(upbeat music) - Welcome to WTVP's High School Chorale Showcase.

I'm Jenn Gordon, President and CEO at WTVP PBS, and I'm here with Michael Eckhardt, our Chief Development and Engagement Officer.

At WTVP, we love and support the arts.

We bring you masterful concerts from around the globe and around the corner.

And tonight we have a special treat.

We're showcasing musical groups from two high schools right here in our community.

- Performing in our showcase are the 2024 Metamora Township High School Madrigal Singers, directed by Emma Morris, and the Washington Community High School Madrigal Singers, directed by Dr. Lara Reem.

Both groups will be performing a beautiful selection of holiday music.

- So cozy up in your front-row seat and enjoy these sounds of the season with the Madrigal Singers.

("Jingle Bells") ♪ Wassail, wassail ♪ All over the town ♪ Our bread, it is white ♪ And our ale, it is brown ♪ Our bowl, it is made of the white maple tree ♪ ♪ With our wassailing bowl, we'll drink unto thee ♪ ♪ And here is to Dobbin and to his right eye ♪ ♪ Pray God send your master a good Christmas pie ♪ ♪ And a good Christmas pie that may we all see ♪ ♪ With our wassailing bowl, we'll drink unto thee ♪ ♪ Come, butler, come fill us a bowl of the best ♪ ♪ And we hope that your soul in heaven may rest ♪ ♪ But if you do draw us a bowl of the small ♪ ♪ Then down shall go butler, bowl and all ♪ ♪ Then here's to the maid in the lily-white smock ♪ ♪ Who tripped to the door and pulled back the lock ♪ ♪ Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin ♪ ♪ For to let these jolly wassailers in.

♪ ♪ Wassail, wassail ♪ All over the town ♪ Our bread, it is white ♪ And our ale, it is brown ♪ Our bowl, it is made of the white maple tree ♪ ♪ With our wassailing bowl, we'll drink unto thee ♪ ♪ Silent night ♪ Holy night ♪ All is calm ♪ All is bright ♪ Round yon Virgin ♪ Mother and Child ♪ Holy Infant ♪ So tender and mild ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ Silent night ♪ Holy night ♪ Shepherds quake ♪ At the sight ♪ Glories stream ♪ from heaven afar ♪ Heavenly hosts ♪ Sing Hallelujah ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ Silent night ♪ Holy night ♪ Son of God ♪ Love's pure light ♪ Radiant beams ♪ From Thy holy face ♪ With the dawn ♪ Of redeeming grace ♪ Jesus Lord ♪ At Thy birth ♪ Jesus Lord ♪ At Thy birth - And now for a conversation with the conductor.

It's my pleasure to welcome to the studio Emma Morris.

Ms. Morris directs the Metamora Township High School Madrigal Singers.

She's a graduate from the Olivet Nazarene University where she earned a degree in music education with a vocal emphasis.

Ms. Morris is the director of the high school's Madrigal Dinner, and fun fact, she is in fact a graduate of MTHS herself.

Emma, welcome to WTVP Studio.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- So the performance was just lovely.

So appreciated having the kids here.

I can't help but start off our conversation with, what is it like to return back to your high school and teach choir that obviously you were part of when you were there?

- Yeah, this is a question I get asked all the time.

- All the time?

- Yes.

All my friends wanna know, what's it like to work with your old teachers?

And oh my goodness, how is it like to have to call them by their first name?

It's been a lot of fun.

It was definitely a transition in the first year of getting used to having my teachers now be my coworkers, but they were also incredibly welcoming to me and made me, there was never a moment when I didn't feel like I was part of the team and valued.

So that's been awesome.

But it's been really cool to get to give my students such a positive and enjoyable experience, at least I hope.

- Yes, I'm sure you are.

- Hopefully.

But yeah, I love that I get to work in a place that I love and know.

- That you know.

Was there a sense of like, you are taking this legacy that impacted you, and that you grew up with, and now carrying it on into the future?

- Yeah, so my grandpa actually was the choir director at Limestone High School for 30 years.

- Oh my goodness.

Mike Morris!

- Mike Morris.

- Mike Morris is your grandfather.

- He is my grandpa.

- And he was legendary in this community.

- Yes, he is.

- Wow.

- He started their madrigal program, and then Metamora's madrigal program started from him.

So that was, I feel like I, when I went to his funeral and I was sitting at his visitation, and everyone was coming through the line laughing and telling me all these, like, stories of, oh, your grandpa, he was my funniest teacher.

Oh, he did this, he did this.

And just seeing, like, so many people that he impacted throughout the years, I realized, wow, this is something that I could have for my students.

This is the legacy that I could leave for them.

- Yes.

- And so, I was in high school at the time, and so that kind of solidified in me the desire to major in music, and I think it's also in the blood.

- It is definitely in the blood.

That is incredible.

I didn't know that connection.

- Yes, uh huh, Mike Morris.

- Wow, so as you prepare your students for the Madrigal Dinner itself, are there any, like, words of wisdom or sentiments that you are hoping that they are evoking as they get up in front and perform this really traditional, wonderful seasonal event?

- I think we had a song a couple years ago called "The Road Home," and it says, it talks about there's no such beauty as where you belong.

And so I like to tell my students that, for right now, you belong here, and next year you might not.

In a couple years, you might not.

You're going to move on.

You're going to go different ways in life, but this is a place that you all have in common.

This is a place you'll always have to come back to.

And you belong here, and I want you to know that.

And so I think that stuck with me.

That was my first year of teaching.

And I like to say that as I've gone through the years, well, through the two years.

This is my third year now, but yeah, I just give them that encouragement of, like, you belong here.

You are supposed to be here.

Yeah, there's a reason that you're in this group, and it's to make this wonderful music and experience together, and yeah.

- And there is a unique bond that comes from singing four-part harmony, but also in the madrigal context, it's all acapella.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yes, oh, the challenges of acapella music, especially with high schoolers, I've just been blown away by what they're able to do.

I guess, when I was in madrigals, I didn't realize the challenge of these pieces.

And just being able to watch my students rise to that challenge has been so humbling for me, as much as it's like, yes, I'm putting in the work and effort, but they're putting in the work and effort.

They're showing up every day, they're learning their parts, they're doing the work, and look what we have to show for it.

And it's just, I feel like the acapella, you're so exposed in that setting.

There's nothing to hide.

You're showing your full voice.

But I love it.

I just feel like there's so much beauty in that.

And we're bringing this tradition from the 1500s alive now, and we're we're modifying it.

We're modernizing it, right?

- Yes.

- Yeah, so I love, yeah, we're taking the things that needed to change and changing them and making it our own.

So I love it.

- One common thread at any Madrigal Dinner is the, oh, I messed it up.

The wassail, I'm gonna forget trying to say the English name behind it, but "The Wassail Song," this happens at every Madrigal Dinner, and we just heard that performed.

Tell us a little bit about, what is that an invitation to?

- Yes, "Gloucestershire Wassail."

- There you go.

Thank you, Emma.

I told you you would save me.

- Yes, well, it's been a tradition at MTHS for the last 49 years is "The Wassail Song."

One of my favorite parts of the dinner is drinking the wassail.

It's like the warm apple cider.

I tell people it's like Christmas joy in a cup, and it just ushers in the holiday season so nicely.

But yeah, it feels like it's a drink that's been around for a long time, and we just get to join in the passage of history by drinking wassail, and that sounds very sentimental, but that's how I feel about it.

And I feel like, when I drink that drink of just, oh, this brings back so many memories for me of just being in the show, and I love it.

So that's what I would say about that.

- Well, it's been delightful to have you here, Emma.

We appreciate your time and the singers coming in, and we wanna wish you a happy holiday, as well as all of the singers at Metamora Township High School.

And just appreciate your time and thanks for giving us a sneak peek into the world of madrigal singers.

- Thank you so much.

- And now back to the music.

(choir singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (no audio) (choir singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (choir continue singing in foreign language) (no audio) ♪ A shoot shall come forth out of Jesse ♪ ♪ And a bud shall grow out of his roots ♪ ♪ The spirit of life shall be with him ♪ ♪ The spirit of wisdom and truth ♪ ♪ Then the lamb shall lie down with the leopard ♪ ♪ And the lion eat straw with the ox ♪ ♪ For the hand of a child shall lead them ♪ ♪ To the peaceable kingdom of God ♪ ♪ From out of the wells of salvation ♪ ♪ Will he draw us the water of life ♪ ♪ His waist shall be girded with justice ♪ ♪ The heart of his heart shall be love ♪ ♪ Then the lamb shall lie down with the leopard ♪ ♪ And the lion eat straw with the ox ♪ ♪ For the hand of a child shall lead them ♪ ♪ To the peaceable kingdom of God ♪ ♪ He'll come from the end of his heaven ♪ ♪ And the earth shall be torn from its place ♪ ♪ Our lives shall be filled with his radiance ♪ ♪ As flood waters cover the sea ♪ ♪ Then the lamb shall lie down with the leopard ♪ ♪ And the lion eat straw with the ox ♪ ♪ For the hand of a child shall lead them ♪ ♪ To the peaceable kingdom ♪ Of God ♪ To the peaceable kingdom ♪ Of God (no audio) - Our conversation with the conductor continues right here in the WTVP studio with Dr. Lara Reem.

Dr. Reem is the choral director at Washington Community High School.

In addition, she's a co-producer and music director of the annual school musical.

The producer of the annual Madrigal Dinner as well.

She is also active as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor for local and regional events.

Lara, welcome to the WTVP studio.

- Thank you so much.

I'm happy to be here.

- It was just so magical having your students here in the studio singing the performance just now.

Was this the first time that they've had a chance to come into a television studio and record?

- Yes, this was the first opportunity that they've had.

They've done some recording over the years in other settings, but this is the first in a television studio.

- So walk me through what were they thinking as they were on their way over here?

Did they get some butterflies or were they feeling pretty good?

- I think they were feeling pretty confident in what they were doing.

I think what they were uncertain about was the acoustic space.

- Yes, and it's an interesting acoustic space here because it is so dry.

- Yes, yes.

- So when you're singing a four-part harmony, that can be a little bit disconcerting at first.

When you're in a room that instead of being very resonant and live, you snap your fingers and the sound just dies.

- Right, right.

Our classroom is definitely a more live space, and then our concert space at Five Points is a little drier than that.

And when we came here, it is much drier.

So it affects how the students hear each other, sometimes how they balance, and that can also affect their blend.

So they have to be thinking about that and listening for that in every second of the performance.

- Well, they gave an incredible performance.

I want to talk a little bit about the Eric Whitacre piece.

When I heard that you were going to be performing this, I just took a step back and I said, "Okay, they really know what they're doing."

This is an incredibly ambitious piece.

Eric Whitacre kind of is known for creating these landscapes of sound that really require quite a lot of effort from the ensemble and the director to pull off.

Walk us through a little bit of how you brought this about with your students.

- Right, well, our school has had a bit of a connection to Eric Whitacre.

Clear back from 2014, we had the opportunity to visit with him in a Skype setting.

- Oh my goodness.

- And it was an incredibly generous gesture on his part to do that.

So we have looked for his pieces that we could perform with our ensembles.

And so this was one of the pieces that we discovered early on that worked very well for our ensembles.

- Oh my, so do you revisit this piece every other year or every- - Not quite that often.

Probably once every five or six years.

And we've done other pieces from his repertoire as well.

- And what a big deal in the world of music, to be able to have Zoom call with the composer himself.

- Right.

Yes, yes.

That came about after the tornado in Washington.

One of our students actually reached out to him, and he very graciously agreed to talk to the students in that setting, and spent almost an hour with them on a bitterly cold day in January, in that difficult year, in that difficult winter.

And it was a great opportunity, I think, for them to hear about his creative process.

And he was so very kind to the students and concerned about them and their welfare as well.

So it has been a joy to look at his music over the years and prepare these pieces.

- So let's talk about this song.

This is all about light and gold.

- Correct.

- You know?

- The original poem was actually written in English by Edward Esch, and then it was actually translated into Latin by Tony Silvestri, who is a close friend and collaborator with Eric Whitacre.

And so they gave it the Latin title "Lux Aurumque," "Light and Gold."

And so it's describing a nativity scene.

- Hmm, and if you're following the lyrics of the poem while you're listening to the song, you can hear it very, very clearly as they transition, the light sounds like light, the heaviness sounds like heaviness, and it ends with the beautiful born moment, the birth moment, in the nativity scene.

I mean, just absolutely beautifully, intricately put together.

And it's fascinating too because, oftentimes, at madrigal dinners, you're singing pieces that are 500 years old, that have made their way up through the canon of music and have had this legacy.

Eric Whitacre comes and he's a contemporary composer, but he's creating these pieces that, often, are hearkening back towards a style of music that is 500 years old.

- Right, and I think there are portions of that music that resonate with audiences in a different way, perhaps.

Harmonically, of course, Whitacre has a much more updated approach.

- He does, yeah.

- But at the same time, when the harmonies sink in, I think the audiences respond very well to those, and, ideally, that's what you're looking to accomplish in a madrigal dinner setting.

- Mm-hmm.

So when you're working with these students and you're trying to create balance between all these different parts, and a very delicate balance, how are you getting them to listen and adjust accordingly?

- That is really a daily process and something that we work on in class each day.

And, really, it has to be something we do all the time because every performance space is different and specific to that space.

So the responses that we have are things like, at first, we say, "Can you hear any other parts other than your own?

If not, then sing softer.

If you can't hear anything...

If you hear everyone else and not yourself, then you need to sing louder."

And it's starting with that and then asking the students to do things like, "Close your eyes while you sing and listen.

What do you hear?

What exactly do you hear?

And then let's respond to that."

And so just even taking out the visual aspect of performance and only listening, oftentimes, elicits much more response than anything I would tell them to do.

Just allowing them to focus only on listening creates a different approach for them.

- Thank you for your time, Dr. Reem.

And thank you for joining us again for this special celebration of local talent and sounds of the season.

From all of us here at WTVP, happy holidays.

- What a beautiful and festive performance.

There's nothing like Christmas music to create the mood for the holiday season.

At WTVP PBS, we love finding opportunities to bring the arts to you.

Central Illinois is rich in talented artists of all ages, and opportunities to participate in the arts.

- Yes, especially at this time of year.

We hope that you take the opportunity to attend some performances in person and support the local arts.

To hear more from the groups we featured tonight, you can find the fine arts calendars and the websites for Metamora Township High School and Washington Community High School.

- Thank you to the 2024 Metamora Township High School Madrigal Singers, directed by Emma Morris and the Washington Community High School Madrigal Singers directed by Dr. Lara Reem.

And thank you, our viewers, for joining us for WTVP'S High School Chorale Showcase.

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