Bucks County Herald
– August 17, 2006
Berkshire Choral Festival Page Verdi
Dear Friends,
Good
morning. Mighty Betsy and I get our batteries recharged every year by singing
at the Berkshire Choral Festival (BCF) in Western
Massachusetts. BCF celebrated
its 25th year with a five-week program in Sheffield (MA) plus a week
in Canterbury, England
and Salzburg, Austria.
Each week features a different, well known conductor and a brand new chorus,
plus a resident orchestra.
We selected
the fourth week because Robert Page, one of America’s
chorus deans…maybe THE chorus dean, was conducting the Verdi Requiem. The New
York Times describes the Giuseppe Verdi masterpiece as “opera in clerical
robes.” It is very theatrical. For example, in the Dies Irae (day of judgment) movement, four trumpets echo the orchestra
from the rear of the audience.
Two hundred
singers and the Springfield Symphony rattled the cages for 1,000 patrons. Jane
and Lee Perkins from Stockton, NJ
joined us in the chorus, as did Lynne Guest from Richboro. Both are avid
readers of the Herald. It was quite a week.
With its seven chorus weeks, BCF
is a natural haven for chorus singers. Most are over age 50 and none is
auditioned, although applicants must list the choral works they’ve sung
recently. Each receives the music and a rehearsal CD several months before the
week begins to insure that everyone has the opportunity to learn the music. It
was obvious that the Verdi Requiem chorus was very prepared
for Robert Page.
Page is 79
but acts 30 years younger. In the 18 years we’ve been at BCF,
we’ve sung three times with him and continue to be astounded by his energy. I
asked him what his plans are 25 years from now when BCF
celebrates its 50th year? “I hope I’m
invited to conduct,” he laughed.
His list of accomplishments are staggering. “Page’s
choirs can be heard on 40 CD’s issued on major labels,” according to his
biographical sketch. He won two Grammys, a
Grand Prix du Disc and a Prix Mondial de Montreux with the Philadelphia
Orchestra. In addition to Philadelphia,
Page has conducted the major orchestras of Pittsburgh,
Houston, Dallas,
Cleveland and the London Royal
Philharmonic.
All this from a poor farmer’s family.
Page was one of 10 children. He
earned his college degrees from Abilene Christian and Indiana
Universities. While teaching at Temple
University exactly 50 years ago,
Page prepared Eugene Ormandy’s first chorus as maestro of the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
Page began his undergraduate days
planning to become a bilingual (Spanish and English) journalist. But when the
college glee club conductor fell ill before a major concert, Page volunteered
to substitute…the program? Bach’s B Minor Mass and Handel’s Messiah! He became
an instant hit.
A week at BCF
costs just under $1,000 and includes a school dormitory
room for two, with three giant meals daily. The chorus rehearses each morning
and evening. Afternoons are free for sports or touring the Berkshire
area where art galleries, dance studios and theater are plentiful. Tanglewood
is but 30 minutes away.
One of the
benefits of a BCF week is meeting new
people. We especially enjoyed Hisako and Yasuyuki Miura from Tokyo.
Their friend is a reporter for the Nikei Shinbun, one of Japan’s
largest dailies. His newspaper sent him to New York City
for two years. We’ll try to entice him to Bucks
County for several visits.
But I
stray.
You would
think that a world-renowned conductor would be hesitant about taking a chance
on a chorus and orchestra that he or she has never seen. But Page has been at BCF
for nine seasons. So, I asked him, “Why do you come to BCF?”
“I come for
two reasons,” he answered. “It’s the excitement of taking people and molding
them into a choir…you know, E Pluribus Unum. And it gives me the opportunity to
do a major choral work.”
Page is the
Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at Carnegie
Mellon University.
He’s obviously still going strong.
Sincerely,
Charles
Meredith
MeredithIII@comcast.net
You can access Meredith past columns, www.charlesmeredith.com