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.

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.”

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

Conductor Vicki Burrichter has advice for everyone stuck at home

By Peter Alexander June 9 at 11:20 p.m.

Vicki Burrichter has some advice for people sitting at home under Coronavirus quarantine: It’s OK to be unproductive.

Burrichter, artistic director of the Boulder Chorale, is speaking from her home in Colorado Springs, where she and her partner are sitting out the pandemic. She continues her job as a faculty member for the online Western Governors University, “so nothing has changed for me there,” she says. But even doing her usual work, she finds herself worn out more easily.

“I do have to do my faculty job, which is 40 hours a week,” she says. “But once I’m done with that, I don’t have much left. I want to sit and binge Netflix. You have to be OK with not being productive, because it is a difficult time.”

Not that she doesn’t continue to work for the Boulder Chorale. “The board has been talking about [next season],” she says. “We’ve been on it since day one, trying to understand the ramifications of everything, and make the decisions for the health of our singers and the health of our audience. That’s our number one priority.”

Reflecting that priority, the chorale has recently announced that they do not expect to “be able to hold in-person rehearsals or performances in the fall.” That decision was announced in a letter from Boulder Chorale board president Beth Zacharisen to members of the chorale, sent at the beginning of the month.

The decision was based partly on information from a Webinar presented by the American Choral Directors Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Chorus America. There has been great concern in those groups, because of the special conditions of people getting together and singing with one another.

“[The Webinar] caused quite a stir in the choral world,” Burrichter says. “A laryngologist and virologist [spoke} about the fact that singers are superspreaders of the virus, because of how well we project our breath. The advice from one of them was that you’d need to stand 16 feet apart wearing a plastic thing over you and a mask, and that doesn’t make for good singing!

“The blend would be problematic,” she adds, laughing. “But of course you don’t want to make any of us sick: staff, parents, children, adults, and certainly not audience.” 

The letter to chorale members cited the “current research on the potential risks of transmitting the disease through singing” that had been presented in the Webinar. It ended on a hopeful note, that “our staff and board are actively researching the creative ideas that national non-profits, such as Chorus America, and other choruses around the country are using to sustain community and singing connections,” and promised that “we will keep you up to date as this unfolds.”

For her part, Burrichter remains optimistic about the long-term future. “I have three close friends who are professors of history, and all of them have said that after pandemics there is always an enormous explosion of innovation,” she says. 

“I think we’re already starting to see that a little bit. People are working on the technology part of it, trying to innovate around how to have groups together. Right now the rehearsal technology is awful. Anybody who has tried to sing “Happy Birthday” on Zoom knows what I’m talking about!”

Like most of us, Burrichter is taking up or developing hobbies—in her caser, some related to music. “I just bought a Fender Stratocaster [electric guitar] and a tube amp!” she says. “I feel like a 50-year old guy having a mid-life crisis who bought a Ferrari. I’m going to learn to play some blues.”

But wait, there’s more! While she’s plucking strings, “I’ve been taking flamenco guitar lessons online,” she says. “And I need to get back to my banjo—I bought myself a banjo a few years ago, because I had played when I was a teenager, and I need to get back to that.”

Maybe she needs to heed her own advice “to be OK with not being productive!”

She does take some time to relax away from musical pursuits. “I’ve been catching up on reading, but also we have a beautiful yard, we’ve been spending a lot of time back there, and like everybody also Zooming with our friends all over the country, and family.”

When it’s time to listen to some music, Burrichter has broad tastes. Under her direction Boulder Chorale has performed many different styles and genres of music, which perfectly reflect her own tastes. “I listen to all kinds of things,” she says.

“The music that always soothes me the most in Brazilian music, and I’ve been listening to a lot of Brazilian music. There’s something about that music that I find very soothing. I’m also listening to some choral music, Voces8. I think they’re one of the best vocal groups in the world right now.”

There’s only one thing that she is ruling out: “Not a lot of Punk. I actually really love punk, but there’s something about the anger of the punk that right now I can’t handle.”

If you have been part of the Boulder Chorale’s audience, she hopes you will stay connected to the group. “Arts organizations really need your support right now, if you’re financially able to do that,” she says. “All arts organizations have lost funding from the concerts that didn’t happen. 

“If you can get on Boulderchorale.org and make a donation, that’s always going to be welcome.”