In recent years, the Bach Festival of Kalamazoo has hosted a series of A-list, world-famous choral ensembles: Chanticleer, Cantus, the St. Olaf Choir, and the Vienna Boys Choir. Another of that calibre, Conspirare, performs this Wednesday at Portage Central High School Auditorium.
Craig Hella Johnson is the director. A graduate of St Olaf College and Juilliard, Johnson founded Conspirare in Austin almost 20 years ago. I spoke with him about this mixed ensemble of virtuoso singers and the program he created for this tour.
[Craig Hella Johnson] “All of the singers are professional singers. That was the model for this particular ensemble: we wanted to really develop a world class ensemble that was made up of singers who were all really advanced in their singing lives and their careers as soloists, who really share a love and a deep interest in making chamber music together in this way. So, very few of the singers actually live in Austin; this is a model that is very unusual and also very expensive. So we fly all the singers here, except for a few who live here, in for each period of rehearsals and performances”
[Craig Hella Johnson] “I really love to shape a program in a way that can create the opportunity for musicians and listeners to really connect; to try and create the right kind of nest and structure for the pieces that’ll be presented, and also to present it in a way that can help it to be heard more clearly and naturally, if you will.”
[Craig Hella Johnson] “I love this process, it’s something I take very very seriously, and joyfully also. I like when a concert can feel something like a dialogue within itself and also a dialogue with the audience and musicians. And I hope we can create something special together when we’re there.”
[Cara Lieurance] “One thing that stands out, looking at the program you’re bringing to Kalamazoo, is the significance you’ve given to African American spirituals. There’s not just one or two tacked on to the end of the program like many choirs do, but they’re a part of the core of the program.”
[Craig Hella Johnson] “Well, we’ve thought about this a lot. I love this repertoire and we as an ensemble really do. So we really want to present it as a repertoire that is core and fundamental. It has such an incredible range of expression. Perhaps the essential element of style with this I would tell the singers over and over and over again, if we get nothing else right, we have got to be completely emotionally engaged, in the moment, every time we sing it.”
[Craig Hella Johnson] “We’ve, as we say, got to be behind the eyes of this emotionally, with complete engagement. And it really sets our expectations high for everything else we’re singing, too, so hopefully it influences an entire program. And also to listen for the incredible vast spectrum of colors that are need to bring this music to life.”
[Craig Hella Johnson] “And then we’re also including some folk songs. There’s a Woody Guthrie song, Eliza Gilkison - a present day folk song singer. We’re trying to show this procession of American song and relate it also to some standard American choral repertoire from the 20th and 21st century. A lot of Samuel Barber we’ll be doing, and some sacred harp things. So it’s a fun program for us that way, to kind of explore our American-ness from many angles.”
I spoke with Craig Hella Johnson, director of Conspirare. The choral group performs Wednesday, March 7 in Portage. More information is available here.