The voices of Colorado Mesa University combined for the Department of Music’s “Better Together” Fall Choral Concert, in a performance featuring Men and Women’s Choir, Voces, and the Vocal Arts Ensemble.
“I called it Better Together because I purposefully picked a bunch of music that had extra instrumental parts where we could collaborate with other music faculty here,” Director of Vocal Ensembles Adam Kluck said. “But as I got into the pieces that I picked, [I found] a lot of the poetry has a similar theme of human to human connection or human to deity connection, and this longing between the two. So that better together theme works on a couple different levels.”
Voces replaced what used to be Jazz Choir. The group is composed of four men and four women, singing exclusively unaccompanied pieces. It’s competitive, with auditions deciding the few spots. This was their first performance of the year.
Kluck gave some more insight on why particular pieces, such as the Finnish national anthem, titled “Finlandia,” for Men’s Choir were chosen. “Men’s Choir in particular has its roots in Scandanavian countries. There’s I think a little more, older literature written for men’s voices.”
Many of the performed songs included guest faculty and musicians. Voces played a piece titled “Un gentil amoreux,” joined by the CMU Flute Ensemble. The Vocal Arts Ensemble played a few different pieces with many different instruments: “Domine non secundum peccata nostra” featured Instructor of Music Brian Krinke on violin, while “Song of the Moon” included Instructor of Music Dr. William Aikens on oboe and Lecturer of Music Kelley Latshaw on flute.
The largest group of the night saw five performers join the Vocal Arts Ensemble, for a piece titled “The Lake Isle.” Lecturer of Music Javier de los Santos on guitar, student Brittni Nack on violin, Professor of Music Dr. Kristen Yun on cello, musician Michelle Berry on viola, and Krinke on violin all collaborated for the song.
The night also included a women’s barbershop octet to welcome the audience and introduce the performance.
Ben McLam and Susan Ellinger, Performer of Men’s Choir and Performer of Women’s Choir, respectively, provided piano accompaniment to the voices on stage for Men and Women’s Choir.
“We love making music together, and yes, we do strive for success and perfection in a performance, but no matter what choir we are in, for all of us it is about the experience,” Vice President of the Choirs Ashley Troester said.
The Department of Music’s concert schedule next sees guest artist Andrew Diessner performing a show titled “Commercial Combos with Vocalist Andrew Diessner” at Warehouse 25 Sixty-Five on Oct. 23. The next faculty recital shows off the trio William Aikens, Susan Hess, and Brian Krinke at CMU’s Moss Performing Arts Center on Oct. 29.
