To their delight, the Gilroy High School Chamber Singers scored
top marks on their performance of Sanctus-a song they’ll perform
this Sunday at Carnegie Hall-by one of their toughest judges, the
composer himself.
To their delight, the Gilroy High School Chamber Singers scored top marks on their performance of Sanctus-a song they’ll perform this Sunday at Carnegie Hall-by one of their toughest judges, the composer himself.
“It was one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever heard of that piece and it’s amazing that it was done by such young voices,” said Ola Gjeilo, a Norwegian composer and pianist based in Manhattan.
Under a row of umbrellas lined up behind Choral Director Phil Robb, the singers and their chaperones splashed up Madison Avenue to the Norwegian Seamen’s Church for an hour of performing and critique.
Drenched by the time they piled into the sparsely decorated church, the singers shed their raincoats and umbrellas and surrounded the surprisingly young Gjeilo, 30, for a round of questions.
When chamber singer Adam Rosso, 16, asked Gjeilo what inspired him to write Sanctus, Gjeilo was stumped and joked that some composers make up their inspiration after the fact for the benefit of a better story.
“When he was telling us what he was inspired by and how composers sometimes make stuff up, I felt a lot more comfortable,” Rosso said. “By the time we actually sang it (Sanctus) I wasn’t quite as nervous because I felt like I knew him more as a person and as a friend.”
Gjeilo stood quietly in the back of the church, a small smile on his lips, as the singers’ voices filled the church with Sanctus one of the songs Robb selected for their Sunday Carnegie Hall performance. Gjeilo applauded heartily when the last note of what he said was his favorite piece faded away, making minor suggestions and alterations to enhance the choir’s rendition of the piece.
“I was pretty nervous at first but after he (Gjeilo) went through it with us, I was a lot more comfortable,” said Peter Guenther, 18.
Originally written on a Casio keyboard back in London, Sanctus is barely a year old and has never been performed in New York City, Gjeilo said.
“It usually takes a while for songs to come to the New York scene so this is very cool,” he said.
The piece requires “a lot of lung capacity” because the “notes just go on and on,” Gjeilo said, illustrating the nature of the song with an arduous churning motion.
“It’s a slow piece but it’s really hard,” he said. “It was really wonderful. I’m impressed that they could perform it so well.”
A former member of the Oslo Philharmonic, Gjeilo said he was a tenor “but never a great one.” Because he knew all the hard work that goes into perfecting a piece as difficult as Sanctus, he was especially moved, he said.
Like many of the singers’ parents, he will be sitting in the audience Sunday.
“The thing I enjoyed most was watching and listening to their reactions to meeting the composer of one of the songs they’ve worked so hard on,” Robb said. “They’ve invested a lot of energy and emotion into learning that song.”
“To get such a positive response and to know that they were doing it the way he liked it was to see the circle completed,” Robb said. He later asked Gjeilo to autograph his copy of Sanctus.
When Robb found the composition, a difficult piece that challenges the singers to really stretch their vocal chords on various keys and long singing lines, he thought it would be too difficult for his choir to perform, he said.
But when the Chamber Singers were chosen to perform as one of the two select choirs at Carnegie Hall, Robb knew he needed to put on a big show, he said.
“I knew I wanted a program that really showed the kids off,” Robb said. “This piece really takes a disciplined group.”
