Concert is Cultural Olympiad capstone
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The capstone was placed on the Church's role in the Cultural Olympiad March 9 as the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performed the final concert in a series of four linked with the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. The first three concerts in the Tabernacle came in the midst of the Olympic Games, held Feb. 8-24; the final performance was a cultural complement to the Paralympic Games, March 7-16.
Titled "Make a Joyful Noise!" the concert March 9 served as an aural testament of triumph over adversity. Guest soloist Evelyn Glennie, world-acclaimed percussionist from Scotland, inspired musicians with whom she performed, athletes of all abilities and the audience in general as she demonstrated artistic and physical mastery of various instruments. Deaf since age 11, she could be described as "the barefoot percussionist" since she performed without shoes in order better to "hear the music through the vibrations of the floor."
The audience "heard" in a like manner. The venerable building vibrated, particularly during a concerto for percussion and orchestra by Joseph Schwantner, which premiered in 1995. The audience felt the music — literally.
During the concerto, Miss Glennie took more than center stage as she moved from instrument to instrument, including a nine-foot and five-octave marimba, bongos, xylophone, vibraphone, almglocken (pitched Alpine cow bells), triangles, cymbals, concert bass drum, tenor drum, timbaletas and a kettle drum filled with water.
After the concerto, the audience burst into applause, with hundreds stamping their feet to send vibrations in reverse: from audience to performer. Later, Miss Glennie described such applause as "incredible!"
Tabernacle Choir music director Craig Jessop was joined by associate directors, Mack Wilberg and Barlow Bradford, in conducting the concert. The program was divided into six parts, each with a theme of praise drawn from Psalm 150, which calls for praises with cymbals, stringed instruments, timbrel and trumpet
A world premiere was part of the concert program. Accompanied by organist Richard Elliott, the choir and Miss Glennie performed "Capriccio," which was written by Chen Yi especially for her and the Tabernacle Choir to perform as part of the Cultural Olympiad celebrating the Paralympic Games.
Also with the choir, Miss Glennie performed on the marimba one of her own works, "A Little Prayer."
The program included works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Gabriel Faure and John Rutter, along with familiar hymns. Two selections in particular captured the spirit of the Olympics, Leo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream," and "Call of the Champions," theme of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games by composer John Williams.
In an interview with the Church News, Miss Glennie described the concert as "a more unusual event," in reference to the joining of the arts to sports during the Games. She said she was pleased that her concert was "linked with the Paralympics. That people have many challenges, personal aims and personal goals in the sporting world is so similar to what musicians do. We have our own goals, our own aims. Basically, we entertain. That's what it is. It's sort of a giving profession." Many in the audience were people with varying disabilities, including several who are deaf or have hearing impairments. "It's very important for concert organizers to realize that hearing impaired people can truly get something from the music," she said. "It's very important to not just assume that if they can't hear they can't experience music."
Miss Glennie made three appearances: the dress rehearsal Saturday afternoon, March 9; the concert that evening; and the Music and Spoken Word broadcast and a mini-concert March 10.
Brother Bradford, who conducted the concerto, said that many people came to the concert not knowing what to expect. He said that at the rehearsal the audience "just exploded, burst into spontaneous applause." Of the audience members stamping their feet Saturday evening, he said, "I've never known that to happen. It was just a thunder."
He said that to hear the music is one thing, "but to watch what happened here is something else. We have a performer out there who has such belief in what she's doing and in this music. The emotion, the thought behind what's going on — she presents that with such conviction, you're just pulled right in to it."
Brother Jessop said that the concert was a fitting conclusion to the Church's role in the Cultural Olympiad. "Through the years, the finest musical artists in the world have come here. . . . In this series we have brought some of the world's finest living artists in their fields here to perform with us. The torch was handed to us and we've been able to carry this torch, and what a privilege it is to do that.
"Frederica von Stade (who performed Feb. 9) is truly one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos in the world. John Williams (Feb. 9) is one of the greatest living composers in the world today. Richard Stoltzman (Feb. 16) is the world's most renowned clarinetist. The king'singers (Feb. 23) are incomparable in choral music. Evelyn Glennie is at the very top of her craft as percussionist."
With a lineup like that, he said, some of the world's most outstanding talents, have been showcased in the Tabernacle during the Games.
E-mail: gerry@desnews.com
