BU Singers take on B minor Mass
This coming Saturday and Sunday, November 25 and 26, The Bishop’s University Singers will perform the B minor Mass by J.S. Bach, a work unlike any they have taken on before. Described by the choir’s artistic director, Fannie Gaudette, as the most difficult piece of choral repertoire that exists and widely considered to be Bach's greatest masterpiece, the work has been a massive undertaking for a group with a habit of taking on ambitious projects.
“This piece is a monster,” Gaudette said, quickly adding, “but in a good way.”
The choir director described the Mass in B minor as a longtime dream of the choir that was simply never feasible in the past because of the amount of work and money involved in putting the concert together. What changed that situation was twofold; first, the choir received a donation with the specific instruction that it be used for the Bach work, and second, the opportunity arose to work with conductor Julien Proulx.
“We feel so spoiled to have this opportunity,” Gaudette said, explaining that Proulx, the artistic director of the Drummondville Symphony Orchestra, is an up-and-coming local conductor with a great understanding of vocal work. “It is really hard to find a conductor who has his knowledge and understanding of
voice; he’s really making us sound good.”
This weekend’s concerts are not just different in their material and leadership than past choir shows, the choir is different too.
“It’s a more elite group,” the choir director said. Gaudette shared that although the Bishop’s University Singers has traditionally been a very open group, the demands of the B minor Mass are such that someone without a certain level of musical training or skill is just not equipped to participate. She said that part of the value of taking on such a challenge is the fact that it gets the group out of its comfort zone and offers something new to the school’s higher level students.
Despite that shift, however, the choir remains a mixed bag. Gaudette said that the decision to have more strict entry requirements was a scary one that made her concerned about the project moving away from the Bishop’s Community, but ultimately the project maintains a strong Bishop’s University Membership. The 12 faculty and staff members and 14 students are joined by two music students from the Université de Sherbrooke, a few from the Cegep de Sherbrooke, and a handful of dedicated community members.
“It has been great, we don’t regret it at all,” the director said.
Melinda Enns, co-director and soloist in the concert, said that the work depends heavily on the choir with complex arrangements that keep the singers on their toes from beginning to end. In an approach typical of performances in Bach’s time, the soloists will also be singing with the full choir. As a result, everyone has been putting a lot of work into this performance.
In another change, this semester’s undertaking will not be performed on or even near the Bishop’s University Campus. On November 25, the choir and orchestra will perform at the St-benoit du Lac Abbey to a sold-out crowd and the following afternoon they will be at the St-francois-xavier de Bromont Church.
“This piece demands a setting that has its own aura of deeply religious meaning,” Enns explained, adding that the choir was looking for a concert-sized venue with a natural acoustic that is simply not available on the campus.
In order to help boost the accessibility of the concert for people who know and love the singers, a bus has been arranged from the school to each concert at a cost of $10.
“We wanted to make sure that the students could get there,” Gaudette said, adding that the bus helps keep things accessible for the local community as well. “It’s worth a little trip,” she added, speaking of the Bromont performance and encouraging people to make a day trip around the afternoon concert.
Those looking for more information on the concert, the soloists, and the bus service are invited to consult the Singers' website at http://www.busingers.ca/.