Performance Report 1: Shakespeare in Song

Introduction

The event I decided to attend, like most of my classmates was Shakespeare in Song presented by The University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers. Specifically, I attended the Saturday performance at 8PM. I was going to attend the 2PM show on that day but other obligations caused me to miss that show.

Music

The music all represented a Baroque style. According to the program notes, “The compositions chosen for this performance come from three sources: the authentic songs referred to above; the solo songs of the British composer Roger Quilter (whose rich song literature rivals that of his contemporary Ralph Vaughan Williams); and the choral arrangements of the songs of Shakespeare by Juilliard graduate Mathew Harris, who is now living and composing in New York City. Not surprisingly, they all have a Shakespearean flavor and many of the elements of early 17^th century music composers” (Evans). Like most chamber singer groups, there is a wide variety of vocal ranges represented by the singers. One thing I note in my programming notes is that in the earlier songs, drone was represented very well with the baritone and bass singers. The pianist played his role as an accompaniment part with the group as a whole and when there were solo pieces. The piano provided a different timbre from the choir as a whole but stayed somewhat in the background.

What I want to touch on more in this section is the themes represented in repertoire of music selected for this performance and how those were chosen to be presented. First, the performance was a hybrid of dialog and music performance. The setting of the particular play and act in the play were represented before and after each music piece. The most interesting part of the performance was the themes in the performance which included love, lust and alcohol use. I payed much closer attention to the dialog because of this. I sense that this was an intentional decision in order to gain more interest from their audience, UTD students. If that is the case, it worked for me.

Performers

The first thing I noticed when the singers and director walked in was their attire. They were all dressed in medieval clothing. All of the girls had dresses which looked Middle Aged in style. Men wore clothing ranging from tunics to vests with baggy low cut pants. Since the performers numbered around 20-30, they stood on risers so everyone could remain visible during the entire performance. As a previous member of a church choir and a previous high school student who had to take those panoramic class pictures every year, I know exactly how these singers feel. As I mentioned earlier

Audience

The audience was generally well-manured. I noted that a few latecomers to the performance come in up to 15 minutes late. I can see how that can be a little distracting to other audience members but I only noticed this because I was trying to be aware of what the audience is doing. One interaction that was very interesting to me was the fact that the conductor would signal the audience to applaud the choral. Sense there was dialog intermixed with the singing, it was hard to tell when a particular 'scene' was over. In particular, it was hard to know when to applaud when a song was over and dialog when continue directly after. Thus, the convention evolved into simply waiting for the director to signal the audience. I got the impression that most of the audience members were people doing assignments like me, genuinely interested guests, and friends and family of the performers. After the show, the mood was very casual. Most of the performers could be seen directly outside the auditorium talking to their friends and people who attended the show.

Time and Space

The performance was held at the Jonsson Performance Hall in the Erik Jonsson Academic Center on the campus of UT Dallas. The setting is very familiar to me because I have already had a couple classes in that room before.

Conclusion

Shakespeare in Song was a performance was a hybrid of music and dialog that fused aspects of choir and Shakespeare-style plays put on by The University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers. They had three different performance times over the weekend: March 26^th at 8PM; March 27^th at 2pm; and March 27^th at 8PM.

Works Cited

Evans, Kathryn. Program notes. Shakespeare in Song. 27 March 2010. Richardson: UTD Jonsson Performance Hall.

Shakespeare in Song. Dir. Kathyrn Evans. UTD Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson. 27 March 2010.