Young People's Chorus: Articles



Articles 2004

New York Times

December 17, 2004

A World of Voices

By LAUREL GRAEBER

Most music lovers attend a choral performance to listen. But at least one holiday concert will invite them to sing, too.

That's "Songs of the Spirit" by the Young People's Chorus of New York City, in which families can add their own voices to favorites like "Feliz Navidad," "Carol of the Bells" and "I Had a Little Dreidel." The rest of the concert, to be presented tomorrow night, is just as international. "We have everything from Serbian Gypsy dance to Hebrew folk songs," said Francisco Núñez, the group's artistic director, who founded it in 1988 as a musical forum for talented youth of all cultures. (Participants are 8 to 26.) "Most of the music represents the one-world theme," he said.

The chorus is also varied in its musical styles, mixing pop into its holiday punch. In tomorrow's program, that means Jim Papoulis's "Light Inside" and Jack Lenz's "Greatest Moments." Other selections range from Broadway (Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things") to William Blake's poem "Infant Joy," set to music by George L. Mabry.

The finale is a plea for peace on earth that will be 250 voices strong: all five of the chorus's divisions will sing Peter Yarrow's "Light One Candle" and Mr. Núñez and Mr. Papoulis's new 11-part "Sing for Peace," in which the word appears in seven languages - "Swahili, French, Spanish, Hebrew, English and two Native American dialects," Mr. Núñez said.

The results are an untraditional approach to tradition. "A lot of choruses don't want to go there," Mr. Núñez said, "but we go everywhere."

"Songs of the Spirit," tomorrow night at 8 at the 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500. Tickets: $10 to $50.

New York Times

August 3, 2004

Celebrating a Statue, and a Different Kind of Cool

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Francisco J. Núñez conducting
the Young People's Chorus
of New York City.

When Francisco J. Núñez founded the Young People's Chorus of New York City in 1988, he had several passionate convictions. First, that if he could just coax urban children of different racial, economic and religious backgrounds into working together, barriers would fall and the youngsters would realize how much they had in common. He was also convinced that with proper training children could be excellent and enthusiastic musicians, and that singing choral music, of all things, could be cool.

That he has met his goals was clear Thursday when some three dozen of his choristers met in the basement of Manhattan Church of Christ on the East Side to prepare a performance for the reopening ceremony this morning of the Statue of Liberty, which has been closed to the public since 9/11. African-American choristers from Harlem, Dominicans from Washington Heights, Jewish youngsters from the Upper East Side, Roman Catholics from Greenwich Village and other diverse young New Yorkers all greeted one another with uncommonly ardent squeals and hugs, since they typically do not meet during the midsummer weeks.

In 15 years the Young People's Chorus of New York City, the resident choir of the 92nd Street Y, has grown from a small group of musically untrained children in a fledgling after-school program to a skilled ensemble of some 250 choristers ranging in age from 12 to 18 in five divisions that have won international prizes, the respect of critics and the gratitude of the many commissioned composers who have written challenging works for them.

Mr. Núñez had to assemble a makeshift roster of 45 singers for this special ceremony. What better ensemble to perform at the statue than this ethnic coalition of young people? There was much to entice them. The ceremony is being nationally televised; the platform will be filled with dignitaries; the reopening of the monument is an emotional touchstone for Americans.

And best of all, as Mr. Núñez told the choristers last week, a bus would take them from the 92nd Street Y by police escort to Battery Park, where they would board a special ferry with other participants, including the chorus of the 82nd Airborne Division, for the trip to Liberty Island.

There was one problem, though, as Mr. Núñez said: "The bus leaves the Y at 6 a.m., so you have to be there by 5:45."

Mr. Núñez, 39, identifies with these "kids," as he always calls them. "So many of these kids are just like me when I was young," he said.

Born in New York, he spent many childhood years with his parents in the Dominican Republic, their native country, in a home filled with music. His mother, a factory worker, was his first piano teacher. Singing around the piano was an everyday activity. Still, when the family moved back to New York after his father died, at his mother's insistence Mr. Núñez put off dreams of music and entered Manhattan College as an engineering major.

But he soon transferred to New York University to study music. Looking for work after graduation, he approached the Children's Aid Society, which wanted someone to organize after-school activities. Basing himself at its center on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village, Mr. Núñez introduced them to singing.

"I brought kids from Harlem, the Bronx and the Upper East Side down to the Village," he said. In one telling incident that Mr. Núñez recalled, a few years back at a rehearsal the well-off mother of a chorus member came rushing into the room wearing a mink coat, a limousine waiting for her on the street, apologizing for daughter's being late. Meanwhile another girl, a Dominican, was tugging at Mr. Núñez's sleeve, reminding him that she would need a token to take the subway home. Many children who come from homes with absentee fathers see Mr. Núñez as a surrogate parent. This June, he said, he received three Father's Day cards from youngsters who had no one else to give them to.

Among the choristers at rehearsal last week was Lawrence Harper, a gangly 18-year-old wearing floppy shorts drooping from his waist, a basketball jersey and a black bandanna. Mr. Harper, an eight-year veteran of the chorus, was one of the few who joined when Mr. Núñez recruited at his elementary school in a crime-ridden neighborhood near the old Polo Ground.

Though some friends tease him for being in a chorus, Mr. Harper said, "It pays off." The chorus changed his life, helping him focus on school at the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem. He traveled last month to Germany, where the ensemble won gold medals in two divisions of the 2004 Choir Olympics in Bremer. Now college bound and a musically accomplished baritone, Mr. Harper says he wants to become a basketball player or a singer.

For Mr. Núñez, a composer and conductor, his long involvement with the ensemble has been a surprise. "When it started, I thought I would do it a year or two and then move on to other conducting," he said. "But I am able to get much more high-level music from these young people, who are willing to work so hard and sing with such intensity."

Watching him in action it's clear who inspires the intensity. Tall, boyish and charismatic, he is a tireless conductor with an exacting ear for pitch, rhythm and verbal clarity, even in the pop-styled songs the chorus was preparing for today's ceremony, "Give Us Hope" and "A Light Inside" by the Jim Papoulis. He constantly demanded fuller sound, crisper delivery of text. He even wanted off-beat clapping that one song calls for to have a certain weight. "I want the claps to be quarter notes," he said. "You're making them eighth notes, too short."

The members are used to performing much harder music through the "Transient Voices" program Mr. Núñez began some years ago, in which composers are commissioned to write works with the luminous sound and youthful energy of these singers in mind. In April the chorus sang a demanding program at the New York Society for Ethical Culture than included seven new works, all mastered and memorized in three months, by composers like Richard Rodney Bennett and Tod Machover. The group's account of "Boatman's Song" by Bright Sheng, which involved shouting and smacking of sticks as well as some fancy singing, was especially impressive.

Working with composers is a way of demystifying contemporary music, Mr. Núñez said. The "Transient Voices" program has led to a publication project with Boosey & Hawkes and a recording venture, which has already seen the release of a splendid CD titled "Transient Voices," with six substantial works.

Other choruses in the area are also doing notable work in this field, like the excellent Brooklyn Youth Chorus, run by Dianne Berkun, who is Mr. Núñez's former wife. They remain close colleagues. Still, the Young People's Chorus of New York has just gained a leap up in international recognition. It was recently selected as one of only two choruses from professional and amateur ranks that will represent the United States next year at the triennial World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto, Japan. So the chorus's board has some serious fund-raising to do to sponsor the trip.

It's hard to know whether these young people realize how high the level of their musicianship and knowledge actually is. During one moment in the rehearsal Mr. Núñez, feeling that the performance of "A Light Inside" lacked swing, said, "Come on, guys, this is a pop song, not Bright Sheng!"

What other group of diverse New York teenagers would get that reference?

Courier Life Publications

July 26, 2004

Golden Voices, And Now Gold Medals For Choir Kids

by Michele De Meglio

Brooklyn can now officially be called the home of some of the world's best young singers.

After competing on an international platform at the 2004 Choir Olympics, two unique divisions of the Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) have returned home with hard-earned gold medals.

"It's amazing," YPC founder and Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez said of the choirs' win. "We didn't expect to receive a gold medal at all, we just wanted to do our very best."

"Winning a gold medal was a surreal experience. Although I was confident in the Concert Chorus, I didn't really expect to receive a gold medal. We were nervous but we did it." said Starrett City resident Barbara Kuszewski, who is entering her third year as a member of the award-winning Concert Chorus.

During their stay in Bremen, Germany, YPC's Concert Chorus and Young Men's Choir became favorites of the crowd, as well as the judges.

"They loved it. The music was very unique and they said the children had very good control vocally. One of the judges came up to me afterwards and said they were so impressed by the musicality and that no other choir was able to sing so well," Núñez recalled.

The city choirs were so well received that judges dispensed with the rules to acknowledge the teenage singers.

"The panel of judges was not allowed to applaud or show any sort of reaction to your performance. However, we did notice that after our first song, one of the judges looked up and applauded but then caught himself," said Young Men's Choir member and Cambria Heights, Queens resident Sheldon Ogbourne.

The presitigious win was particularly meaningful for the 25-member Young Men's Choir, which held its own against 120-member choruses from all over the world.

"The Young Men's Choir has only been in existence for four years. I was there for the first performance so to come so far and receive an award from an international panel of judges is wonderful," said Ogbourne, one of the group's founding members.

The diversity of their songs and members set YPC's choirs apart from their international counterparts.

"The styles of music and level of difficulty was what allowed us to do so well and receive a gold medal," Ogbourne said.

"We were the only choir of diverse backgrounds. The other choirs were all one set of people - they were either black or white. We were a diverse group and people really loved that. We were able to show all different nationalities and win a gold medal but unfortunately, we are one of the only diverse groups out there." Núñez said.

With song selections spanning the musical genres of rhythm and blues, Gregorian chants, jazz and gospel, the choirs showcased their multipart harmonies in several different languages including Latin, Chinese, Swahili and French.

The songbirds also entertained the masses during additional performances in Germany.

"We were part of two workshops where we were able to show choral conductors what is happening in America. We sang some gospel pieces and jazz pieces. They loved it." Núñez said.

Breaking from their first love of singing, bonding with choirs from various countries proved to be a highlight for the local teenagers.

"It was really exciting to be in a place where people share the same love for singing as we do," Kuszewski said.

"We met several different choirs and a few people from South Africa who were very interested in finding out about life back in America. I spoke to people from Jamaica, which is where my parents are from so that was a treat. It was a great experience," Ogbourne said.

When they weren't exchanging email addresses with other singers, the local teenagers enjoyed the sights and sounds of their unique surroundings.

"We went to Amsterdam for three days. We took a boat ride, a bus ride, went on walking tours and went shopping. In Germany, we were able to walk around," Núñez said.

With a successful trip overseas under their belts, members of the YPC choirs now have their sights set on the 2006 Choir Olympics.

"We definitely would like to compete. It will be held in China and we are excited about that and are going to work hard. It's nice to have something to strive for and push you further in your desire to be the best," Ogbourne said.

For information about auditioning for YPC or sponsoring the choirs, contact 212-289-7779.

Courier Life Publications

July 12, 2004

Young Brooklyn Voices Compete in Choir Olympics

by Michele De Meglio

Brooklyn's members of the
Young People's Chorus
of New York City

Brooklyn's brightest young songbirds have left their nests to represent the United States at the 2004 Choir Olympics.

Competing in Bremen, Germany, two separate divisions of the Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) are going head-to-head with the world's top choirs.

Under the directions of Artistic Director Francisco J. Nunez, the organizations Concert Chorus and Young Men's Choir have found fame with their elegant multi-part harmonies, which they have showcased at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the White House and a recent ceremony at Ground Zero to mark the beginning of construction on the Freedom Tower.

Although YPC has become a favorite performer at prestigious events, the choirs were created with a more modest goal.

"I wanted to provide an opportunity for kids of different backgrounds to get to know each other through music," said Nunez, who founded the choirs in 1988.

Nunez's idea has proven effective for the 250 singers in YPC's choirs.

"I get to sing all different types of music, get to know different languages and learn how to come together with people from different races and backgrounds." said 18-year-old Michael Holder.

A member of the Young Men's Choir, the Crown Heights resident found the group to be a positive alternative to wasting time on street corners.

"Most of the people I know in my friends' areas just hang out on the street and get in trouble. This has kept me out of trouble and kept me on the road to righteousness and becoming a good African-America man," said Holder, who just graduated from Manhattan's Talent Unlimited High School.

Planning to minor in music at the New York City College of Technology, Holder is one of YPC's many singers who have found a musical education outside of the city school system.

"There are some music programs that are really fantastic but unfortunately, they are not in all of the schools. [Music education is] usually the thing that gets cut the most and it's not given priority," Nunez said.

With their vast musical knowledge in tow, the YPC choirs are prepared to bring home the gold at the Olympics.

The selected pair of YPC choirs - whose members range from 12 to 18 years of age - will sing songs about peace and understanding, which are especially poignant considering the United States' presence in Iraq.

Versed in classical, jazz, pop and world music, the 25-member Young Men's Chorus will mark its first international competition with "Amani." Performed in Swahili and French, the song written by Jim Papoulis and Jacques Sebisaho is a plea for peace.

In Papoulis' "Libertatum," the choir will blend Gregorian chants with rhythm and blues to describe the feeling of living in freedom.

The group will vie for favorable scores with "Wind Song" by Richard Kidd, in which they replicate sounds of sweeping wind, and Rupert Lang's "Cantate Domino."

The 36 members of the Concert Chorus will show off their language skills when they sing in Chinese on Bright Sheng's "Boatman's Song."

The group will continue with "The Nervous Family" by Benjamin Lees, Papoulis' "Panta Rhei," complete with seven-part harmonies and the sounds of bamboo sticks and clapping, and the a cappella "Melnik" by Ivan Marinov.

A regular at international events, the Concert Chorus has won honors at competitions in Prague, British Columbia and Spain.

With YPC nurturing young minds for the past 16 years, Nunez is proud of the institution he has created.

"We are teaching these kids how to be serious musicians and artists. If you create a positive atmosphere for children, they are going to succeed," he said.

Up next for YPC, the singers have been invited to represent the United States in the Seventh World Symposium on Choral Music, which will be held in 2005 in Kyoto, Japan.

Queens Chronicle

July 1, 2004

Queens Singers Warm Up For Choir Olympics in Germany

by Keach Hagey

Sheldon Ogbourne of
Cambria Heights

When Cambria Heights native Sheldon Ogbourne's voice changed during his sophomore year at Bayside High School, it would traditionally have meant the end of his singing career with they city's globetrotting Young People's Chorus.

But Ogbourne, now 19, loved singing too much to stop, so when his cousin told him that the YPC was forming a new Young Men's Chorus for singers with deeper voices, he became a founding member.

This week, the new chorus will embark on its international competing career quite auspiciously: by travelling to Bremen, Germany, to participate in the 2004 Choir Olympics.

"I'm not nervous, I'm just excitied," said Ogbourne, who has been rehearsing daily with the 25-member chorus at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. They will board the plane on July 4th and compete from July 8th through 12th.

His choir, one of only a handful of American youth choirs invited to compete in the Olympics, will take on young male choirs from South Africa, Poland and Russia. The choruses will be judged in 10 categories including diction, technique, phrasing, interpretation, stage presence and difficulty of material.

"We will probably be one of the only multicultural choirs competing in this," Artistic Director Francisco Nunez said. "When we compete, people notice that right off the bat."

Nunez, a Dominican who grew up "not a very rich kid at all" in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, founded the YPC in 1988 specifically to give other children of diverse racial and economic backgrounds the same opportunities that singing gave him.

"That's how my life really started, meeting people from all over the place through singing," he said. "Most of these kids have never travelled outside New York City."

The choir performs an average of 40 concerts a year, at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and the White House to Smetana Hall in the Czech Republic and is the resident chorus of the 92nd Street Y and WNYC public radio.

Part of Ogbourne's lack of nerves come from the fact that he has already been to Italy for five weeks as a student ambassador through the chorus and has performed in Connecticut and upstate New York as well. "It gave me a lot of opportunities," he said.

Although Stony Brook University, where he just finished his freshman year, doesn't offer the music education major that would be his first choice for professional training, he has little doubt that he will end up making his living in something related to music.

Debbie McElligott, 17, of Astoria, who will also be going to Germany to compete as part of the YPC's 36-member mixed-gender Concert Chorus, feels the same way. She auditioned for the chorus as a totally untrained fourth grader (though her choice of audition song, "The Body Electric" from "Fame!" indicated her ambitions) and today attends a performing arts high school.

She's been to Canada and Spain with the chorus in the past and plans to study music in college. "I have now pursued music outside of the chorus because of the experience that I've had," she said.

The chorus, which rehearses and performs year-round, requires a $550 annual tuition, but 60 percent of the singers are on some form of scholarship. Anyone interested in auditioning in September should sign up now by calling 212-289-7779.

G. schirmer talk about transient glory

“Young people can sing wonderful music with beautiful voices,” shares Francisco Nuñez, as he prepares the Young People’s Chorus of New York for their 25 April premiere of three new works by Richard Rodney Bennett, Bright Sheng, and Judith Weir.

The three pieces join the YPC’s series “Transient Glory.” Nuñez comments, “This is a project we undertook to celebrate the glorious, though fleeting sound of a children’s choir, a sound that imbues music with a particular poignancy and innocence. These three pieces are all very different in character. Bennett’s THE BALLAD OF SWEET WILLIAM is based on a story of otherworldly love. It is tonal and musically descriptive in its ability to paint texts. It’s a beautiful work that will become a staple of the repertoire. Sheng’s folkloric THE BOATMEN’S SONG has been very challenging not only because its texts are set in the local Chinese dialect of Shaanxi province, but it is also musically set in the traditional Chinese style of rhythmic patterns and vocal leaps. The task is trying to adapt young Western-trained voices to the characteristics of this musical style and to present it naturally. Weir’s LITTLE TREE uses texts by e.e. cummings and it underscores that Weir knows the human voice. Her ability to compose accessible music with close harmonies, as well as implying an elusive sense of time, gives the work an ethereal, inner beauty.” The concert takes place at the 92nd Street Y and will be recorded by local station WNYC for broadcast performance — along with a simultaneous webcast — on May 9th.

Sheng’s THE BOATMEN’S SONG will travel with Nuñez and the YPC to Bremen, Germany this summer, when they participate in the Choir Olympics. Next summer, they tour the work again to Kyoto, Japan, where they will be the sole US representatives for the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music. Also on the Kyoto program is another Music Sales Group YPC commission, SHIRTLESS STEPHEN AND THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE by Geoffrey Burgon.

Richard Rodney Bennett
THE BALLAD OF SWEET WILLIAM
Duration: c. 6'
Children’s chorus, piano 4-hands

Bright Sheng
THE BOATMEN’S SONG
Duration: c. 4'
Children’s chorus, 2 harps, percussion

Judith Weir
LITTLE TREE
Duration: c. 6'
Children’s chorus, marimba

(Original text available on the G. Schirmer website.)

...go to the main Transient Glory Music Series page

New York Times

April 28th 2004

Generations and Traditions Intersect in a Musical Week

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Talk about premieres, the Young People's Chorus of New York City presented a program at the Ethical Culture Society of New York with seven new works, all written for the ensemble, six world premieres and one New York premiere. The concert was titled "Transient Glory," which signifies that children's voices, though glorious, are fleeting, and before long become adult voices. For proof you only needed to see the makeup of this choir of soprano and alto adolescents (the chorus fields several constituent groups): 44 singers, all but seven of them girls.

If you wonder why a musician as accomplished as Francisco J. Núñez, who founded the chorus 15 years ago, is so gratified to work with children, you should have been there. The young choristers performed demanding new works by Samuel Adler, Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Lees, Judith Weir, Tod Machover, Bright Sheng and Jim Papoulis, as well a 1996 work by Morton Gould (composed with the songwriter Phil Galdston), and performed them all with impeccable pitch, luminous sound and palpable energy: and all from memory, including texts in Chinese and Greek. I was most struck by Ms. Weir's wistful, harmonically tart "Little Tree" (to texts of E. E. Cummings) and Mr. Sheng's exuberant "Boatman's Song," a setting of a Chinese poem, for which many of the choristers had to shout, clap hands and smack sticks together as they sang. It's a rare night that a major professional orchestra performs with such engrossing involvement.

The American Record Guide

March/April 2004

Review - Transient Glory

Young People's Chorus of New York City/ Francisco J. Nuñez—Vital 2014—53 minutes

This release is subtitled 'A celebration for living music and the momentary beauty of the young voice', and it certainly offers extraordinary examples of both. This world-class youth choir offers us a string of impressive world premieres—all written for them by leading contemporary composers in the new millennium.

Like Randall Stroope's Nebraska Children's Chorus (S/O 2003, p 250), Francisco Núñez's Young People's Chorus of New York City is a model among American choral training institutions. In residence at the 92nd Street Y since 1988, it offers solid training in choral singing as well as frequent performance opportunities to a rainbow coalition of about 300 children and youths—many of them from "at-risk" backgrounds. Drawn from its ranks is the 44-voice Concert Chorus heard here.

Founder-Director Núñez has obviously worked wonders with them, as they sing modern music of considerable difficult here—and they deliver it with amazing assurance, skill, and spirit. In just 15 years, they've earned the sort of reputation that justifies their commissioning of new works from the likes of John Tavener, Michael Torke, Steven Mackey, and Walter Johnson—all heard here.

Most of these pieces reflect youthful themes and impressions—like Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum's "Two Songs from Days of Innocence", recounting a child's simple and wondering delight at a trip to the beach and a beautiful sunset. Mackey's "The Attic Which is Desire" is an imagery-laden musical exploration of a child's attic sanctuary. "Un-labelled", by Elena Kats-Chernin, sets her own poem written after her young son was diagnosed with mental illness, addressing his very real worries about being labelled as different or disabled. Jenny Johnson's "Smiling Eyes" also sets her own text, capturing the varied and vivid imaginings of a child examining artifacts from ancient civilizations for the first time.

The remaining pieces include Michael Torke's "Song of Ezekiel"—a bright and joyful setting of the biblical text, evoking the sincere and wondering approach of youth to the word of God. John Tavener contributes his "Glory to God for this Transient Life", a typically rich, Orthodox-toned setting of just the title words that ecstatically evokes the glory of Christ's Transfiguration. "La Damoiselle Elue" is a simplified, but fascinating arrangement by Nils Vigeland of Claude Debussy's heavily orchestrated early cantata of the same title.

Perhaps the most unusual work of the lot is "Colors 41402", by Walter Thompson, who also guest-conducts here. He is the creator of "Soundpainting"—a system of structured choral improvisation involving some 700 hand-signals used by the conductor to prompt a staggering variety of choral and other effects from the singers. The result is a unique sonic collage of moans, cries, sighs, chants, drones, finger-snaps, vocal swoops, gibberish, laughter, etcetera—set against intermittent chordal passages. As you can imagine, no two "soundpaintings" are alike. The kids obviously have incredible fun with it.

The singing of these gifted young folks (predominantly girls, as usual in America) simply blew me away! There are many competent and seasoned adult ensembles out there that would be hard-pressed to match this group's intonation, rhythmic precision, and enthusiastic confidence in these often very tricky pieces. Some of these pieces are accompanied, and the instrumentalists and adult soloists who perform with them are first-rate. Recording quality is excellent, and full texts are included. The composers contribute their own notes.

Gramophone

February, 2004

Review - Transient Glory

by Ken Smith

The problem with children's choruses, conductor Francisco J. Núñez has discovered, is that few of the major composers in history wrote for children, and many composers writing for children's choruses today are barely destined for publication, much less the history books. That, in a nutshell, is the impetus behind this disc of 'Transient Glory', Núñez's joint project with the publisher Boosey & Hawkes to get budding choral composers into print and introduce established composers and their works to the abilities of young singers.

Of the eight 'Transient Glory' pieces in this collection, each receiving its world premiere recording, there are a few composer discoveries (particularly Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum (b1980), whose e.e. cummings setting carries a strong ring of authority), but the clear advantage lies with the established names. Although some like Michael Torke and John Tavener have well-documented experience with the human voice, others like Steven Mackey and Elena Katz-Chernin offer some supremely creative textures.

All of the pieces here, though, benefit greatly from their association with the New York City Young People's Chorus, a superb ensemble that models its city's cultural diversity both in its membership and its pan-stylistic musical programming. Núñez's young singers offer supreme precision in both pitch and rhythm, making them a natural for any contemporary music, and their unrestrained enthusiasm in these works puts them several notches above many better-trained professionals who remain content just to get through the notes. May we hear much more from this group in the future.
-Ken Smith

Classics Today

January, 2004

Review - Transient Glory

(Original article available at www.classicstoday.com)

by David Vernier

Subtitled "A celebration of living music and the momentary beauty of the young voice", this is an essential disc for fans of new choral music and for anyone who wants to experience the virtuoso capabilities of one of today's finest youth choirs. It's hard to say which came first, the rising technical standard of young vocal ensembles or the more and more demanding music written for them, but this seriously challenging program certainly will surprise listeners whose impression of "youth choirs" is of a cute little band of loosely disciplined and even less well-tuned singers up on the stage at junior high parents' night. Francisco Núñez, a highly regarded composer of youth-choir music in his own right, directs this 44-member concert chorus (the entire YPC organization consists of 300 choristers in five choral divisions) in the kind of tour de force performances that leave you in wonder and awe--and with a thankful heart that in today's world children are singing and embracing music with such enthusiasm and joy and commitment.

I'm not saying that the music itself--eight world premieres, all of which were commissioned by or for the Young People's Chorus of New York City--is all immediately ingratiating, beautiful in the traditional sense, easy to listen to, or even necessarily successful in terms of its likely appeal to mainstream audiences or viability for any but the most sophisticated choirs. I also am somewhat troubled by what seems to be a trend of composers toward self-referential, self-indulgent, self-gratifying works that can't be understood by first-time listeners without an accompanying program note or explanation. In other words, the music is more about the composer saying "see what I did" than about just writing a piece whose music and text speak for themselves.

Michael Torke's Song of Ezekiel for voices and piano begins with a cool, rhythmically catchy, chugging motion that for a few minutes captures our imagination and sets our feet tapping--but the simple ideas are unsustainable for four and a half minutes, and Torke's use of the treble voices is nothing more than an unidiomatic extension of the pulsing piano, complete with register shifts that would sound fine on the keyboard but are just plain awkward, strained, and pointless when sung. Steven Mackey needs a whole page to tell us what his The Attic Which is Desire is about. If you just listen to the music, throughout which is a droning ostinato on the word "soda", you have no idea what's going on. But it turns out that this William Carlos Williams poem reminded the composer of his own attic sanctuary when he was a child, and although this text "is not an obvious poem to set to music", he did it anyway, and stretched a musically and thematically thin concept into nearly six minutes of sometimes intriguing, more often repetitive and predictable music--which again is given as convincing a performance as anyone could hope for.

Elena Kats-Chernin's Un-labelled is a piece written in response to her son's mental illness diagnosis, and it cleverly works incomprehensible words and "computer-like coding syllables" into the context of clearly discernible passages in English, ultimately putting forward her son's wish not to be "labeled" because of his illness. Jenny Johnson's Smiling Eyes, a reflection on the importance of history and meaning of ancient works of art, is another perfect example (as is The Attic. . .) of a piece that should be left in its purely poetic-text state. Overlaying spoken and sung text and juxtaposing fragments of lines, repeating a word out of its original, meaningful context, and trying to find music for essentially non-musical language just sounds forced and unnecessarily difficult. Oddest--and frankly annoying--is Walter Thompson's Colors 41402, an example of his own "soundpainting" system of improvisatory composing/conducting. Presumably this system of "more than 700 gestures signed by the conductor" during a performance leads to some kind of revelatory sonic experience, described by Thompson as something like "flipping through a television with 100 channels". You have to wonder why anyone would consciously choose to do that, although you have to admit that the Young People's Chorus truly makes some unique "choral" sounds here--while still leaving you to ponder just what meaning lies among the shouts and swoops and murmurings.

There's much more here--my favorite being Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum's imaginative, to-the-point, and intelligently conceived Two songs from e.e. cummings--and those who have an interest in these things will definitely want to explore it all. The sound is open and vibrant and clear on some selections and very oddly balanced on others--such as the spoken lines versus the choir in Smiling Eyes, and the various solo and instrumental combinations in Debussy's La Damoiselle Elue. Transient Glory is a wonderful project designed to bring forth newly commissioned choral music and to "celebrate the profoundly transcendent nature of young singing voices." Anything that seeks to advance the art of children's choirs and encourage excellent singing is a good thing. And in spite of the abovementioned reservations regarding the specifics of the music itself, I anxiously await the next volume in this provocative and innovative series.