(Host) The Rutland Area Chorus, led by Rip Jackson, will perform a concert of early classical music Sunday at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Rutland.
VPR’s Nina Keck caught up with choir during rehearsal and filed this report.
(Rip Jackson rehearsing) "Go to Fujitay. . . . fade under
(Keck) Sixty singers stand in a semi-circle. All eyes are on music director Rip Jackson, who stands behind a small organ.
(Choir and Jackson) Singing. "I’m not scared of you. Try it again."
(Keck) They’re singing about a battle, says Jackson, so their voices have to evoke violence and drama. Conveying the right emotion isn’t easy when you’re singing in Latin and Italian in a style over 400 years old.
(Jackson) "Baroque is a word that was used back in ancient times to describe a style of music that came after the Renaissance. And most of us know about the Renaissance, which was in the 1400s and 1500s. And the next musical and artistic period was known as Baroque originally because it was a derogatory term that people from the Renaissance who were more traditional musicians – they were saying it was too wild and crazy and exciting. And the word Baroque is a Portuguese word that means an oddly shaped pearl."
(Choir) Chorus rehearsing.
(Jackson) "It’s a very different style of singing than today. If you look at classical music today – people sing generally with more of a vibrato – where the voice moves like Laaaaaaaa. But they didn’t have a lot of vibrato then. So I’ve trained my choir and all the soloists – they’re singing in a much more pure sound. Like laaaaaaa. There’s a big difference. So when put them all together the tuning is different – and it’s a very beautiful pure sound."
(Choir) Chorus rehearsing.
(McCaffrey) "The sound – it’s just – ahhhhh . . . to die for. It’s like nothing else."
(Keck) Soprano, Marybeth McCaffrey.
(McCaffrey) "It feeds my soul. I think it feeds all of our souls. It’s just really a way of communicating among one another and, of course, communicating the music to the audience in a way that’s emotional and sensory and has a lot to convey."
(Keck) McCaffrey and the other members of the Rutland Area Chorus will perform works by Monteverdi, Corelli and other composers from the 1600s on Sunday.
For VPR News, I’m Nina Keck in Rutland.