News

Southwestern Michigan College’s spring choral concert Thursday at 7 p.m., “Royal Resonance,” combines 150 voices from SMC, Chorllennium and Berrien Springs High School with a 27-piece symphony orchestra.

Chorllennium, a southwest Michigan-based choral ensemble comprised of top educators and singers, is conducted by SMC Director of Choral Activities David Carew.

At the heart of April 9’s program is Mozart’s “Coronation Mass,” paired with an eclectic set of choral works spanning centuries and styles and celebrating the beauty and diversity of the choral art.

The concert takes place at Berrien Springs’ Arts and Athletic Center, 201 Sylvester Ave., which opened to the public Sept. 8, 2022.

Like SMC’s Room to Grow for a new wrestling facility and reimagined band and choir rooms, the architect was Carmi Design of Niles.

“It’s my attempt to expose young singers to the great masters — Mozart, Beethoven, Bach,” Carew said. “This represents the pinnacle of Classical composers, from around 1750 to the beginning of the 19^th century, where you have that more regal, elegant style. Symphonies found their heyday with Haydn and Beethoven.

“Mozart wrote a ton of operas,” Carew continued. “He taught to keep his livelihood together, but that was how he was commissioned. Some were successes, some weren’t, but his time in Vienna and Salzburg, he’s writing ‘The Marriage of Figaro,’ ‘The Magic Flute’ and ‘Don Giovanni.’ ‘Coronation Mass,’ there’s a lot of drama in the texts. The opportunity to do this with a symphony is really great because the students don’t always have that opportunity.

“‘Coronation Mass’ hooked me into singing liturgical Latin stuff when I was in high school. I was active in my church choir, but not a huge sacred music guy. But it spoke to me musically with its rhythmic energy, drama and harmonic language. Mozart really knew how to write for the voice. His experience as an opera writer informed his choral writing.”

“Carrie VanDenburgh (Berrien Springs choir director) is excellent and has a great program. Three or four of the pieces feature a soprano soloist, so she’s singing, too.”

“The reason it’s in Berrien,” Carew said, “is they’ve got 80 singers, our 80 people between Chorrlennium and the college, there’s no way we would be able to seat everybody. We like going on the road and getting out to other venues.”

For Nick Shelton, fresh from playing Charlie Brown in last month’s “Peanuts” musical, “Royal Resonance” is a homecoming as a BSHS graduate.

“(The performing arts center) was completed when I was a sophomore,” Shelton, a vocal music major, said.

“My professional plan is to be a musical-theater actor. After SMC, I’d like to move on to Western or U-M,” Shelton said.

For Fawn Bussler, “Royal Resonance” is a chance to sing with her homeschooled 10-year-old-daughter. As a 2012 SMC alumna, she is a member of Chorllennium, but the Dowagiac mother/daughter duo rehearsed Monday with SMC’s Collegiate Chorale.

For Bridget Talbot of Three Rivers, “Royal Resonance” is her first choir concert. As a Wildcat, the freshman music major had to choose between choir and instrumental music, so she played flute in band for six years. In fact, she played flute in the “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” pit orchestra. When Carew heard her sing in his aural skills class, he urged her to join choir.

“It’s interesting working on Mozart while studying music theory,” Talbot said.

For Ben Plested of Paw Paw, who portrayed pianist Schroeder of the Peanuts gang, the away-game aspect of the concert appeals.

“I always like to take opportunities to perform in other spaces and look at the cultures of other colleges and high schools,” the business major said.