‘Cool collaboration’: Pair of concerts celebrate milestones for Vancouver performing arts groups

Two Vancouver performing arts groups are celebrating milestones this weekend. Vancouver Master Chorale is continuing its 75th anniversary season with a full-length performance of Verdi’s “Requiem,” while Southwest Washington Wind Symphony will kick off its 20th anniversary year with a concert appropriately titled “Celebrations.”

Vancouver Master Chorale’s performance of Giuseppi Verdi’s masterwork has been on director Jana Hart’s mind since before the pandemic. It’s a remarkably ambitious undertaking, Hart said.

“It’s one of the most gorgeous things. It’s exciting, it’s dramatic,” Hart said. “There’s nothing like it. It’s not done that much because it requires such operatic voices.”

Italian composer Verdi wrote a total of 26 operas, including “Rigoletto,” “La Traviata,” “Otello” and “Aida.” His “Requiem” isn’t on that list, although Hart said the piece nevertheless packs the same emotional punch as an opera. The only real difference, Hart said, is that the performers are not in costume, moving across the stage.

The chorale was all set to learn this piece with the Southwest Washington Symphony before the pandemic, Hart said. Then COVID-19 shut everything down. The idea languished in the back of Hart’s mind until six or seven months ago, when she got a call from Rob Davis, conductor of Southwest Washington Symphony. Both agreed they were ready.

It’s taken countless hours of rehearsals for both musical groups. The piece is “incredibly challenging,” Hart said, and there are many solos requiring opera-level voices. This piece of music is “not like Bach, where you’re trying to figure out what the mathematical equation is,” Hart said. “It’s Italian in your face, just hugely dramatic, almost spoken. It’s all about emotion.”

The Vancouver Master Chorale’s performance of this piece is a testimony to the choir’s high caliber, Hart said, as well as the Southwest Washington Symphony’s rigorous musicianship.

It’s a “cool collaboration between the two communities,” Hart said.

As the first notes of “Requiem” ring out at Skyview Concert Hall in Salmon Creek, Union High School Performing Arts Center in Camas will resound with the opening measures of the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony’s 20th anniversary concert, “Celebrations.” Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle will offer opening comments to mark the occasion.

The wind symphony will continue its tradition of free concerts showcasing the vigorous musicality of its 55 members, many of whom are music teachers at local schools and colleges. The symphony provides an opportunity to perform more challenging music than is possible in their daily jobs while providing a way to support each other professionally, said board member Colleen Chun, who handles the group’s marketing and publicity.

“If you look at our mission statement, we’re focused on music education,” Chun said. “We want to nurture an appreciation of symphonic band music by performing free concerts.”

The symphony’s concerts are on the short side (usually about an hour and a half) to keep the audience’s attention, Chun said. Programs feature a lively mix of recognizable tunes as well as lesser-known works. The Sunday concert, conducted by Patrick Murphy, director of bands at the University of Portland, and Chris Sigman, a music educator in the Evergreen School District, includes “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” by John Williams, “Americans We” by Henry Filmore, “Sanctuary” by Frank Ticheli and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” by Richard Wagner.

Chun emphasized that the group is not a symphony orchestra but a symphonic band. Instruments include woodwinds (clarinet, oboe, flute, piccolo, saxophone and bassoon) and brass instruments (trumpet, French horn, tuba and trombone). Concerts also feature two stringed instruments, a double bass and piano, as well as percussion instruments, which can include everything from a bullwhip to gong-like steel bowls. Audiences might even hear a slide whistle or harp.

The group is funded in part by local businesses such as Beacock Music and Music World, as well as the generosity of audiences who offer donations, Chun said. Each concert also includes a chance to purchase $5 raffle tickets for an original fine art piece by contemporary American artist Keith Lindberg.

This article was updated to reflect the correct location for Vancouver Master Chorale’s Oct. 20 performance and to confirm that Mayor McEnerny-Ogle will offer opening remarks at the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony’s concert.