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Southern Oregon Repertory Singers kicks off full season By Jim Flint Updated: Oct 20, 2022 10:54 AM A A 3 View all photos Members of Southern Oregon Rep Singers look forward to their first full season of concerts, with the opening weekend set for Oct. 29-30 at the SOU Music Recital Hall in Ashland. Corneilus Matteo photo Paul French conducts a rehearsal of the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, which launch its first full season in three years with concerts Oct. 29-30. Corneilus Matteo photo Choral conductor Paul French leads the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers. Photo by Cornelius Matteo Southern Oregon Repertory Singers Music Director Paul French might be hard-pressed to say what excites him more — celebrating 34 years of performing high quality choral music or being able to kick off a full season concert series for the first time in three years. “We are so grateful to be able to perform an October concert this year,” French said. “Although COVID is still with us, we do see the light emerging from the shadow of the pandemic.” The first of four concerts, in fact, reflects that thinking in its title, “Light Out of Shadow.” Two performances are scheduled: Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 30 at 3 p.m. at Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave. in Ashland. The October concert opens with mostly Baroque music, accompanied by a chamber orchestra. Featured composers are J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Heinrich Schütz. Music by Renaissance composer Luis de Victoria, a Venetian School composition by Giovanni Gabrieli, and a modern Latin canticle, Nunc dimittis, composed by Arvo Pärt in 2001, complete the first half. Modern compositions take the stage after intermission, with music by Caroline Shaw, Jocelyn Hagen, Lili Bolenger, Josu Elberdin, Maurice Ravel, Adolphus Hailstork and Craig Hella Johnson. Shaw won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2013 and Boulanger won the coveted Prix de Rome in 1913 at the age of 19. Hailstork’s “Wake Up My Spirit,” the final piece of the concert, is a rousing work for choir and bravura piano. “The mix of Baroque music and lovely new music in the second half makes for a very attractive and fun concert,” French said. “We have not done a substantial set of early music in some time, so I wanted to include a small piece with gravitas,” he said. “That would be the Bach ‘Komm, Jesu, komm,’ one of my absolute favorite Baroque compositions. It has everything: beautiful melodies, virtuosity, joy and passion.” French recently retired from 34 years as a professor of music at SOU, but he says he doesn’t yet feel retired because of the demands of the first Rep Singers concert, which has required considerable preparation. “The scores had to be found and Baroque music demands a lot of marking of the parts in advance,” he said. He explains that musicians are better acquainted with romantic music and are more comfortable with playing and singing it, but Baroque music is less familiar. “There are many different approaches to Baroque music and so the conductor needs to put a lot of expressive markings on the musicians’ scores. I mark every phrase of every part to ensure that a unified style emerges.” For those reasons, Baroque music requires two to three times the preparation time for French. “That said, I love this music and so look forward to sharing it with our audience,” he said. Three additional concerts comprise the 2022-23 season: And the Stars Looked Down: Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. It’s Rep Singers’ traditional holiday mix of art music and carols — both familiar and unique. “We will also introduce the audience to a number of wonderful young composers, who are all rising stars,” French said, “balanced by the established masters such as John Rutter, Bob Chilcot, and Ola Gjeilo. And, by popular request, we will reprise Jodi French’s lovely ‘Auld Lang Syne.’” There Will Come Soft Rains: March 4 at 7:30 p.m. and March 5 at 3 p.m., featuring “Requiem” by Peter Relph, written for choir in eight-part harmony with crotales, small tuned disks made of bronze or brass. “It’s the most beautiful setting of the Requiem text I have heard in a long time,” French said. “The second half will feature ‘big-heart’ music by Charles Stanford, Edward Elgar, Joceyln Hagen and Will Todd.” Rivers of Light: May 13 at 7:30 p.m. and May 14 at 3 p.m., the James M. Collier First Light Festival, featuring new works for choir and orchestra. “We finally get to perform our commissioned premiere of Will Todd’s ‘m=pV,’mass equals density times volume,” French said, which had been canceled by the pandemic. The five-movement love song to the planet is set in the formal format of the traditional Latin mass but with secular text. Todd is a prize-winning English musician and composer. The singers also will perform a piece by Dan Forrest, an American composer, pianist and educator; and a newly commissioned work by resident composer Jodi French. The First Light Festival, usually scheduled for March, was moved to May in 2023 to make it easier to recruit orchestral players, since most symphony orchestra seasons conclude in April. Ticket prices for “Light Out of Shadow” range from $15 to $36, with student and Oregon Trail cardholder tickets going for $5. Live stream/video replay tickets are $10. For tickets and information, visit repsingers.org or call 541-552-0900. Reach writer Jim Flint at [email protected].