Coro de Cámara: Director's Notes

Director's Notes
by Catherine Robinson

It is interesting to experience the changes over the last six years in the choral music community in our area. Two new groups, Canticum Novum Orchestra and Chorus and Polyphony, have started in Santa Fe and Albuquerque respectively. Sangre de Cristo Chorale celebrates their 32nd season this year; the Santa Fe Women's Ensemble toured Italy in June 2008 at the end of their 32nd season. The Santa Fe Men's Camerata, founded in 1998, has renamed itself the New Mexico Men's Camerata this coming season and the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus commemorates 26 years together. The longest-running chorus in the area is the Los Alamos Choral Society, which was founded in 1944.

Our ensemble, Coro de Cámara, celebrates its 27th season this season, 2009-2010. I have been Music Director and conductor of the group for five and a half seasons; this year marks my sixth full year as conductor. In my time with Coro, we have performed twelve distinctively different and unique concert programs.

Each concert repertoire I program is based on a theme. I think it is critical to choose literature that fits a theme and is interesting to the singer and listener alike. I personally do not care for concert programs that are varied and eclectic, however, this summer's Santa Fe Desert Chorale cathedral concerts were fabulous. The Chorale did have three thematic programs in addition to the concerts at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis.

Last season Coro de Cámara presented two repertoires: jazz and gospel arrangements of Christmas carols and flower songs written or arranged by contemporary choral composers. This season in December we will sing secular holiday songs in the pop and jazz idioms accompanied by a rhythm section; in April we will perform folk songs and spirituals. I also think I have "a thing" for two-part titles; actually, maybe "a thing" for titles in general. Perhaps it's because of the thematic material in the concerts and the attention a title lends the literature. "Spring Concert" just doesn't interest me like a special title. Thus, the titles of "April Flowers: Don't necessarily bring May showers" or "...now for something completely different: Irreverent and Unpredictable Pairings."

Coro de Cámara is literally its Spanish translation: a choir of the room (or chamber choir). A chamber choir consists of 24 or fewer singers; originally, 16 or less. This season we have 22 singers (six sopranos, six altos, five tenors and five basses). Through a thorough audition process, I chose singers based on voice type and sight-reading abilities. Each person, either a returning singer or a potentially new singer, was asked to prepare a song of his or her choice. They were then asked to sight-sing a short vocal line and, lastly, were asked to vocalize to check range and vocal color.

Director's Notes continue on Page 2 .