Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich Kalamazoo Choral Arts really is... We see it as an umbrella for all things choral singing.

The goal of KCA is to really completely revamp the way somebody experiences a choral music concert.

We see it as an opportunity for community members that want to join and sing with us, to do so on any of our, usually four premier concerts of any given season.

We also see it as an opportunity to engage with the next generation of choral singers, again, so anything related to choral singing, or choir, be it community choir, or church choir, or school choir, we see ourselves being engaged and involved with all of that, really engaged with different styles of choral singing, different styles of solo singing, so anywhere from musical theater to jazz, American songbook, opera, R&B, rap.

There are so many different ways that people sing.

Part of our reason for existing is to make sure that there is choral singers in perpetuity long into the future.

The other thing that we do is to really engage with what’s happening in the community and the communities of Kalamazoo in the larger region.

When we changed from Kalamazoo Bach Festival to Kalamazoo Choral Arts, we saw it more as an evolution rather than a huge shift quickly.

What had been happening over the years, it was limiting the number of people that were interested in it because it was kind of a misnomer.

When it first originated, that would have been seen as the gold standard of choral singing, a group that could do Bach.

But over time, it evolved, and then we had, we were doing more than, and yet still, including Bach’s repertoire, but it felt like it was limiting in terms of what we were saying to the public, Here’s who we are.

Here’s who’s welcome, both at a concert and in the ensemble.

And if you don’t know who Bach was, then perhaps you feel somehow left out of that equation.

And so we wanted to create a name that really encompassed all that we were, and that allowed us to morph and to continue to evolve as an organization in the future, because there are styles we don’t even know what they are yet.

They are interested in singing.

We’re starting one, now, this just this fall, called Kalalapella, which is an offshoot of Kalamazoo Choral Arts, both a mouthful.

Kalalapella is a group that we’ve formed in order to reach young people that have moved to Kalamazoo, post graduation, and really give them an opportunity to engage in choral singing, contemporary a cappella choral singing, things like pentatonics, groups like that, that are so important to many of the college students, we just found that as they came to a place like Kalamazoo Portage, they may or may not have had an opportunity to engage in singing in a way.

even with the name Kalamazoo Choral Arts that was so encompassing it still felt like maybe we needed to create something that was really meeting them where they were, and so that will debut this December.

I think there are so many places in the process that I really engage in different ways.

I will say, I absolutely detest the first reading of any piece.

It’s painful, it’s tedious.

It always feels like everybody is, it’s humbling.

which I suppose is a good thing.

But for me, where it really starts to lock in and feel good is when the ensemble gets to the point where they’re comfortable enough with the notes and the rhythms and the language, perhaps, that then we can start to engage on a whole ’nother level and say, okay, what did this music mean to the person that composed it?

What did it mean in the time period, or the context in which it was originally composed?

If it was 17th century or 18th century?

And then how does it change now?

And then to layer on a whole nother level of, sort of, how do we shape the sound and mold the sound?

And that, I think, starts to really lock in around the last couple of rehearsals before the dress rehearsal?

But there’s still no substitute for being in the venue.

Having that moment where everybody’s really locked in, as the young people say no, and to really have, like, a chord really resonate in a way that is transcendent, and to feel that moment at the end of a performance, perhaps, where, instead of applauding rapidly, as an audience, sometimes does, and that’s gratifying in its own way, there was a recent performance, the one with Kalamazoo Philharmonia, where we ended the piece in silence, and then there was probably five seconds of time where nobody wanted to break that really holy moment that we’d created together with the applause.

And that, sometimes, the silence of that can be even more important than the excited applause immediately following that final chord.

Both are gratifying, but in their own way.

KCA represents the larger community that we live in.

And it is for everybody.

It is by everybody, and it’s about everybody.

And so I think having a chance for everyone to feel seen, and to feel comfortable giving it a try, is really key.

We don’t want anybody to ever look at KCA and go, Oh, that doesn’t feel like me.

We want them to look at it and go, I could do that.

That’s the key.

I could do that.

I could see myself up there performing.

I could see myself in that audience.

I’m not worried about, am I good enough?

Am I a strong enough singer?

All those things get sort of hashed out in the audition process.

What I want is people to look on stage and go, I’m entertained by this, I’m moved by this, and I could do that.

I think my proudest moments are looking at the ensemble that I’m working with, and seeing this huge sea of people.

So there’s probably 70 or 80 in the ensemble.

What’s really beautiful is to see the ensemble has grown in its racial diversity.

It has also grown in its age diversity.

And so you have this really special dynamic where there’s people that are octogenarians, septagenarians, There are also people that are in their 20s, their 30s.

Again, all of them bringing a really special level of commitment to the group, and a really special lived experience, both that of youth, and that of maturity, and all of those kind of coming together, and realizing that at the end of the day, none of our belief systems really matter.

Ultimately, what matters is the music.

And the people that are coming together, putting all those other things aside in order to make that music, seeing that be truly a tapestry of the larger community of Kalamazoo in portage, and have it really be representative of all the different folks that live here, from all the different background and cultures and ethnicities, that, for me, is the greatest privilege of this job.

Beat!

beat!

drums!

Blow!

bugles!

blow!

Through the windows through the doors burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation; Into the school where the scholar is studying; Leave not the bridegroom quiet no happiness must he have now with his bride; Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering in his grain So fierce you whirr and pound you drums so shrill you bugles blow Beat!

beat!

drums!

Blow!

bugles!

blow!

Over the traffic of cities over the rumble of wheels in the streets Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses?

No bargainers’ bargains by day no brokers or speculators would they continue?

Would the talkers be talking?

Would the singer attempt to sing?

Then rattle quicker, heavier drums you bugles wilder blow Beat!

beat!

drums!

Blow!

bugles!

blow!

Make no parley stop for no expostulation, Mind not the timid mind not the weeper or prayer Mind not the old man beseeching the young man; Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties; Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses So strong you thump O terrible drums so loud you bugles blow The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land You may almost hear the beating of his wings.

There is no one as of old to sprinkle with blood.

The lintel and the two side posts up our doors That he may spare and pass on Dona Nobis pacem Dona Nobis pacem We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land...and those that dwell therein... The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved... Is there no balm in Gilead?

is there no physician there?

Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

O man greatly beloved.

Fear not Peace be unto thee.

Be strong.

Yea be strong The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former And in this place will I give peace?

Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more And none shall make them afraid, Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; and let them hear, and say, it is the truth.

And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.

And they shall come and see my glory.

And I will set a sign among them ... and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain forever’.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men Glory to all Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.