In the summer of 2001, a group of people who were passionate about singing organized a new choir based in Tacoma’s North End. The name selected for this ensemble was Northwest Repertory Singers because we wanted to represent our entire region. And, we wanted to be known for the repertoire we performed: repertoire that would touch the lives of those who would hear us perform. Our mission was (and is) to enrich and educate the Northwest community through the promotion and development of choral music. It didn’t take long for us to realize we were also going to emphasize community and collaborations as part of our vision and purpose. Only one year after we started, on September 11, 2002, NWRS sponsored Tacoma’s participation in the worldwide “Rolling Requiem,” commemorating the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. That performance at 8:46 a.m., to an overflowing audience at Mason United Methodist Church, set the tone for NWRS serving our community and region through music.
The seventeen years since our beginning have passed quickly but the memories we share will last forever. We have performed 65 concerts, presented more than 550 choral works and collaborated with 27 music groups. Collaborations include The Coats, Tacoma Youth Chorus, Cora Voce, Rainier Symphony, Magical Strings, Total Experience Gospel Choir, Northwest Sinfonietta, Federal Way Chorale, Rainier Family Opera, Kareem Kandi Band, Lyric Brass Quintet, Sounds of Brass, Evergreen Brass Quintet, choral ensembles from the University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, Clark College, Curtis High School, Emerald Ridge High School, Geiger Montessori School, Tacoma School of the Arts Dancers, and numerous solo guest artists. Additionally, NWRS is a member of the Proctor District Association, provides entertainment for various Proctor District holiday events, and once executed a surprise “flash mob” at the Proctor Farmer’s Market. Choir members make weekly donations of food to Nourish Pierce County (previously FISH Food Bank).
The repertoire for this concert reflects the things I discovered are most important to me. I believe we are each a product of our past—to understand who we are, we must attempt to understand how we arrived at this moment. I grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan. On our farm I experienced the words of Dylan Thomas and Robert Frost as set to music in Fern Hill and The Pasture, making it a necessity for me to program these two works to share with you, and the magical marriage of music to these words solidified my decision.
I vividly recall nearly everything Thomas mentions in his poem: the barn, cattle, harvest, owls, foxes, horses, pheasants, and swallows. And Frost uses the perfect word to describe the instability of the newborn calf the first time it tries to stand: “it totters.” It is a joy to witness this miracle when it happens.
Morten Lauridsen’s Lux aeterna is a work I’ve wanted to conduct since its premiere in 1997. In 2008, Lauridsen wrote: “It is my hope that this quiet meditation on Light will enrich and enlighten the lives of both performers and listeners in some way.” This music has touched the heart of every member of NWRS as we prepared for this performance. Morten composed Lux aeterna in response to his mother’s death. This music causes me to remember and cherish my own mother, her strong faith, her kind and gentle spirit, and her love of beautiful music.
In addition to repertoire for mixed choir, NWRS has always performed works written for men’s ensemble and works written for women’s ensemble. Hearing the men of NWRS sing Dan Davison’s brilliant setting of texts from the Psalms in O Sing to the Lord heightens my spirituality. Singing about family (whether we conceptualize our personal family or our “choir family”) has always been important to NWRS. The traditional camp meeting songs in No Time, sung by the women of NWRS, take us through the entire progression of “fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters.”
The music of Johannes Brahms has always touched my heart. When I was a teenager, I vividly recall weeping the first time I heard “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” from his Ein deutsches Requiem. My tears flowed again when conducting the NWRS performances of the work in 2014. Tonight we hear a short Brahms art song, The May Night. Brahms’s genius comes to the fore in virtually all of his song settings. When the text in this piece speaks of a single tear that “burns me,” we all feel it!
Words cannot describe how blessed I feel to have both son and spouse compose works for my last concert with NWRS. Again, the texts move me as much as their musical settings. Both texts describe places of natural beauty, which is something Donna and I experience daily (sunsets from our deck overlooking the Olympic mountains), and something that has always been a component in our travel and hiking experiences (the green glen). I’m especially grateful to have our son David and daughter-in-law Emily join Margie in accompanying Donna’s work. NWRS has premiered several beautiful and exciting new works over the years, but David’s Abend and Donna’s Meet Me in the Green Glen will be held close in my heart forever.
I remember the first time I heard Morten Lauridsen’s Les Chansons des Roses, performed by conductor Bruce Browne and the Portland State Choir in 1995. I marveled at the beauty of the music and how sensitively Lauridsen captured Rilke’s texts. I had no idea that one of these pieces would eventually cement a strong relationship between the composer and NWRS. On Friday, June 15, 2007, at Seattle’s Town Hall, NWRS performed as part of the American Masterpieces Choral Festival which featured Lauridsen as guest composer.
Our repertoire included “Dirait-on” from Les Chansons des Roses and the composer was in the audience. The text describes the rose’s beauty as “…self-caressing through its own clear reflection. Thus, you invent the theme of Narcissus fulfilled.” The music moves forward, growing dynamically to a hold and release. Upon that release, tears began to flow from every choir member, and from Margie at the piano, and I quickly sensed my own tears flowing. It was as if, in that moment, we became one with Morten Lauridsen’s dream for his music. We were assured the dream was realized when Lauridsen came forward to greet us with his own tears still flowing.
The text of Hold On urges us to “just keep your hand on the plow and hold on!” These words bring back pictures of my father plowing with a horse-drawn, single plow when I was a toddler.
I was privileged to hear the premiere performance of Lauridsen’s Nocturnes at the American Choral Directors Association national convention in Los Angeles in 2005. “Sure on this Shining Night” touched my heart and I still become emotional every time I rehearse or perform the work. James Agee’s beautiful, complex text is from the perspective of a man walking outside one summer night. He has seen the darkness of the world in his life, yet he insists that throughout the darkness he has also seen the kindness of the world. He looks up at the stars, and everything is right. His heart is “whole” as he weeps in awe at the wonders and the vastness of the universe, causing him to feel somewhat alone. Lauridsen’s magnificent setting of this text brings compassion and understanding to the hearts and minds of both performer and listener.
Mack Wilberg’s Anthem of Peace was written for The Bridges of Song Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia in 1991. This is a festival held in July every five years bringing choirs from all over the world together to perform. The joint choir for the festival is comprised of more than 30,000 singers performing to an audience of 80,000. Wilberg’s arrangement is based on “The Power of Song” (Estonian Folk Song) and “We Shall Walk Together in the Valley of Peace” (American Spiritual). The message of the closing text is a perfect way to conclude this very special program. It provides a simple solution for the many problems we face in the world and personal lives today: “When all lands walk hand in hand together, we shall walk in the valley of peace.” This is not a new idea. Psalm 133 states: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for people to dwell together in unity!”
I firmly believe NWRS started “hand in hand,” and for seventeen years this choir has continued to rehearse, perform and “dwell together” in that perfect unity music provides. I have been blessed to work with some of the most gifted guest artists on the planet and have been supported by an unbelievable group of talented, dedicated, generous choir members. Margie Skreen has been a true blessing in my life. Her dedication and consummate musicianship have contributed immensely to the success of NWRS. Kyle Haugen is an amazing talent, creative mind, and is the perfect person to take the leadership of NWRS. I look forward to watching the group grow and blossom under his artistic direction.
We have always had a dedicated board of directors, officers with a vision for success, section leaders who motivate and inspire their singers, volunteers who handle everything including website management, finances, publicity, printing, media, concert attire, stage management, and the list could go on. I have enjoyed our working relationship with the staff of Associated Management Inc. Leanna Collinge and Annie Skogland have been terrific colleagues and I will miss working with them. Finally, NWRS has been the beneficiary of a loyal, dedicated, enthusiastic audience throughout the years. And, no non-profit arts organization could survive seventeen years without a supportive and generous group of donors.
I have been blessed with many gifts, but none greater than the gift of a loving family and wife. Donna has been my rock, my best friend, my chief advisor (both musical and personal), and the best person in the world to help plan and experience adventures together. I’m especially looking forward to more time with her to plan and experience more adventures. My children and grandchildren are so precious, and I look forward to spending more quality time with all.
As I write this final paragraph, I wonder: Did all of this really happen? What made it work? One of the answers comes from returning to my days on the farm and recalling being involved in 4-H Club. The motto of 4-H Club is: “To make the best better.” I’ve been privileged throughout my career to work with the best and I believe we all became better through the power of music. Perhaps Nelson Mandela provided the best answer in 1994 when he wrote: “We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” With that philosophy, Mandela would have been a great choral director!
God bless you all, and thanks for the journey!
Paul W. Schultz
Artistic Director and Founder Northwest Repertory Singers