Songs of snowflakes and selflessness

Three Portland State choirs will sing songs of snow in the Winter’s Voice concert, to be held Friday, Dec. 2, at the First Congregational Church

The PSU Chamber Choir, Man Choir and Women’s Choir (a.k.a. Vox Femina) will perform pieces from Bach, Debussy and other composers, all themed to greet the changing season.

Amongst the multitudes of holiday choral events taking place in the following weeks, Winter’s Voice will offer a pleasant and moving alternative to traditional melodies involving sleigh bells and reindeer.

Conductor Ethan Sperry said that this concert is perfect for those that want to taste the season without holiday or holy undertones.

“It’s music about winter but not overtly religiously themed,” Sperry said. “There’s lots of variety here.”

Fellow conductor and Chamber Choir graduate teaching assistant Kevin Lambert is using the concert for his graduate project. He emphasized that this event is not exclusively for a musically knowledgeable crowd—that the audience would greatly benefit from new faces.

“It’s an evening of songs mostly about winter and should not be enjoyed exclusively by musicians or music students,” Lambert affirms. “I would love to stress how excited we’d all be to see students in the audience.”

The event will also include conductor Erick Lichte.

The first stretch of Winter’s Voice is with the Chamber Choir, which will perform a series of seven short, challenging pieces titled “Autumn Landscapes,” which capture the yellowing leaves and crisp breezes of the last days of fall. The composer of this series, Estonian master Veljo Tormis, has also written a rambunctious piece to be presented by the PSU Man Choir.

“It will be a song about sledding, slipping, sliding: a bouncy kind of composition that requires all sorts of weird vocal effects like whistling,” Sperry said.

From this rather rowdy, fun-provoking note, the concert evolves into a Russian piece that some audience members might recall from the Tetris soundtrack. Described by Sperry as a showoff piece, “Kalinka” begins as a slow tune and becomes progressively faster and more furious.

“It makes you think of those guys with big beards dancing and kicking with their big boots and fuzzy hats,” Sperry said, smiling.

Vox Femina will then bring the audience home with, among other pieces, a Debussy composition with a title that roughly translates to “Christmas for Children Without Homes” in French.

A call to arms for ordinary charitable citizens, Debussy’s song is meant to rally do-gooders in an effort to bring joy, food and shelter to the homeless children of France. As performed by the Women’s Choir, however, the show’s conductors hope to remind the audience of homelessness that exists closer to its own doorstep. Moving and lyrical, “Christmas for Children Without Homes,” was chosen for its message of generosity during what should be the season of selflessness.

“Vox Femina will also give us a piece by Brit Edward Elgar called ‘The Show,’ done with only two violins, the choir and a piano,” Sperry added. “[It’s] really just gorgeous.”

Although it was originally scheduled to be performed on the Portland State grounds, Winter’s Voice has been moved from Lincoln Hall to the First Congregational Church on Southwest Park Avenue.

“Tickets are available and cheap, and we’re thrilled to be able to take advantage of a beautiful venue so close to campus, and on the park blocks no less,” Lambert said.

Choir involvement and concert attendance at Portland State and Portland at large has been on a recent upswing. The popularity of choral events has been, to the delight of attendees and those involved, steadily growing.

“Our last concert sold three times more tickets than we thought, so we decided to move Winter’s Voice to a larger location,” Sperry said. “The church is perfect: good resonation, very beautiful and very close.”

Audiences should be prepared for a unique and versatile musical experience inspired by the blustery and rainy winter months and gives the kind of emotional depth and lyrical meaning to the season that only song can deliver.■