Watch Selections from the Concert Choir & Chamber Orchestra Spring Tour

April 18, 2008

Concert Choir performing in Phillips Church

The collaborative spring tour of the Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra was a tremendous experience, by all accounts. "Superb," was the synopsis of Principal Ty Tingley, who attended the final on-tour performance at San Francisco's First Unitarian Universalist Church. Watch videotaped selections from the concert as performed to a packed audience in Phillips Church...

During the five-stop California tour, the 32-voice Concert Choir, directed by Ryan Turner, performed works by Morten Lauridsen, Gwyneth Walker, Gerald Finzi, Eric Whitacre, György Orbán and Bob Chilcott. The Chamber Orchestra, led by Peter Schultz, presented The Overture to Iphigenia in Aulis by Christoph Willibald von Gluck and the Claude Debussy Petite Suite. The two ensembles joined forces for the Franz Josef Haydn Te Deum. Learn more about the concert program…

For students, the opportunity to tour and perform in professional venues was exciting and challenging. "The mindset you have to be in is totally different than if you have a single evening performance," says Lorca, an alto in Concert Choir. "You have to be constantly focused on how you can make each performance better than the previous one, and aware that each audience is hearing you for the first time."

"Galvanizing" Impact on Students

Ryan Turner, choral director, feels that tours have a "galvanizing effect" on students that can lead to new levels of achievement. This effect is due in part to the rigor of repeated performance, but also to the high quality of the venues. "Performing in venues with acoustics as good as those we visited on tour has a powerful impact on our talented student musicians," Turner explains.

"Because we got so close outside of concerts, our musicality improved," says Maria, a soprano and violist. "To compare the concert we performed right before we left and the concert we did right after we came back was like comparing two completely different groups!" Maria, one of three students who sang and played an instrument during the tour, found the changing of musical roles a breakthrough challenge. "For the Haydn, I played viola, because there were only two violists on tour, including me. Before the tour, I felt like a member of the choir who played viola. But now, I am not so sure!"

"The tour really motivated me to perform my best every day," says Joss, a cellist. "Its success also encouraged me to work harder to improve my music skills here at Exeter. Mr. Schultz and Mr. Turner did an extraordinary job keeping us involved in the music, even after we had played several identical concerts."

The tour may be over, but music-making continues on campus. "Music at Exeter is amazing," explains Maria. "I try to fit in as many musical activities as I can, but I still want to do more! With such talented people around me, I always feel inspired to do my best. Going to Concert Choir rehearsals are a much-anticipated part of my day. Not only do I love spending time with the other singers, I love singing – or playing – with them!"

Interested in learning more?

Watch selections from the concert, videotaped in Phillips Church on March 3, 2008  ...
See photos from the California tour  ...
Read about Exeter's music department…
Check out the Lion's Eye about the concert tour…