Music Performance Report 1

Welcome back fellow followers, for this music performance report I went to this concert called Shakespeare in Song. This concert was composed of the chamber singers choir, under the direction of director Dr. Kathryn Evans, and the accompanist Michael McVay. Throughout this whole concert the choir sang different songs related to Shakespeare’s different plays. They sang songs from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, The Tempest, Hamlet, Cymbeline, As you like it, The Merchant of Venice, A Winter’s Tale, Othello, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Twelfth Night.
The time and space of the performance was at night, beginning at eight o’clock lasting for about an hour and a half. It was performed at the Johnnson Performance auditorium at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Stage consisted of four layers of stair stepping risers. From the audience member’s point of view, the order of the choir from left to right started with the sopranos furthest to the left standing next to the altos. In the middle standing next to the altos would be the tenors and standing next to them are the basses or baritones. In front of all of them was Dr. Kathryn Evans herself with her back facing the audience so that she could direct the choir. There were ushers at the door greeting the members in the audience while handing out programs. On stage there were six different podiums. Five of the podiums were for the soloists to come in from to the stage and give their solo. The last podium was hidden in the back for the person who worked all the technical issues out if they were to occur. In the background of the stage was a power point that followed along as the singers sang their songs for the purpose of keeping the audience members updated.
I went on a Friday night so the audience members were mostly students, but I did see both young and old people. I would guess that the age range would be that of seventeen to seventy-one year olds. Some of the students there didn’t really have proper concert etiquette and clapped at inappropriate times. There was an intermission and then most people just talked to each other. The music was all played on the piano. This concert was a constant shuffle of music, then dialogue, then music. Sometimes the choir members were singing in unison, and sometimes they were singing in different octaves of one another. They all had their sheet music available.
The Concert Performance consisted of both acting, singing, and just reading straight from their music scores. They were all in costumes acting with props such as a beer bottle. They also moved their hands to convey messages in the music score. In some parts of the performance some of the soloists that were girls moved to the very right of the stage and when they sang as a choir it became apparent to me that the men had been sandwiched by the women on the stage. They sound was immensely amplified at that moment. Many of them had practiced singing because it had become clear to me that they had tall vowels. Their music was not at all memorized but many singers would start moving to the beat of the song and it looked as if they were doing chest and head pumps. With a wave of her hand Dr. Kathryn Evans controlled the volume as well as the musical techniques that she wanted them to employ such as a decrescendo, crescendo, or a staccato. Her hand also kept the beat for the singers. Sometimes, she would wave her hand in make a tilde shape in the air and the singers would hold their note. It was mostly noted that her right hand directed the men while her left hand directed the women.