Mid-May brings out the best in Durango’s performing arts organizations. Two big musical events fill the calendar this weekend.
Friday, the Durango Choral Society will close its stellar season with some new components – solos, a quartet and an unusual a cappella ensemble.
The Durango Women’s Choir will open and close the concert. The opening folk set includes songs from the Wailin’ Jennys and Brandi Carlile. And for a finale, the women will pay tribute to the Statue of Liberty, sing a ballad based on the poetry of Rilke and end with “I Am the Wind.” The music begins quietly and ends powerfully – perfect for a season finale.
A newly formed DCS Quartet made up of Rhonda Muckerman, Kent Norgren, Tom Richards and Jill Waterman will sing “Seven Bridges Road,” followed by soloist Christine Richards singing “What Good Would the Moon Be,” by Kurt Weill. Later in the program, Nathan Van Arsdale may break everyone’s heart when he sings the evergreen “Danny Boy.”
The new a cappella group, Vocal Motion, will make its public debut performing a range of styles. The ensemble is an outreach initiative by the parent company to perform for community, personal or family events such as anniversaries, reunions or parties.
“This will be the inaugural performance,” said Rhonda Muckerman, artistic director of DCS. “The group can perform madrigals to modern and everything in between.”
As a sampler, Vocal Motion will sing two traditional madrigals, a romantic song from “The Music Man,” “Allstar,” a pop song by Smash Mouth, and “Celebration.”
“Yes, the Kool and the Gang version, because people love this song at a party,” Muckerman said.
The May DCS concert is a fundraiser, so the group will host a reception after the music in the St. Mark’s Parish Hall. Among other things, the group will auction off something truly original – preferred parking spots and preferred seating for upcoming concerts.
Let the games begin!
Start with a fairy-tale framework, four families that can’t get along. Mix in the idea of sports competition. Add a four-part Olympic Games timeline. Assemble an orchestra, a narrator and an audience full of children and parents. Encourage lots of audience interaction – and you have Yaniv Segal’s “The Harmony Games.”
At 2 p.m. Saturday, “The Harmony Games” will be held in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. At 4 p.m. Sunday, the “Games” will be presented again in Farmington’s Henderson Performance Hall at San Juan College. Pitched as “music and fun, a friendly competition where math meets music,” the composer has updated the genre in a fresh way.
In the history of symphonic music for young people, Segal’s work outshines many of its predecessors. Like Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” Segal introduces all the instruments. Like Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” Segal adds a story to link everything together. In addition, fanciful illustrations by Cathy Winefield-Zell will be projected to underscore the idea of turning pages. And Segal goes further by asking children to solve the story’s dilemma while counting, clapping and even conducting.
Everyone – children and adults – will learn about orchestral instruments and how they interact, plus easy-to-absorb spoonsful of music theory and composition. It all comes in a colorful, down-to-earth, one-hour package for “children of all ages.”
Popular local performer Drea Pressley will narrate and San Juan Symphony Conductor Thomas Heuser will guide the audience through the “Games.”
In 2018, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the American composer felt inspired to create a new way to introduce young people to orchestral music. Segal imagined a family feud and composed new music to match the competition theme. It helped that he echoed the title of the popular film “The Hunger Games.”
Segal launched his new project despite COVID-19. Check out YouTube for the Reno Philharmonic’s engaging performance streamed to a virtual audience from a barren concert hall. Since then, “The Harmony Games” has been embraced by regional orchestras across America, including SJS.
Arrive early for the interactive instrument “petting zoo” where children can blow trumpets, honk horns, beat drums or scratch strings.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.