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This past Saturday, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers (SCCS) presented two concerts of "Go, Song of Mine," a program full of high-quality music that focused on British composers.  The assembled choir, consisting of singers from around the country - most with Kansas City roots - displayed near-flawless execution and seamless blending.  Carrington is an excellent leader whose gestures were an effective blend of clear patterns and shaping that were never self-indulgent or extravagant and always in good taste.  

The program opened with Thomas Tallis' Gaude gloriosa Dei mater, a large-scale motet arranged by Ronald Downs, a member of the SCCS' bass section.  The opening portion featured only a small section of the choir, but it wasn't until all the voices entered that the choir's true quality and prowess was made apparent.  Carrington was able to achieve a wide dynamic range from the choir from a full dramatic forte to a delicate pianissimo.

With the addition of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral's John Schaefer on organ, Purcell's Jehova, quam multi sunt, Z. 135 featured soloists Christopher Gilliam, bass, and Matthew Swope, tenor.  Gilliam displayed a warm tone while Swope's was more lyrical, despite a few minor intonation issues.

The SCCS continued with three Elgar selections, "The Shower," "My love dwelt in a Northern Land," and "Go, song of mine."  The first of the three, in a more homophonic setting, was both serene and calming, yet had a brief moment of hesitation toward the end, resulting in some shaky entrances.  The basses and altos laid down a solid foundation for "My love dwelt in a Northern Land" as the tenors and sopranos floated above the texture with flawless, haunting melodies.  "Go, song of mine," the most difficult, was both passionate and dramatic.  The dynamic range was also extreme here and they saved the loud dynamics for the moments that truly deserved it, however, as the volume increased, clarity and diction seemed to fall behind. 

The world premiere of What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?, Melissa Dunphy's winning work of the SCCS' first  composition competition, was the most modern piece on the concert.  The choir shimmered in the closely spaced sonorities at the beginning and convincingly brought out Dunphy's carefully thought-out text painting, most notably her setting of the words "I have seen so much, so much blood and guts, so much suffering, much sacrifice," and the text making up the title.  Despite being clearly the most difficult piece for the choir, they still gave a top-notch performance.  The intonation wavered on the initial attack of some of the sustained sonorities, especially those in a high range.

Perhaps the most compelling songs of the afternoon were two short selections from the Strathclyde Motets by Scottish composer, James MacMillian.  The first, "Factus est repente," displayed sonorous parallel harmonies reminiscent of medieval organum and highly ornamented modal melodies.  In contrast, "Dominus dabit beningnitatem" occupied the opposite end of the spectrum with its delicate texture and exposed vocal parts.  Both were simple yet effective and impeccably executed with a strong sense of dynamic control.  You could hear a pin drop as the barely audible final notes of "Dominus" dissipated into complete silence.

Following the MacMillian, the Singers left the stage to allow an assembled group of high school students from the Kansas City area to sing two works.  The choir struggled with rhythmic clarity and diction in the lively tempo of Come away, sweet love by Thomas Greaves, but felt more in their comfort zone with the relaxed tempo of a Clear and gentle stream by Gerald Finzi.  The students sang with confidence and showed a maturity beyond their years.

The SCCS then joined the high school choir for the aptly titled Everyone sang by Bob Chilcott, a former King's Singers colleague of Carrington.  Both choirs blended beautifully without the SCCS being overpowering.

The final two works on the program were performed solely by the SCCS.  The first was a setting of Robert Burns' O My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.  The quiet opening was somewhat disrupted by some of the high school choir, still trying to find their seats after leaving the stage.  The work featured a solo by tenor Jason Parr, whose calming tone was an effective compliment to Carringtons' delightful arrangement.

The last and least effective work on the program was an arrangement of The Who's Pinball Wizard.  The opening staccato notes, mimicking the rhythm of the strumming guitar in the original version, were blurred by the resonance of Grace and Holy Trinity.  The SCCS' enjoyment singing this song was apparent - it was the first time every choir member was smiling and singing with an injected dose of energy not present in any of the previous works.  The energy seemed to fade towards the middle and the choir's stylistic direction seemed to drift closer to Tallis than Townshend.  The energy picked up again at the conclusion, prompting an instant standing ovation from the audience. 

Go, Lovely Rose by Geoffrey Wilcken, a former student of Carrington's at KU, was the encore.  Wilcken's setting featured soprano Estelí Gomez, whose voice soared over the choir but struggled to reach a few high notes and exhibited a bit too much vibrato for my taste.

My one regret is that we only get to hear the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers once a year and I believe Kansas City audiences would jump at the opportunity to hear them sing more often.  With that said, I look forward to what Carrington has in store for next year!

REVIEW:
Simon Carrington Chamber Singers
Go, Song of Mine
Saturday, May 29 at 12 p.m. (Reviewed)
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 West 13^th Street, Kansas City, MO
and
Saturday, May 29 at 8 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church
2415 Clinton Parkway, Lawrence, KS
www.simoncarringtonchambersingers.com

By Nick Omiccioli

Classical and New Classical Contributor
Nicholas S. Omiccioli is currently a doctoral student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he is a Preparing Future Faculty Fellow.  He currently studies composition with James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Paul Rudy, and Zhou Long.  His previous teacher was Brian Bevelander at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.  His music has been performed by the Wellesley Composers' Conference, DuoSolo, the Kansas City Chorale, Contemporaneous, the Society for New Music, members of Brave New Works, and various new music festivals around the country including Regional and National College Music Society Conferences and numerous SCI Conferences at the National, National Student, and Regional levels.

Mr. Omiccioli has received many awards and honors including a commission by the 2010 Wellesley Composers' Conference, winner and judge's choice in the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 UMKC Chamber Music Composition Competitions, 2009 DuoSolo Emerging Composer Award, and the Brian M. Israel Prize to name a few.  Just recently, Mr. Omiccioli was nominated for an award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a winner of the ASCAP Foundation's 2010 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.  In addition to composition, Mr. Omiccioli studies guitar with Douglas Niedt and teaches at the UMKC Academy of Music and Dance and the Kansas City School of Music.