Shepherd comes alive at Rice Chorale’s April concert
Echoes reverberated around the Edythe Bates Old Recital Hall and Grand Organ April 14 at the Rice Chorale concert, featuring music spanning different centuries and styles from whispered a cappella songs to full organ grandeur.
Summer Orr, who said she has attended every chorale concert during her time at Rice, said it feels “especially ethereal” when sitting in the hall.
“I love the Organ Hall,” said Orr, a Duncan College sophomore. “I think it’s so beautiful … I always sit there and wonder how they built it, how it got in there.”
The concert started with “Ave Maria” by Franz Biebl, which Rice Chorale music director Thomas Jaber said was romantic and intricate.
“[Ave Maria] sounds very romantic, very beautiful,” Jaber said. “It’s written like Brahms, but it’s sort of a double choir feel, and the chant goes all through it. We sing a statement, and then the chant happens. We sing another statement, and then the chant happens.”
Laura Kabiri, an assistant teaching professor of kinesiology, said the experience of performing “Ave Maria” was angelic.
“The harmonies are absolutely heavenly,” Kabiri said. “To have a chance to sing with such a group in such a beautiful facility just reminds me of celestial beings in heaven.”
Zev Malina, a Jones College senior, said the second piece, “O Ye Kings,” which he both composed and conducted, was “very personal” to him.
“I feel like the fact that [multiple Psalms] do coexist in the same canon is itself an invitation for each individual to approach the way that they interpret it,” Malina said. “I will readily admit, I was not kind to whoever conducts this piece … I always bring it back to what the text demands, and if that’s a weird rhythm, I’m personally inclined to let that take precedence.”
This was followed by “When David Heard,” written by Eric Whitacre after the death of his friend’s son.
“The piece goes anywhere from singing four notes at once — your standard soprano, alto tenor, bass — and [Whitacre] splits 18 times like that, so there are 18 notes being played at the same time, which is really impressive,” said Marshall Joos, the organist and a Will Rice College senior. “There are some places in the piece where it just sounds like a sigh … it’s heart wrenching.”
Thara Venkateswaran, a Rice Chorale performer, said this song was especially technically challenging for her.
“When it gets really big, it’s kind of a challenging part for me because, if you look at the score, it looks crazy, there’s eight staves, and each one has like three notes,” said Venkateswaran, a Hanszen College senior. “I’m singing my own note … but then you hear it, and you hear how you contribute to the sound, and that sounds amazing.”
Jaber also explained his love for “Fern Hill” by John Corigliano, the final song performed by Chorale featuring soloist Caitlin Aloia ’24.
“Caitlin is a dear friend of ours, and she sings with me … I think you’ll love hearing her,” Jaber said. I’m really honored that she’s available to come and sing.”
Kabiri said she enjoyed the chorale’s inclusive spirit, featuring undergraduate students, graduate students, staff members and people from outside the hedges.
“It’s really nice to work with people with a wide range of backgrounds and musical experience and ages, and it just all integrates seamlessly,” Kabiri said. “Tom is a phenomenal director in keeping us all literally corralled together.”
Jaber said this diversity is a key component of the group.
“I don’t audition,” Jaber said. “I open it to anybody who wants to sing … right now we have around 50 who are singing, and that makes me very, very happy. They make a beautiful sound. When they get it going, that makes a very beautiful sound.”
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