The Orchestra and University Singers entertain and seek
By Rosemary Peters
On Sunday, the University Orchestra poised their bows while the University Singers raised their voices, performing eight religious musical selections to a capacity in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher.
The concert was not only for the musical enjoyment of the UP students and faculty members. It was also being used to help pass the Performing and Fine Arts Department's accreditation.
"The accreditation process happens about every 10 years," said Dr. Kenneth Kleszynski, conductor of the University Community Orchestra. "It takes a complete look at the music program from every aspect. It looks at things such as faculty members, students, the facilities, and the budget."
To pass the accreditation process, the department must be able to prove that faculty members teaching the fine arts classes are qualified.
The accreditation committee, which is a group independent of the University of Portland, will also look at the work performed by the students. This means they will look at things from old homework assignments to the concert that was held Sunday as a means to judge the effectiveness of the professors.
Finally, the accreditation team will perform an investigation into the facilities, supplies and budget that UP provides to their performing and fine arts students.
UP will find out if they passed the accreditation process sometime in the summer.
In order to prepare for the accreditation, Kleszynski and other members within UP's Performing and Fine Arts Department have tried to address all concerns they thought would be pertinent to passing the accreditation process.
The professors and the students also said they poured enormous time and energy to prepare for Sunday's concert.
"We started rehearsing the music right at the beginning of the semester," freshman University Singer Kelly Edmond said. "Our practices involve warming up the voices, and working on music that the group needs improving. This includes pointing out specific spots in pieces or rehearsing the song as an entire piece of work to enhance the musicality of it. "
The show Edmond sang in was split into two parts. The first half showcased the orchestra.
The orchestra opened the night with a piece "Fantasia on the Alleluia Hymn." This piece started out slow and contemplative, but quickly became more intense.
It featured the majority of the instruments in the orchestra and had good dynamics. It also had different strings of the song which ran into each other without consuming the other instruments.
A second notable song the orchestra played was "Voi, che sapete" by Mozart. Senior Audrey Voon of the Singers allowed the orchestra to borrow her incredible opera voice.
Voon sounded as though she were a professional opera singer. She seemed entranced by the song and captivated the audience with her voice, hand and facial movements.
"The orchestra beautifully accompanied her voice, and each entrance by the orchestra was crisp and strong," freshman audience member Tina Schicchi said.
The second half of Sunday's show featured the University Singers. The University Singers is conducted by professor Roger O. Doyle and Tracey D. Edson. The Singers is a musical group on campus comprised of students from every major.
The Singers began their portion of the show with a French chant from the 15th century titled, "Cueuers Desolez."
"Cueuers Desolez" illustrated the many different vocal sections of the Singers. The alto, bass and tenor singers had many distinct parts as well as many pieces in which they joined their voices in harmony.
"Lead Kindly Light" was a second piece sung by the Singers which focused on the different pitched singers in the group.
This song involved many arpeggiated parts which means that certain vocal sections within the group starting singing with the lowest note and successively hit higher notes. As they hit the highest note, then a different vocal section would repeat its lines or move onto a new verse. It was an impressive technique which called for much skill and practice.
"The hardest part was matching my voice with the sound of the choir," Edmond said.
The show ended with a piece which combined the talents of the orchestra and the Singers.
"We had a wide variety of pieces," Kleszynski said. "We had big pieces to quiet contemplative ones. The most unique one we played in this show was Credo by Arvo Paert.
According to Kleszynski, "Credo" is an incredibly controversial song because it is a religious piece that Paert wrote while living in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the song also calls for an end to violence.
"It is not a song for the faint of heart," Kleszynski said.
"Credo" started out slow and calm. For the first minute, it lulled the listener into a false sense of security and peace, then as quick as a streak of lightning, the piece turned into a chaotic song. Even the faces of the performers exemplified the mayhem of the music.
This frenzied section reached its crescendo with a 30 second improvisation section where the performers were given the leeway to sing and play what they thought fit the mood.
Finally, the piece resolved and slowly ended with a small part featuring the piano and the violins.
"The entire concert was a work of art that was obviously well rehearsed and filled with skill and emotion," Schicchi said. "It was an amazing experience as a member of the audience. I was awestruck."
