A CHRONICLE OF A GREAT CONCERT: Neuqua Valley HS Choir in Valencia (Spain)

 

As a popular rumour says, – most likely true- “words in paper would withstand any judgement”.  And reading the curriculum that Neuqua Valley HS Choir shared, I must confess that I felt shacked by fear, since it would not be the first time that a dazzling résumé turned to many questions marks in my head, just when listening the actual live voices in the first performance.  

It has definitely not been the case with this American choir of eighty very young singers – between 16 and 18 springs – but very well educated musically and with highly tuned voices, perfect diction and able to move an abundant audience – indeed, the Romanesque Santa Catalina Church in Valencia was completely full – and make it explode in warm applauses of appreciation.

 

Cantoría Hipponensis has been a contributor to the organisation of this concert in the unpaired scene of the Romanesque Church of Santa Catalina and we feel proud that this choir has come on tour to Spain and that their first stop has been our city.

Neuqua Valley Choir interpreted a varied bunch of songs from the wide and varied repertoire contained in the hand programme.  However, we want to highlight one of them – Three Native American Songs – in a musical arrangement by one of its directors, J. Ryan Rimington, where we had the opportunity to hear the songs of the Navajo and Cherokee Indians with its characteristic percussion and a melancholic sound of the flute.

Also remarkable was the interpretation of authors of Spanish music of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, as Juan de la Encina, Tomas Luis de Victoria and Francisco Guerrero, the most successful authors of our music. And also the Ave Maria, by Javier Busto, one of our more modern composers that is interpreted by virtually all choirs in Spain.

Fortunately for the audience, some Gospel interpretations were not absent in this concert, such as “There’s honey in the rock”, that rose an embroiled perfection, as well as  the song “This land is your land” with a variety of male and female solos.

In short, this was a concert that the audience followed enthusiastically and left happily after seeing and listening to this young choir singing a varied repertoire, and with great technical perfection.

Before closing I would like to pride the choir conductor, Jay Kellner, with gestures far from theatrical, a man of great simplicity in his hands, but with a leading knowledge of what he has in his hands, that makes him shine over the whole.

It was worth attending this concert.