Conductor's back covered for 'Messiah'
By Roger McBain (Contact)
Originally published 12:00 a.m., December 11, 2008
Updated 09:29 a.m., December 11, 2008
Knowing the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus have his back will help him during his first sing-along "Messiah," says chorus conductor Dennis Malfatti.
The layout of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church will require Malfatti literally to show his back to the orchestra for much of the audience-interactive performance Friday.
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Dennis Malfatti
Once he gets the ensemble of instrumentalists started, he'll turn from it to focus on the soloists, the 90-plus members of the chorus and the hundreds of audience members who show up to join the altos, sopranos, tenors and basses in singing two dozen selections from George Frideric Handel's celebrated biblical oratorio.
That's where he's counting on his regular chorus members, whom he's rehearsed for weeks, to help him guide Friday's vocal recruits through the pitches, dynamics and tempos of parts many may not have sung in years, and certainly not for Malfatti, who is in his first year as conductor for the Philharmonic Chorus.
Malfatti is confident in both instrumentalists and singers, he says.
The chamber-sized ensemble of orchestra members playing Friday "are excellent players, so I have tremendous confidence that even though there will be times when I have my back to them, they will do a fine job maintaining the tempo."
And he knows he can count on his singers to help audience members who joint their sections. "They know that in addition to being performers, the are also sort of the leaders in their sections, to kind of help the other people along," he says.
It will be a showcase performance for Malfatti as well as one of the students he's worked with at the University of Evansville, where he's in his second year as an assistant professor and choral director.
Courtney Vaal, a UE junior in music performance, will sing the soprano arias and recitatives in the performance, and Emily Malone, a student at Kentucky Wesleyan College, will sing the alto solos.
Matthew O'Neill, a professional tenor from Evansville who regularly sings with the San Francisco Opera, and Jon Truitt, a professional bass-baritone who teaches at UE, will sing the featured men's parts in the performance.
They'll all work with audience members who want to sing along in a rehearsal that will run from 7 to 7:30 p.m., Friday, with a half-hour break before the 8 p.m. performance.
You don't need to sing to enjoy the concert, Malfatti, assures.
"There will also be a section for people who just absolutely do not want to sing, who just want to if an audience member."
Friday's program will focus on the Christmas portion of the oratorio, but with some selections from the Easter section, including "The Trumpet Shall Sound" and, of course, the "Hallelujah!" chorus, for which audiences traditionally take to their feet, whether they're there to sing along or just to enjoy.
Malfatti hopes pitching in with the Philharmonic Chorus for Friday's "Messiah" may persuade some in the audience to join the chorus on a regular basis.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/dec/11/conductors-back-covered-for-messiah/
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