BellaVoce just keeps getting better.
Since the women's chorus was founded by Dawn Willis in the spring of
2004 it has earned a front row place in the musical organizations of the
region and the state for the excellence of its musicianship: its
creative programming, and its engagingly warm welcome that attracts
ever-larger audiences.
Sunday's "So Many Angels!" concert at
First Baptist Church on St. Paul Street in Burlington was the best yet
for the 40 voice choir.
It deserves praise for many factors.
Dr. Willis conducts with absolute
control of every phrase, eliciting a precision that makes every word and
note clear for the listener, and yet preserves a joyful, enthusiastic
spirit in the chorus. And her control extends comfortably to include the
accompanists, the other musicians and even the audience who pay careful
attention to her introductory remarks and her directions about cell
phones and when to applaud.
The program had a delightful holiday
season theme the Christmas Intrada that opened the program
blended several familiar carols and holiday songs, the three French
carols that followed were new interpretations of the nativity story, and
the Huron Carol or The Moon of Wintertime is well-known in Canada as a
Christmas hymn with images of native culture.
Gwyneth Walker of Braintree, Vermont,
was present for Sunday's concert which included her compositions and
arrangements. Particularly affecting was her setting of the famous poem
of Alfred Lord Tennyson Crossing the Bar with the sound of the
sea in the accompaniment underlining the image of the poem likening
death to the end of life's voyage. In contrast she used the lively folk
tune All Night, All Day for the song So Many Angels! that gave
the concert its name, with angels popping up in many improbable places -
from angels in my coffee to angels in my hair.
Walker credited Willis with a daring and
successful musical addition to the program, having trumpets, French
horn, trombone and tuba accompany several of the selections. ''I've
always been told you couldn’t have a brass accompaniment with women's
voices," she said. "I came up for the final rehearsal in Essex this week
expecting to hear a disaster. Instead it's a great success. There's no
reason a tuba shouldn't double the second altos."
The program expanded beyond specifically
holiday season music, with tuneful arrangements of such favorites as
How Can I Keep from Singing and Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River
and a Chanukah song Hanerot Halalu.
First Baptist Church was an excellent
auditorium for the concert, with good acoustics and a spacious chancel
with room for the choir and the instrumentalists. And it is a tribute to
Bella Voce and their enthusiastic following that it took several rows of
extra chairs to accommodate the audience.
If you missed the concert, tune in to
VPR 107.9 on Thursday, Dee. 21 at 11 to hear a live broadcast from the
Elley-Long Music Center.
Vermont Times, December 5, 2006
