By Emma Weidmann | Arts and Life Editor
On a rainy October night, Baylor Concert Choir and Bella Voce struck a chord to harmoniously usher in homecoming week with “A Heavenly Display.”
The concert took place in the Jones Concert Hall of the Glennis McCrary Music Building on Monday night. Despite the gloomy weather, the voices of the choir cheerily cut through the pitch-black storm.
Waco sophomore Abby Guel is a second soprano in Bella Voce, the highly-selective, all-female choir that is one of the premier touring ensembles at Baylor. Guel said being a part of Bella Voce is special to her because of the rapport between herself and the other women that comes from the group being so small and tight-knit.
“You get to know everyone really well, and it’s really fun,” Guel said. “I’m really glad that even though singing isn’t my primary instrument — even though I’m a music major — I’m still able to continue to do that since I just, I love it.”
The concert was directed by Will McLean, lecturer of choral ensembles. McLean said the program “explores the idea that love involves a loving creator, the idea of a loved one’s community, the idea of finding strength within ourselves and taking steps forward into the world in which we live.”
The concert was split by an intermission into two parts: a performance by Bella Voce and a performance by Baylor Concert Choir, a coed ensemble of both male and female singers. To open the concert, soloists Skyler Skillman, McKenna Schenck, Brooke Reese and Chanel Daniels walked from backstage one by one, followed closely by the rest of the choir for “Harps of Welcome.”
Between pieces, Guel and another member of Bella Voce recited readings entitled “Hurrying” and “Wood Dove.” According to Guel, they were meant to tie the music together with poetic themes.
The ending piece, “I’ll Never Study,” was a dynamic break from typical choral music, and it posed the biggest challenge to the choir, Guel said.
“It was very different,” Guel said. “I think that might be part of what made it harder. But honestly, I think that one was my favorite.”
Though “I’ll Never Study,” a piece about shunning mathematics and equations, was Guel’s favorite to perform, it was “Song of Ruth” that Guel said she emotionally connected with the most because of the Biblical story it derives from.
“The story of Ruth is my favorite Bible story — always has been — and so just getting to sing about that was really cool, because I just really admire Ruth’s characteristics,” Guel said.
When the Baylor Concert Choir took the stage, the sound was completely different, even though there were a few members of Bella Voce in the ensemble. The addition of double the altos, as well as tenors and basses, lended a depth to the choir that gave a very dimensional sound.
“The program tonight focuses on the wonder that is the world with which we live, reflecting on nature, reflecting on the presence of our Creator, all things in which that we do, and the joy and the tribulations and all of the love that comes along the way,” McLean said to welcome the Concert Choir.
Throughout the Concert Choir program were three “Shaker songs” written by the Shaker community, a group of religious people who lived on the east coast of the United States during the 18th through 20th centuries and were known for their pacifist beliefs and modern notions of gender equality.
According to McLean, the Shaker songs “Heavenly Display,” “Love is Little” and “Benediction” served as “little framers” for the program, outlining the theme as the music went on.
The most stand-out moment of the second half of the night was the piece “Apple Tree,” which featured three soloists on percussive instruments. It was a rhythmic breath of fresh air, a total deviation from the rest of the program. Toward the end of the song, some of the sopranos even sung in a high, almost primal belt.
This concert was only the first in a chorus of performances scheduled throughout homecoming week. Baylor Men’s and Women’s Choir will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Jones Concert Hall, and guest performer tubist Jim Self will play at 7:30 p.m. in Meadows Recital Hall and Jones Concert Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
A schedule of more performances is available from the Baylor School of Music.
