Ragazzi December concerts

Can art change the world? Last weekend I attended the Berkeley Rep Theatre production of Tristan and Yseult, based on the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The Kneehigh company from England excels in singing, dancing, acrobatics and special effects. As the story unfolded, the actors engaged with the audience to the point that we were laughing with them, blowing up balloons and generally participating. The action moved back and forth from ancient legend to present day foolery. When it came time for the inevitable  tragedy, it was underlain with Wagner’s climactic music from the opera, the Liebestod. Maybe because the actors had loosened us up so much with their interactions with us, we were all completely taken away by the catastrophic sadness when it came. I found myself breathless.

At least for a few days, it changed me. I became conscious of the world around me, of my relationships, of the miracle of music and art.

As Ragazzi presents our holiday program, we have mixed in some beauty, some traditions, some cultural explorations and yes, some tomfoolery. It is my wish that you will join us in laughing and celebrating and that at least once during the concert, we take your breath away. I hope that you leave changed for a moment or an hour and that you are filled with an awareness of the incredible power of music.

Here are our program notes.

Gloria is a dynamic and rhythmic piece written by contemporary composer David Giardiniere.  Mr. Giardiniere is a teacher, conductor, soloist, clinician and composer.  His choral groups tour regularly throughout the eastern United States.  Premiere sings Gloria with the traditional Latin text.

Two French Noels is a beautiful pairing of two well-known and very old French Carols: Patapan and Noel Nouvelet.  Patapan, is a song written hundreds of years ago describing how fitting it is that Willie play his drum and Robin play his flute just like the shepherds played when Christ was born.  Listen for the words Pat-a-pat-a-pan which is the sound of the drum and Tu-re-lu-re-lu which is the sound of the flute.  Noel Nouvelet is presented in French and is also hundreds of years old.  “New Christmas, Christmas we sing here.  Devout people, let us shout our thanks to God!”

Program Notes                       Sarah Wannamaker

Awake, Awake to Love and Work combines an old American hymn tune from the Kentucky Harmony hymnal with a poem written by an Army Chaplain, Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy (1883-1929). Like other poems from his collection, “The Unutterable Beauty”, this text emphasizes the magic of the world as an expression of divinity. Like many folk tunes, this melody is simple with lots of scale-wise passages. The musical interest comes from rhythmic variations and canonic treatment in the different verses.

The Birds, penned by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley, is a setting of an imaginative poem by Hilaire Belloc. This allegorical text portrays the Christ Child as having a profound depth of wisdom and unworldly capacity for miracles, even as a child. Note the musical reinforcement (key change, running bass notes) to convey the birds in flight. The last phrase is a internal prayer for us to view life from a more timeless perspective to gain a wisdom for our own lives.

Laudate Dominum

Mozart's setting of Psalm 116 is a gentle interpretation of the text, "Praise the Lord." The soprano solo is written in long, luxurious lines over a simple guitar-like accompaniment. The obligato instrument echoes the soprano solo. In this arrangement, the elements (obligato, solo, and chorus) are introduced one at a time, and then combined at the end.

Let Voice and Instrument is the fourth movement from Purcell’s ode Arise, My Muse. Completed in 1690, it was the second of six odes that Purcell was commissioned to write for the birthday of Queen Mary; he was titled ‘Composer to the King’ and organist at Westminster Abbey at this time. The two lines are presented individually, and then combined and developed. This piece was originally written for tenor and bass soloists with a four-part choir, and has been arranged for two voices.

Handel was an English composer working in the generation after Purcell. Praise the Lord with Cheerful Voice comes from his oratorio, Esther. An oratorio is an opera without the staging or costumes, but with the plot and drama. The Old Testament story of Queen Esther is about the queen rescuing her people from persecution (which is celebrated as a traditional holiday, Purim). The music reflects the exuberant mood of celebration.  The text appropriately references songs of praise and the heavenly choir.

Bay Area composer, horn-player, and physicist Brian Holmes dedicated the score of The Mummers to Joyce Keil and the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. This playful arrangement gives space for the singers to take on the persona of mummers - Christmas-season entertainers and actors. The mummer tradition is based in 18th and 19th century England, as seen in the references to Saint George. This is a fun variation in the tradition of door-to-door Christmas caroling.

Creator of the Stars of Night is an arrangement of a ninth-century plainsong chant Conditor Alme. Originally in Latin, the formality of the translated text still evokes an archaic time. Each stanza presents a different unfolding of Christ’s story: the tumult of the world before Christ, the humble birth, the revelation of Christ, and Christ as judge. The music for the voices remains identical between the six verses; the interest and momentum is created by the increasingly-present organ accompaniment.

Ludovico Grossi (c. 1560-1627) was born in Viadana, near Parma. His life as a Franciscan monk is reflected by the sacred music he wrote for use in the church liturgy. Exultate justi is based on the first three verses of Psalm 33, and the buoyant music reflects the words of praise, thanks, and singing. The piece is in two parts - a chordal, homophonic introduction followed by an imitative middle section - and the different writing styles reflect the Renaissance and Baroque periods transitioning between the two eras. The piece is for four voices - there is an alto part, two tenor parts, and a bass line. This distribution is stylistically common as the advanced singers in a church group would be men singing in a bass and falsetto range.

Ubi Caritas is about juxtaposition: Latin and African languages, formal and pop singing styles, Western and non-Western cultures, and even different rhythmic ways of subdividing a measure. Paul Halley chose the text “Where there is love, there is God” because it speaks to him personally while also having a universal appeal. He writes: “I tried to bring out the inherent power and optimism of the Gregorian Chant. … Sometimes we need to look at the obvious through other people’s eyes.”  Despite the opposition between the individual elements, the composition works cohesively and emphasizes the fundamental connections of religious sentiment and musical expression. In today’s performance, the blocking of the choir according to part highlights the different melody lines in a spatial way.

All Glory, Laud, and Honor is a single piece taken from the larger work, The Passion According to Saint John. Bach’s mastery of line, ornamentation, independent voices and harmonic flexibility show through even in shorter works such as this. The chorale is stated twice - once as an ornamented solo line with instrumental support, and once as a four-part a capella arrangement. Note the independence of the violin part, which could stand as an instrumental solo. The text, by Paul Gerhardt, is an Advent meditation on the best way to invite God into the singer’s life.

Deck the Hall is a 16th-century Welsh tune celebrating the season - getting ready for festivities and greeting the new year. The ‘fa la la’ refrain is a moment of musical delight; it is about the fun of singing purely for the joy of the art.

Angels We Have Heard on High is a carol of French origin. This hymn is unusual because of the melismatic (many notes per word) setting of the refrain. Hark the Herald is an arrangement of a tune written by Mendelssohn. The final carol is a popular interpretation of O Come, All Ye Faithful by David Willcocks. This arrangement is now part of the core repertoire for the King’s College Festival of Lessons and Carols in Cambridge, featuring both an added descant and a new harmonization. The traditional combined choir, descant and organ accompaniment culminate to remind us how music can transcend the boundaries of time and difference, giving us the tools to find newness, potential, and light in our world.

Ragazzi boys shine in Korea

Korean Tour stories 2013

The boys have been amazing. Their level of maturity, their cooperative spirit, their endurance - in every way they made us very proud.

We found Korea to be very clean. The people are disciplined and yet they are warm, generous and friendly. The Korean Choir (6 boys out of 60 singers!)  is outstanding; they rehearse 3 days a week for 2 hours each and many commute 1-2 hours to rehearsal. They also know how to have fun. The audiences are wildly enthusiastic and participate in performances by whooping, laughing and yelling. We agreed that we wanted to incorporate the Korean rehearsal discipline into Ragazzi culture.

Seoul is dense (44,000 people per square mile) and the buildings are sky high. Most of the people live in apartments. There didn't seem to be any suburbs although when we traveled to Suncheon (6 hours south) we saw miles of greenery. The youth hostel in Suncheon was in a lovely wooded area. The boys stayed in rooms of 5-6 and they slept on the floor on comforters (see picture attached). We learned that traditionally Koreans sleep on the floor which is heated in the winter. They seemed to survive that fine. I never heard a complaint about this or about any other difficulties.

The heat was intense and constant. The air conditioning varied in effectiveness, with the bus being the most comfortable and the eating halls less so. With the humidity we were ringing wet most of the time-especially when we had outdoor concerts. The boys performed every day often in the midst of confusing schedule changes, attenuated rehearsal time and varying stage set ups. We sang mostly informal music as we were not given rehearsal time except for 10 minute staging times. I believe we will receive DVDs of at least some of the performances.

We had the opportunity to observe the beautiful Korean traditional music with costumes (see picture) and at the fair we all got to try on the traditional Korean dress. One of our favorite Korean experiences was watching the dancing drummer who played on the massed choir pieces. He moved with every stroke as he pounded the rhythms adding immensely to the excitement of the performance. We also saw fan dances and hat twirling. There will be many pictures for you to enjoy seeing these things.

The home stay families cared for the boys as if they were their own sons. Many cried when they had to say goodbye. Some of the hosts were at the fair on Thursday where they were eager to meet us, the staff.

Most of the choirs had more adult chaperons (who had to pay their own way) and we are so very grateful to our guides who shepherded our boys through all the events, made sure they had the right clothes, made them go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. At the end of ten days we felt a love for each other as well as gratitude.

There is a lot of ceremony as each official welcomes us. Today when we left Suncheon for the airport, representatives of the mayor thanked us for making the trip to their city and for accepting their accommodations. He said that while we must leave, our music will remain in their hearts. He talked about how people from so many countries and languages could come together and unite through music. He said that he hoped this would continue to help bring the world together.

Last night our boys wanted to initiate a final evening with all the other kids to share their favorite songs. During the bus ride back to the hostel from the Garden Expo where we had sung, Ragazzi boys shared their favorite experiences. Comments ranged from "I liked the heat" to "It was wonderful to share music with people from other cultures and to learn about them." Ragazzi initiated the group sharing where all the singers gathered together. It was a deeply emotional moment for all.

The food (see picture of my breakfast at the hostel): now we know why Koreans are lean. The basic diet is rice with a variety of sprouts, seaweed, sometimes with some processed meat or an egg. Sometimes there is soup.  The hosts provided the boys with snacks and one night brought them pizza after a late night concert.

A glimpse of the confusing scheduling can be seen in one example. At the closing concert in Suncheon which was held outside at the amazing Expo Garden, I was told to choose a boy and come on stage to stand for a speech by the mayor. When I went back to find my place, I was told that I wasn’t needed. No one remembered telling me to come. The director of the Taiwan choir was also there and although she didn’t speak English, we looked at each other and understood that we both had been given confusing directions. We went to the back of the arena and met Hee Churl, the music director of World Vision. He shrugged and laughed. So I went back to my seat. About 5 minutes later, someone came up to me and rushed me up on stage. Hee Churl came along and we wended our way through the orchestra to climb up for the ceremony. Things changed constantly.

I wanted to share with you the pride we all felt in your sons. In spite of confusing changes in schedules, occasionally odd food,  strange sleeping arrangements, stifling heat, daily performance pressure, the boys remained cooperative and cheerful. They were mature and represented the United State beautifully. They were strong in their endurance through difficult situations and willing to conform to the necessary regimentation that tour requires.

I am so grateful that you allowed them to share this experience with our singing colleagues from other countries. We made new friends and we learned a lot not only about other cultures, but also about music and performing.

Singing means so much to me, from a Ragazzi alumnus

From Lukas Elzayek

Singing to me means more than notes on a paper; as a child growing up during the civil war of Lebanon, singing was an escape, a blessing, and a way to keep the mind and the heart alive. My earliest memories with singing were when we would be rushed to the bomb shelters, terrified by the horrific sounds of canon fire, gun shots, and chaos, we would sit there in almost complete darkness, and, to lift our spirits, and mask the sounds of War, we would all sing. We would sing nursery rhymes, popular songs, even make up our own songs; we would sing until we knew that the world was safe again, and [we would] leave the shelter with peace in our hearts. In a way, it saved our lives. When I joined Ragazzi under the superb direction of Joyce Keil, all those memories came back, and no matter how bad my day seemed, singing with Ragazzi always made me smile through my heart. One year, after my family received citizenship, Ragazzi was invited to sing the National Anthem at the Giants game. A day that literally brought tears to my eyes as I sang on that field: to be a citizen with the choir that brought me so much joy, and peace, I felt a joy that can never be explained through words, but maybe through song (haha).
To this day I remember the friendships, the songs, Joyce and her passion and dedication to Ragazzi. I remember Italy tour, all the fun times we had, a Nun named Sister Maria that yelled at me for "sagging" and the beautiful memories that will stay in my heart for ever. Ragazzi is a family, a friend, and peace of mind for me, that I can never forget, and that I, to this day tell all my friends about. And once in a while, you can catch me singing along to the Raggazzi CD at the top of my lungs.
Thank you Joyce Keil, and the entire Ragazzi family for helping preserve the gift of music that means so much in my life.