The audience gets into the act

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Choral Arts Philadelphia presented two holiday events that confronted their audiences with major challenges. Together, the events produced a two-pronged statement about the nature of the arts and the benefits they bestow on their devotees.

At the Kimmel Center on Saturday, the Orchestra conducted a cello play-in that attracted 175 cellists to the Kimmel Center's Commonwealth Plaza. The next day, at the conclusion of the Choral Arts Christmas program, conductor Matthew Glandorf led a sing-along that included two masterworks of the choral repertoire: Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Handel's Zadok the Priest.

Many choral groups conclude their Christmas programs with sing-alongs, but most merely invite the audience to join the chorus in standard carols that everybody knows. Glandorf handed his audience two demanding and complex classics that are normally sung by choruses with experienced singers who've logged hours of rehearsal time.

Potential for disaster

Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus is a solemn work that captures all the beauty of massed voices singing in unison. Handel's Zadok is a coronation anthem, composed for George II, that thumps out "God Save the King! Long Live the King!" and foreshadows the Hallelujah Chorus when it follows the thumps with "May the King Live Forever, Hallelujah."

The Orchestra's cello play-in arranged a massive number of musicians into four sections and had them play multi-part pieces without a single collective rehearsal. The participants included school children, older students, adults of all ages and the Orchestra's own professional cellists, who sat in the lead positions in each section.

Both events could have been disasters. As it turned out, both groups delivered effective performances without a single noticeable goof. The cellists even worked their way through a high-speed Hallelujah Chorus.

Lifelong commitment

These events succeeded, I submit, because they drew on the commitment and lifelong enthusiasm that the arts inspire in their followers. The Choral Arts audience obviously included a high percentage of people who could sight-read an unfamiliar piece and keep up with the conductor. Many of them had probably sung in choruses like Choral Arts and the Mendelssohn Club. Others had probably sung in church choirs.

At the Kimmel Center, the individual cellists were just as impressive as the awesome sound of their massed cellos— one of the most beautiful sounds musicians can produce. The intense concentration on the cellists' faces— whether they were children, professionals or amateurs— let you know they were all giving it their best. The play-in was a fun event, but it was the kind of serious fun that people engage in when they run marathons or pursue challenging avocations.

The principals at the two events communicated additional messages. The Orchestra's guest soloist, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, joined the festivities for most of the hour, and threw herself into it with the same passion she would bestow on a concerto.

Do sports build character?

At the Choral Arts event, Glandorf conducted Zadok—his favorite choral piece, he said— facing the audience. If his choristers see the same enthusiasm when he conducts them, it's easy to understand why he elicits the results he does.

Sports advocates often argue that school athletics develop personality traits, such as the ability to focus on a task and overcome major obstacles. But the same can be said about any demanding activity.

School sports receive so much attention in our society because they offer audiences a simple story line and immediate rewards. Young cellists and choral singers lack that kind of support, but they enjoy better long-term prospects. They'll still be belting out great music long after the jocks have morphed into middle-aged couch potatoes.

The singers in the Choral Arts audience went home knowing they'd sung two masterpieces under the direction of one of Philadelphia's leading choral conductors. The cellists could now say that they'd played with a star soloist just two hours before she joined the Philadelphia Orchestra for a performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto.

How many athletes can say they played a pickup game with a reigning star just before he entered the stadium for a major game?