Choral Review
Voices of California
Merry & Bright - December 1, 2018
Once again, I found myself looking forward to the annual Christmas show of the Sacramento area’s premier men’s barbershop chorus, the Voices of California (VoCal). Perhaps there was an extra air of anticipation this Saturday afternoon because VoCal has qualified once again to compete in the Barbershop Harmony Society’s annual International Chorus Contest — the third time since the chorus’s founding in 2010, and a major accomplishment.
This Christmas show has come to follow a pattern: VoCal starts the show with a musical skit, then several local guest choruses perform. There’s usually a set by our local championship quartet, Artistic License, and then a closing set of music by VoCal.
(Click here to open the program in a new window.)
This time the skit was a contest for the selection of “Mr. Elf America 2018.” Chorus members were on the risers in dark suits, Santa hats, and beauty-contest-style ribbons across their chests. Everyone was excited about the “big event,” especially when the MC came out. Playing this role was Jason Dyer, the bass of the Artistic License quartet, and he was dressed in a well-tailored suit and jacket, made of a totally outrageous patchwork pattern. A person with any sense of taste would have had to look away.
Jason introduced the 9 “contestants” who came off the risers as their names, e.g. Mr. Snowflake, were announced. They were all psyched up (each in his own way) for the contest, as were the remaining men on the risers. I noticed that each candidate’s name was written on his chest-spanning ribbon — evidence of VoCal's attention to detail. At this point, the chorus broke into song, the “Santa’s Elves Medley,” with the rousing refrain, “We are Santa’s elves” — and I was reminded why I was so looking forward to this show. It was the solid 4-part men’s harmony that VoCal delivers so reliably. Meanwhile, there was constant cavorting among the singers and the contestants, and somehow they were even able to construct, with lights and a flashing star, the outline of a Christmas tree in part of the top two rows of the risers.
The skit proceeded through several phases of a “contest” to winnow down the number of the contestants. Meanwhile, everyone on stage was clowning around in a spectacle that you couldn’t watch without smiling — and perhaps a chuckle now and then. While all this was going on, there was another well-delivered song, “Warm and Fuzzy” and then “Sparklejollytwinklejingley” from Elf the Musical. I’m guessing the music was unfamiliar to nearly everyone in the audience, but that didn’t really matter. Entertainment was the objective, and with a constant stream of gags and choralography on the risers, including a brief kick routine (like the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes) by the 8 guys who serve as VoCal’s out-front performing troupe. Throughout all this craziness the harmony never wavered, and with the crowning of Mr. Elf America 2018, the curtain closed on what I bet were a pretty exhausted group of men.
When the curtain opened again, the scene couldn’t have been more different. It was 12 singers from Chanteuses (www.chanteuses.org), the women’s chorus with an illustrious 20 plus-year history of performing in the Sacramento area. They were led by Judy Britts, who debuted as the group’s director only a year ago. They began with a setting of the Ave Maria. It was a starkly different idiom from what we in the audience had been observing, but it was a well-crafted performance from 12 good voices, eventually called on to negotiate some really difficult harmonies toward the end of the piece. It was impressive enough to elicit a “wow” from someone sitting near me, as the music came to a conclusion.
Next from Chanteuses was “Yorkshire Wassail,” a pleasant, creative setting of a familiar piece that was full of lilting melodies, infectious rhythms, and contemporary harmonies. All this straightforward music gave no hint of what was to follow, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” This wasn’t your standard version of that Christmastime standard. Instead it was the wildly funny version created by the men’s group, Straight No Chaser. The song took an incredible number of turns with verses out of order, snatches of melodies from other songs, and it was performed with gusto and by memory — an incredible feat, in my judgment. Not surprisingly, the audience roared its approval when the piece concluded.
The Artistic License quartet (www.artisticlicensequartet.com) scored a 9th place finish in the Barbershop Harmony Society’s latest International Competition — an impressive feat since they were up against the best quartets from all over the US — and beyond. And with two of their members in the Voices of California, we get to see them perform often in VoCal shows. However, this was a special performance because it was the first time for most in this Sacramento audience to see and hear the group’s new tenor, Julian Kusnadi.
Their first song, “Silver Bells” was pure Artistic License material — trademark harmony in an upbeat, interesting arrangement of this familiar tune, and with that final chord that always brings the house down.
Every Artistic License song captures one’s attention, not only for the extraordinary quality of the harmony, but also for the surprises in each arrangement. That was certainly true of “We Three Kings,” which was delivered with an amazing beatboxing performance by bass, Jason Dyer. Then there was “Birthday of a King.” I consider this in the genre of sacred music, something you wouldn’t expect to hear from a barbershop quartet. But it was a respectful presentation with a professional quality about it that sometimes rose to the point that the 4 men sounded like a full choir. I felt something else during this performance. It seemed to me that some of those chords were so pure that they triggered a kind of harmonic vibration in my body. Can barbershop harmony get any better?
Well, yes. The next piece, “Baby Come Home for Christmas,” was a rockapella song that got the audience rocking. It was total fun, with a humorous speaking part in the middle, but what knocked us out was the stunning performance by Julian Kusnadi. It’s one thing to call a performance “professional.” An even higher standard than that is “commercial.” And Julian gave us that kind of voice and style that could sell tracks on iTunes, CDs — whatever. Come to think of it, the whole quartet has met that commercial standard every time I’ve seen them perform.
Artistic License had performed in front of the curtain, and when they left, the curtain rose on the Davis Chorale (www.davischorale.org), a mixed chorus with a 40-year history in Davis. Of their nearly 100 members, about 70 were on hand today. Their basic black concert attire had festive accents: colorful scarves for the women and caps on some of the men, with one person sporting antlers. That was a little incongruous for their first selection: a lively setting of the Latin text, “Sicut Locutus” from Bach's Magnificat in D major. Next was a setting of “O Magnum Mysterium” by Thomas Luis de Victoria, and this was followed by “Weihnachten” by Mendelssohn (in German). Both songs were full of classical harmonies, counterpoint (accurately delivered), and sensitive interpretation. I’d say, too, that each piece, though with non-English text, had its own special, appealing quality. The final work in the Davis Chorale’s set was Randall Thompson’s, “Alleluia,” a work that has earned notoriety among choruses from the fact that the lyrics consist of just one word, “Alleluia” until the final “Amen.” I could tell that the audience appreciated the performance of these classical works, and I would say that we heard enough that many of us would want to hear more from the Davis Chorale at their upcoming concert. That impression was cemented by the last piece, William Dawson’s “Ain’t-a That Good News.” This is just happy music, and the Davis Chorale really captured the spirit of the song.
The Ponderosa High School (in Shingle Springs) is a singing school, with 135 students participating in 5 choirs under the direction of their still new choir director, Lucy Nisbet (www.bruinchoir.com). Our first glimpse of them was of 9 young men in tuxedos, spread across the risers. With accompaniment from student Gianna Compagno at the piano, they performed an interesting, contemporary arrangement of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” I was impressed with the good breath control they demonstrated with their young voices. And as I listened, I could imagine Voices of California members in the wings ready to recruit these fine young singers.
At the conclusion of this first piece, 13 young women entered, dressed in long black dresses with black velour tops. The program said they would be singing “O Magnum Mysterium,” but there are probably hundreds of settings of that text — maybe even thousands. To my delight, they performed my favorite, a setting by Morten Lauridsen. Having sung this myself and heard many other choruses perform it, I knew at the outset how difficult it is, how it requires considerable restraint and vocal control. Any concern I had proved to be unfounded: they gave a sensitive performance, with good articulation and a beautiful embracing of the sublime dissonance that occurs twice in the alto part. But the biggest surprise may have been the exquisite tenor part at the end of this oh-so satisfying performance.
The next selection from this exceptional high school choir was “Hanukkah in Santa Monica” from the young women, with brilliant playing from student Andrew Cambridge as he provided the lively piano accompaniment. This was a humorous piece, and its lyrical gags were illustrated by cute actions — all to the total delight of the audience.
The last offering from the Ponderosa High School Chamber Choir was “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and their singing of this well-known spiritual just overflowed with spirit. In fact, I’d go even farther: this was a competition-quality performance — and as I think about it, I believe that could have been said for all their music.
After a brief re-setting of the stage (primarily to remove the piano, I imagine), the curtain opened on the Voices of California again. This time their black suits were simply accented by candy-cane striped ties and handkerchiefs in their jacket pockets. Their first number of this set was a sincere rendition of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” As they sang, I thought about the impression they were making. It was the pure joy of singing and performing, and it was an emotion that connected with the audience, which erupted in cheers as this first song came to a conclusion.
“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” was next, a lively piece accompanied by finger snapping and swaying — and, I imagine, a lot of foot-tapping in the audience. There was even a bit of scat singing from the chorus during this piece. The overall impression was that this song was pure fun both for the singers and the audience, and when it ended I could hear sighs of pleasure from those around me. “Sing We Noel” (I think the actual title is “Sing We Now of Christmas”) was next, with a barbershop take on this traditional song. Barbershop or not, what I and the rest of the audience heard was a great men’s chorus sound.
As I watched these men sing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” I noticed something I’d observed before. For many of their songs, they move freely or in choreographed synchrony. But occasionally there’s a song like this where they were obviously told to keep their arms at their sides. Still, I could see how they had to strain to do that, with everyone’s arms moving ever so slightly. It’s hard to keep your arms at your side when you’re singing! Most singers know that you “sing” with your whole body, face included — at least you do when you really want to communicate. And arms-at-the-side notwithstanding, this piece was delivered with pure artistry.
Everyone got to use their arms a lot in the next piece, “Chanukah Is Here,” which featured the arms-in-the-air-and-hands-clasped choreography that you will remember from Fiddler on the Roof in case you haven’t seen it elsewhere — or participated in it. It had to have been a tremendously difficult song to sing, made even more difficult by the constant humorous choreography. It was so much fun to watch and hear that it got spontaneous applause before the number was even completed.
VoCal’s set concluded with “Believe,” the much-loved song from the movie, The Polar Express. As this piece was being performed, I noticed a couple of things which were really present throughout VoCal’s singing. First was the precision, both of pitch and of timing. It comes from personal commitment and a lot of careful rehearsing. Second was director Gabe Caretto. It feels to me like Gabe is both the enforcer of accuracy and the emotional spark that gets this group firing on all cylinders. And in his directing there is often the ease and grace of a dancer, another example of artistry to focus on when VoCal is performing.
Gabe is also the gracious, easy-going, humorous host — a role he played in introducing what has become the traditional finale for VoCal’s Christmas shows. It’s a special arrangement of “Silent Night,” created by Artistic License Bass, Jason Dyer. The chorus sings the first verse, then Artistic License comes out for a barbershop-enhanced version of the second verse. Then all the guest singing groups enter the theater to surround the audience, while we and they sing the third verse, with VoCal singing a countermelody. I’ve experienced it before with past VoCal Christmas shows, and this tradition never loses its magical effect.
Keep up with VoCal and their upcoming competition by monitoring their website: www.voicesofcalifornia.org.
Dick Frantzreb is past editor of the Sacramento Choral Calendar and co-founder and past President of the Sacramento Valley Choral Coalition. He currently edits the Placer Performance Calendar and the new Capital Region Performance Gallery. He has been loving live performances in the greater Sacramento area and writing about them since 2012.
