Our Flourishing UChoir

By Edward E. Jones

Compline

The Spring Term began with a mini-tour to New York City and New Haven, where the choir sang concerts in Christ Church United Methodist, New York, and Yale’s Battell Chapel. It was a wonderful way to begin the Term, and the group has reaped the rewards since: larger-scale tours are once again on the horizon for coming years. The tour was immediately followed by an intensive week of rehearsals and masterclasses with the renowned conductor and scholar Sir John Eliot Gardiner, visiting Harvard as the inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Artist in Residence. That occasion also provided the opportunity for the Harvard University Choir and the Harvard Radcliffe Collegium Musicum to join forces, and it was a source of great pride for myself and my wonderful colleague and friend Andy Clark, Director of Choral Activities, that our groups should unite under Sir John Eliot’s baton to sing Bach’s extraordinary first motet, Singet dem Herrn, a work that extols the joys of communal music-making. It was a transformative week for the choir, and one that I look forward to building upon in future years. 

At the beginning of March, the church hosted another Harvard University Choir Alumni Reunion weekend that culminated in over 120 voices filling Appleton Chapel during Sunday morning’s service, which included Vaughan Williams’s glorious Festival Te Deum. The Alumni Committee held lively discussions over the course of the weekend, and has exciting plans for the future; I offer my sincere thanks to the members of the committee, under the chairmanship of Jim Farmer, who offer so much of their time and talents. 

The choir also made significant offerings during Holy Week: a musical meditation on Tuesday evening, which featured Schütz’s Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross alongside Faure’s Requiem, accompanied beautifully on the chapel’s Skinner organ by Thomas Sheehan; a sung Eucharist on Maundy Thursday; and two large-scale Easter services featuring Mozart’s Coronation Mass. The full choir ends the year with Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb on Sunday, May 10. 

The main highlight of the Term was the choir’s spring concert — an ARTS FIRST presentation of Handel’s rarely heard oratorio, Athalia. The choir was joined by the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, led by Phoebe Carrai and Sarah Darling, and an outstanding roster of soloists including Dominique Labelle, Amanda Forsythe, and William Hite. Uchoir alum Dr. Mark Risinger (a Handel scholar) blessed the occasion in dual roles — providing informative program notes, and singing the role of Abner. It was a thrilling evening that crowned a splendid Term and was attended by a huge audience, many I believe taking full advantage of the fact that we offer our musical concerts as a free gift to the community. It has also been a treat to have another uchoir alum, Dr. Alexandra Amati-Camperi, singing with uchoir this term. Alexandra sang in the group under Murray Somerville, while completing her PhD in the music department, and has been here this term as a visiting scholar. Alexandra’s son, Ariel, also sings in uchoir and graduates this year, and I take this opportunity to offer our very best wishes to all our graduating seniors. 

The Harvard University Choir is flourishing and I am constantly humbled and grateful for the remarkable legacy that I was bequeathed. Throughout my time at Harvard, my predecessor, Dr. Murray Somerville, has been an enormous source of encouragement and support. This Term, Appleton Chapel was fitted with a handsome new set of choir stalls, given by Murray in memory of his mother: I am delighted that Murray was here for the service of Compline in which the stalls were officially dedicated, and thank him for his ongoing generosity and kindness. 

Our music department has also been blessed with the talents of financial director Nancy Granert, who served as Associate University Organist and Choirmaster, and is now Organist in Residence in the Memorial Church. Nancy has been the most generous of colleagues, and a supportive friend to all of us, and it is with very mixed emotions that we say farewell to her — it is hard to imagine the Memorial Church without her smiling face. 

It has been a wonderful year for music and ministry in the Memorial Church: Tom Sheehan continues to impress with his virtuosity, versatility, and musicality, and Carson Cooman provides thoughtful and imaginative new compositions for many of our highest-profile events. Our two choir secretaries, Emma Dowd and Joy Wang, have been tireless in their musical and organizational efforts, and Professor Jonathan Walton and Dr. Lucy Forster-Smith remain inspiring and supportive colleagues. As I look to the future, I am energized and excited for what is in store.