A Heavenly Match

📷@_curtisperry

Listening to an orchestra live is already an incredible experience (in this author’s opinion in any case). However, if you add the grandeur that a choir provides, it elevates the performance to whole other level. Think of Hymn to the Fallen in Saving Private Ryan (min 3:10), In Noctem from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince or for all those holiday enthusiasts, Carol of the Bells in Home Alone. 

However, it was not until the 18th century that both orchestra and choir were formally joined to create the “choral symphony.” The term was first coined by Hector Berlioz in the introduction of his famous seven-movement dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette. However, it was the completion of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, that first incorporated a choir within the framework of a symphony. The stratospheric popularity and critical acclaim of the Ninth would inspire successive composers to follow Beethoven's example. Composers like Gustav Mahler and Havergal Brian would greatly expand the scale of the choral symphony and further experiment with different applications and configurations of the vocal elements. 

📷@_curtisperry

While OPO has yet to play one of these revered choral symphonies, we have had the pleasure of incorporating choral singers, often with vocal soloists, in many of our concerts, providing a tone of grandeur and high drama. Most recently, our concert The Music of the Lord of the Rings featured a full choir singing from the balconing of the Carleton Dominion Chalmers Centre. Led by choral conductor Deirdre Kellerman and featuring the outstanding vocals of Carmen Harris, the choir enchanted us on our journey through Middle Earth.