Houston Chamber Choir announces two world premieres for 2023-24 season
Bob Simpson understands our culture’s affinity for celebrating anniversaries that are multiples of five, but as the director of the Houston Chamber Choir he feels just as strongly about the other 80 percent of his programming. For the choir’s 29th season he decided to revel in that number with the theme of “Prime Time,” a nod to the primary number.
“I should start by saying I’m humbled and proud we’ve reached 29 seasons,” Simpson says of his Grammy-winning choir. “So we tried to do a playful trope on that number. I called on a friend who works in math for some advice and insight. I decided our season offers something unique and it’s not derivative. We strive to bring our audience something unique, enduring, enriching and that leads to our first concert of the season, ‘Joyful Mysteries.’”
“The Joyful Mysteries” will open the season Oct. 7 at South Main Baptist Church. The performance is a world premiere of a composition by Houston-based composer Daniel Knaggs that was commissioned by Holy Rosary Church. The performance finds the Houston Chamber Choir collaborating with the Monarch Chamber Players and three
soloists, soprano Gemma Summerfield, mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko and bass-baritone Federico de Michelis.
Simpson says the work “brings the holy mysteries of the rosary into a modern context and gives it a new sense of application.” The season’s second subscription show will be “Byrds of a Feather” on Nov. 11 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. The performance marks the 400th anniversary of the death of composer William Byrd. Paired with the Knaggs composition, this performance illustrates the breadth of a Houston Chamber Choir season. “From the 21st century back to the 16th,” Simpson says.
The Byrd-centric program includes works by the composer along with contemporaries Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Morely. The University of Houston Concert Chorale will join the Houston Chamber Choir at this show for the epic “Spem in alium” by Byrd mentor and friend Thomas Tallis, a reprise of a previous collaboration years ago by the two choirs. “A high wire act without a net,” Simpson says of the piece.
A second world premiere will take place March 9, 2024. “Mass in Exile” was written by composer Mark Buller and librettist Leah Lax, both of whom drew from their strict religious upbringings to create a piece about finding a different path of faith during difficult times.
“The work uses their experience as a jumping off point,” Simpson says. “It could be seen as representative of what’s happening in the world politically or with disasters of a natural sort. It’s about those who find themselves uprooted and in exile.
“It’s not my intention that the Chamber Choir become a political instrument. But it’s only right for us to acknowledge the environment in which we’re living and these circumstances around the world. It says something about shared pain and humanitarian impulses.”
The choir in 2006 collaborated with the late jazz legend Dave Brubeck. “Brubeck! A Celebration” on June 1, 2024, furthers their initial collaboration. The pianist and composer’s sons Chris and Dan will be joined by the choir and Houston musicians Paul English and Horace Alexander Young to work through some of Brubeck’s spiritual and sacred works. “It’s a way to shine a light on his work beyond ‘Take Five’ and ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk,’” Simpson says.
Other highlights of the subscription season include “California Gold,” featuring compositions by John Cage, Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre with Dr. Betsy Cook Weber — director of choral activities at the University of Houston — as guest conductor. That show is scheduled for April 27, 2024.
“Feliz Navidad: Christmas at the Villa” is the other subscription show, with four performances taking place between Dec. 9 and 10. The “Prime Time” season also includes two free performances: “City of Stars: Hollywood Hits from Garland to Gaga” on Oct. 28, and the 24th annual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival on Jan. 27-28, 2024. Dr. Derrick Fox, director of choral activities at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (though he’s headed to Michigan State in the fall), will be on hand to conduct master classes with three regional choirs: Bay Area Youth Singers, conducted by Nicole Daniel; Cook Middle School, conducted by True Hernandez; and Bridgeland High School, conducted by Christopher Fiorini. For subscription and ticket information visit the Houston Chamber Choir’s website (https://www.houstonchamberchoir.org/)
- Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle