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The Fine Arts Chorale knows how to show an audience a good time. Heartfelt Voices: Our Ode to St. Valentine's Day blended a fresh, exciting program of love songs with art by Jenny Hahn, chocolate from Andres along with wine and a bit of bubbly courtesy of Rimann liquors.

A more romantic setting would have been hard to find, even on Valentine's Day weekend. The Founders' Hall at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral had the festive air of a reception. The audience sat comfortably at elegant tables where red carnations in silver vases sat atop crisp white table cloths strewn with chocolate hearts and glittering confetti. The chorus was color coordinated in black with red accents and the beautiful soloist, Ida Nicolosi, wore a red satin strapless gown with a dazzling necklace. KXTR's Patrick Neas, looking dapper in his tux, was the gracious master of ceremonies.

Artistic Director Terri Teal is one of Kansas City's best. Her programs are always well designed with careful attention to the soulful aspects of choral composition. She chooses music that is easy to fall in love with. The accompanist for the ensemble, Geoff Wilcken, regularly writes new pieces specifically for the ensemble.  His Go, Lovely Rose was completed this year. The piece featured the talented Nicolosi and dovetailed well with the Two Love Songs by Robert H. Young that followed. Other surprising pieces included the Love Lost set of four hilarious songs written in 1969 by Paul Sjolund. These pieces, using poems by Dorothy Parker, Samuel Hoffenstein and Mark Hollis, I had never heard before. 

The first half of the concert featured unaccompanied vocal works from the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Teal conducts with a broad range of distinctive gestures that rivet her singers. Her musical intentions are always crystal clear and the ensemble demonstrates its commitment with attention to every choral detail. They breathe together, swell together and their endings are executed with sensitive precision.

Anyone planning a wedding this year should look closely at This Marriage by Eric Whitacre, set to poems by Rumi and i carry your heart with me by David Dickau from a poem by e.e. cummings. Because of their specific focus, they rarely appear on concert programs, yet they remind listeners of how the bonds of matrimony are special, and they convey a deeply moving message. Including them was a masterstroke.

The Five Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre was fantastic. Singing in Hebrew is no easy task. It resembles German on the page but the vowels are very different. The choir sang expressively as the music moved from lyrical to energetic. In the piece, Larov (Mostly) random bell-like tones supported the solo well-spoken by Leah Koesten. Soprano Pam Gregory added a gorgeous descending line and Josh Kendle's violin added just the right amount of expressive color. This is an eclectic and arresting piece I hope to hear again.

Local favorite, Ida Nicolosi, and her accompanist Mark Ball took the stage for a set of her favorite love songs beginning with the delightful Steal Me, Sweet Thief by Menotti. "What a curse for a woman is a timid man!" she tells the story with charming earnestness. Anyone familiar with the Merchant Ivory film, A Room with a View, would recognize the glorious aria Chi bel sogno di Doretta by Giuseppe Adami which is another rare gem. Her interpretation was exquisite. An excellent actress, Nicolosi is one of the few sopranos who easily embody the protagonist. She delighted the audience with her 1940s girlie New York accent in Irving Berlin's You'd be Surprised. I hope Nicolosi pursues musical theater as well as opera as she continues her career path.

Combining choral concerts with a visual arts collaboration and small business donations of food and wine is genius. At a time when arts organizations across the country are looking for ways to provide a 360-degree concert experience, the Fine Arts Chorale delivers. The audience was feeling the love.


REVIEW
The Fine Arts Chorale
Heartfelt Voices: Our ode to St. Valentine's Day
Saturday February 13, 2010
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral Founders' Hall
415 W. 13^th Street, Kansas City, MO
 www.fineartschoralekc.org

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.