, and to get to do that alongside some of the most talented singers in the Eastern Sierra makes it even more of a special — once in a lifetime — experience. To everyone who made this happen, I appreciate you so much!”
At the end of the concert, all the directors were invited to come to the front of the stage and take a bow, which I did. What a thrill, to take a bow on the Carnegie Hall stage!
I have performed in Carnegie Hall before as a singer in a large chorus, but this time was beyond my wildest imagination. I was so proud of our singers who had worked so hard to learn all the music, memorize it, and raise the funds to travel so far.
We had melded into a community of singers and transformed 400 singers into one glorious sound.
The Eastern Sierra Community Chorus has never worked so hard. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice! It’s really true, and we will never forget that we actually performed in Carnegie Hall on April 13, and we will be performing all the songs we performed there on our Spring Concerts:
Friday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 58 Ranch Road, in Mammoth
Saturday, May 2, at 7 p.m. at Neighborhood Church, 315 E. South St., in Bishop
Please come!
About Mammoth Lakes Recreation
Formed in 2014, Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s mission is to deliver cutting edge sustainable recreation, mobility, and arts & culture opportunities and infrastructure for the benefit of the community and natural environment of Mammoth Lakes. For more information, go to www.mammothlakesrecreation.org.