The Greenwood Chorale, started in 2011, will open its eighth season Tuesday with a program that its members describe as excitingly ambitious.
“The music we’ll be performing is all by Mozart. The concert features his Coronation Mass and will also include some additional works to fill out the performance,” said Paul Brown of Greenwood, director.
“The Coronation Mass has been performed at coronations around the world for several hundred years. It’s very challenging, but the group has tackled it head-on and is doing an amazing job,” he said.
He will lift his baton at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church. Everyone is invited at no charge.
Brown, a registered nurse who is a widely regarded pianist and singer, said that he’ll feel excited and probably a little nervous. “I have never gotten to conduct an orchestra of this size before. Fifty-two musicians under my baton is a lot of responsibility.”
Greenwood Chorale director Paul Brown enjoys a recent practice.
The performance will feature an 18-piece orchestra and four soloists as well as the chorale’s 30-member chorus. The orchestra of strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and organ will be composed of members of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra musicians who teach on the university level, among others.
The soloists will be Dr. Laurissa Backlin, soprano, and Dr. Jamie Dahman, tenor, both of Delta State University; Dr. Shelly Buchanan-Garlotte, mezzo-soprano, of Mississippi Valley State University; and Patton Rice, baritone, of the Mississippi School for the Arts in Brookhaven.
Singing with them will be:
• Tenors Cameron Abel, Bobby Brown and Forrest Hodge, all of Greenwood, and Doyle Tubbs of Sumner.
• Basses Ted MacIntosh, Ralph Petty, Randy Clark, Scott Katzenberger, Buddy Hendricks, Ray Smithee and John Gewalt, all of Greenwood.
• Altos Camille Branton and Emily Shafer, both of Indianola, Sylvia Czarnetsky of Oxford, Judith Brown of Winona and Elizabeth Hinckley, Denise Gardner and Christie Beattie, all of Greenwood.
• Sopranos Susie Thomas, Vickie Flannery and Rachael Pitts, all of Indianola; Donna Spell of Glendora; Jordan Messick of Grenada; and Alice Barth, Cathy Barnes, Melanie Bowman, Giulianna Gray, Freda MacIntosh and Erin Stagner, all of Greenwood.
The chorale has been practicing for an hour and a half, once a week, since August at St. John’s United Methodist Church, and some singers also practice at home. “I practice a lot more than I think the others do,” said Alice Barth. “I practice every single day. ... I promise you this is the most difficult set of music that I have ever tried.”
Often, she works with her friend and neighbor, Cathy Barnes. “We have coffee every morning in our jammies. We call ourselves the chorale nerds,” Barth said. “The challenge is the main thing. ... It kind of gets in your blood after a while.”
She described Brown as an intelligent, patient and careful director. Barth said she will be thinking, “There is no way we are going to get it” — but Brown will know what to do.
“It is amazing how Paul has pulled us together. He takes it apart and then says, ‘OK, let’s do that again.’”
Brown said the work is his pleasure. “I went to school for music education, first, before becoming a nurse. I spent many years singing in really good choirs, and I know how rewarding it can be. Having a community choir that is able to sing quality music provides other people with that reward, and it provides a service to the community on top of that.”
He continued, “I have already got in mind what we are going to do in the spring and next fall. It’s an ongoing process. You have to plan ahead of time. It has to be something that is entertaining and something that’s accessible for the choir to be able to do it.
“And it has to present a challenge for them so no one gets bored with it.”
Soprano Christie Beattie said of the upcoming performance, “It’s been very challenging, but it’s been fun, and I think we are going to pull it off!”
Barnes expressed similar thoughts. “I can say, with fingers crossed, that everyone has prepared and is truly excited,” she said. “To sing with an orchestra is truly an amazing experience and worth every minute of practice that has been given to my new best friend — Mozart — until we sing something next spring!”
• Contact Susan Montgomery at 581-7233 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
