Boulder Chorale has set an online plan for the fall

Tuesday programs include lectures, films, and a video performance

By Peter Alexander Aug. 31 at 3 p.m.

The Coronavirus keeps chugging along, but so does the Boulder Chorale

They’re not able to sing together again yet—choruses will be one of the last performing groups to come back, because singers spread droplets when singing and all breathe the same air. But Vicki Burrichter, the chorale’s artistic director, and the members of the Boulder Chorale are determined to keep their musical community running.

Boulder Chorale with Vicki Burrichter (center, blue dress)

They have created an online program for the fall, “United in Song,” that will allow chorale members—and anyone else who is interested—to keep singing and stay in touch with one another. The program includes events ranging from a book discussion and a film about the great choral conductor Robert Shaw to lectures on choirs and choral singing. 

In addition to Burrichter, guests who will appear as part of the program include Julie Simson, former CU professor of voice currently teaching at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University; Joslyn Ford Keel, a Grammy-nominated singer who has appeared and toured with the Boulder Chorale; and the chorale’s assistant artistic director, Larisa Dreger.

These events will be Tuesday nights, all but one at 7 p.m. (note full schedule below).

There will also be online rehearsals, as choir members learn “All of Us,” the inspirational closing number from Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. The fall season will culminate with the online release of a video performance of “All of Us,” put together by Stephen Ross of the award-winning Boulder rock band FACE.

“We surveyed the singers in the spring,” Burrichter says. “We asked open-ended questions about what they value about the chorale, what things were important to them, what they would be willing to pay for. We got a tremendous response— I think 3/4 of the chorale responded in some way.”

Vicki Burrichter, interviewed from her home

After going through all the responses, Burrichter came up with what she calls “The Four Pillars of Community” for the Boulder Chorale. Those are vocal maintenance; music education, especially choral music and choirs in music history; community building and the social experience; and singing together.

“I built the season around that,” Burrichter says, “and invited some of our favorite people” to be part of the series of events. She also stressed that the fall program is open to anyone. There will be no auditions, and anyone who signs up will be free to choose which events to attend. You may attend the educational events without having to sing in the final performance.

“This is for anybody,” Burrichter says. “’We have two people from Brazil joining us, we have one of our member’s mom who lives in San Francisco joining us, we have a guy in England who may be joining. It’s just an online thing for anybody who misses their choir experience.”

For those who participate as singers, the final product—the compilation performance of “All of Us” —will be unveiled to the singers Nov. 24. and will be available to the public the week of Thanksgiving. “It’s a very, very beautiful, very moving, piece,” Burrichter says. “My pianist Susan Olenwine and I have to figure out [how we’re going to do it online]. I picked a piece that’s really hard. A lot of tempo changes—oh man! What was I thinking?”

Burrichter is still meeting with Ross to work out all of the technical details for the performance, which will be forthcoming for the singers by the time the series gets under way.

If you want to be part of the Boulder Chorale fall program, you can read and download the brochure, with all details of the individual programs here.  Registration for the program is $150, and is due by Monday, Sept. 7. The online registration form is here

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Boulder Chorale online program: “United in Song”
All events Tuesdays, 7–8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted

Sept. 8: “Singing Together.” Stephen Ross will discuss the video project and an online tool, “My Choral Coach,” will be introduced.

Sept. 15: “Maintaining our Voices.” Julie Simson and Vicki Burrichter will answer questions from chorale members.

Sept. 22: Learning about Choral Music: “The Great Choirs.” Vicki Burrichter. 

Sept. 29: Singing Together. Zoom will be used to give rehearsal notes and practice together

Oct. 6: Maintaining our Voices. Special training for the sections of the chorale
6:30 p.m.: altos and bases
7:30 p.m.: sopranos and tenors

Oct. 13: Book Club Night. Discussion of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

Oct. 20: Learning about Choral Music. World Music Night: Diversity in vocal technique

Oct. 27: Movie Night. Vicki Burrichter will show the documentary Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices

Nov. 3: Maintaining our Voices. Larissa Dreger and Vicki Burrichter

Nov. 10: Learning about Choral Music. Singer Joslyn Ford Keel will talk about her experience with the renowned Fisk Singers.

Nov. 17: Singing Together. Vicki Burrichter and Larisa Dreger will choose easy choral songs that can be sung together over Zoom.

Nov. 24: Community Fun and Connection: The unveiling of the video performance of “All of Us” compiled by Stephen Ross 

Dec. 1: No event

Dec. 8: Community Fun & Connection: Holiday Party

Two productions will bring live music back to Boulder

Outdoor performances Ag. 14–16 and Aug. 29 will observe Coronavirus safety protocols

By Peter Alexander (Aug. 11 at 11:20 p.m.)

Live music is back in Boulder—in a limited, outdoorsy sort of way.

Two outdoor performances later this month will provide live music, for the limited audiences who can get tickets. Both presenters have worked with Boulder Parks and Recreation Department to meet all health requirements. Both will be strictly social distanced, with limited numbers admitted and carefully spaced.

The Gerald Stazio Softball Fields parking lot, site of drive-in performances Aug. 14–16

Boulder Arts Outdoors will present what it calls “A socially-distanced drive-in performance pop-up” this coming weekend, Friday–Sunday, Aug. 14–16. The mixed program of classical, blue-grass, soul, salsa, dance and juggling, will be presented before a drive-in audience at the parking lot of the Gerald Stazio Softball Fields off 63rd Street in East Boulder.

Later in the month, Boulder Opera (BOC) will present its annual Opera in the Park performance in the Boulder Band Shell on Canyon Drive, to an audience limited to 175 people. The performance Saturday, Aug. 29, will be in two parts, with separate admission for each so that more people might have the opportunity to attend. The first half will be music from fairy-tale and fantasy operas, and the second half will be music from Zarzuelas, a popular genre of Spanish musical theater.

Mara Driscoll, the organizer of the Drive-In Festival, recently returned to Boulder from New York, where she dances at the Metropolitan Opera. “I’m still connected to the Boulder arts community, having gown up here, and as a performer I was feeling the disappearance of live performance,” she says.

The band Lady Romeo, one of the groups performing on Boulder Outdoor Arts
drive-in concert

“I really value everyone’s efforts to make things digital and to live stream, but we all know it’s just not the same. I was watching drive-in movie theaters pop up all over the country, and seeing how that made it possible for people to assemble safely, I thought, why not apply that same model to performance? There’s very, very stringent health regulations right now; a lot of the permit process was making sure that I could keep everyone socially distanced.”

The cars the parking lot will be spaced apart, in every second space, and arranged in a horseshoe shape for maximum visibility of the elevated stage located at one end of the lot. The music will be amplified, and also streamed through an FM transmitter for anyone who does not wish to lower their windows.

“The capacity is 40 vehicles, so people will be close enough to the stage that they can hear well, and see the performers,” Driscoll says. “It should feel like an outdoor amphitheater experience, you’re just looking through your windshield.”

The bluegrass duo Sugar Moon

Driscoll used her connections to the Boulder dance and music communities to invite artists and groups to be part of the performances. Some contacts suggested other performers, so that the total program grew to be extremely diverse. 

The schedules over the three nights includes members of the Boulder Symphony, the Renaissance-music vocal quintet Solis Singers, the soul/rock band Lady Romeo, the Bluegrass groups Chandler Holt & Eric Wiggs, Sugar Moon and Bowregard, djembe drumming by Abdoul Doumbia, a new piece created for the occasion by dancer Helanius J. Wilkins, Salsa dance by Marcela Lay and Musa Starseed, Third Law Dance/Theater, and juggling by Peter Davison. The program is slightly different each evening; the full program by date can be seen here

Helanius J. Wilkins

“It’s all about the artists,” Driscoll says. “I really wanted to create a platform for artists to do what they do. It’s exciting what everyone’s going to bring to the table, and I think audiences are going to go for this great ride and leave with a sense of awe at all the creativity and talent that’s right here in Boulder.”

Boulder Opera has offered “Opera in the Park” for several summers running, but this year was different due to the pandemic. “We definitely had to go through a lot of hoops putting in an application with the city of Boulder, to make sure we are following all of the safety precautions for performing live,” Dianela Acosta, the company’s artistic director, says.

“The event is going to be capped at 175 people, and we usually attract between 400 and 600. We have to do social-distance seating, and everybody has to wear masks. We’re going to have to set out some areas where people can sit and be six feet away from each other.

Boulder Opera’s 2019 “Opera in the Park”

The performance is free, Acosta notes, but audience members have to register in advance through Boulder Opera Web page , and bring a copy of their registration with them. Boulder Opera staff will be on hand to direct people to their seats and ensure that no-one who is not registered gets inside the audience area. 

“Our overhead expense have gone up, because there’s  lot of work we have to do to prepare for this,” Acosta says. “And then, for the performer’s safety, we follow the same guidelines, and there’s going to be a protective plastic barrier in front of the stage.”

The program is divide into two halves, each with its own theme and content. “You can register for the first part, or the second part of the concert, or you can register for both parts,” Acosta explains. The music from operas based on fairy tales, including “Hansel and Gretel” and “Cinderella,” on the first part might be more family oriented. The second part features music from a popular Spanish style of light opera, Zarzuela.

Singers from the 2019 performance of Boulder Opera’s “Opera in the Park”

Featured on the first half will be a scene from Hansel und Gretel by Humperdinck; an aria from Rimsky Korsakov’s Snow Maiden; “Olympia’s Song” and the “Barcarolle” duet from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman; “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka by Dvořák, an opera based on the same folk tale as “The Little Mermaid”; a duet and quartet from El Gato con Botas (“Puss in Boots”) by Spanish composer Xavier Montsalvage; and several numbers from La Cenerentola (“Cinderella”) by Rossini.

Forming the second half of he program, “Zarzuela is a traditional opera from Spain,” Acosta says. “It’s based on the folkloric tales and folk songs that have been adapted for operatic singing. And it’s very well known in Spain.”

Dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Zarzuela is contemporaneous with the rise of operetta and musical comedy in the U.S. Neither the titles nor the composers—including Gerónimo Giménez, Federico Moreno-Torroba and Francisco  Barbieri—are familiar to American audiences. Singers for both halves of the program are members of the Boulder Opera company, including Acosta herself. They will be accompanied on piano by Nathália Kato, the BOC staff pianist.

“Our theme is opera for people, and we want to bring these beautiful pieces to our audience as a way to bring the community together,” Acosta says. For those we cannot be brought together on this occasion, when the audience size is limited, the performance will be live streamed through the BOC Facebook page

“That [distanced performing] is going to be just for a little while, and then we are going to hopefully meet together soon again,” Acosta says. “[Online viewing] cannot replace live performances. That’s the beauty of what we do, performing in a live stage! 

“Nothing can substitute for what it means to be sitting there and feeling the vibration of the voice in the instant.”

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Boulder Arts Outdoors: “Drive-in Festival”
6:30 p.m. Friday–Sunday, Aug. 14–16
Gerald Stazio Softball Fields parking lot
Tickets

Boulder Opera: “Fairy-Tale Opera, Zarzuela and Dance”
7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29: Fairy-Tale Fantasy
8:10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29: Zarzuela and Dance
Boulder Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Drive
Tickets
Live stream on the Boulder Opera Facebook page