Five choirs come together for ‘United in Song’
Paulo Gomes approaches his first anniversary as artistic and music director for the Houston Masterworks Chorus having endured the most unusual year in his distinguished career.
Hired a year ago, Gomes showed up Jan. 13 for his first rehearsal with the choir. In February, the ensemble was just three weeks away from the first of several planned Beethoven 250thanniversary performances. Then everything shut down.
“It’s been difficult not to get to hear the chorus perform,” he says. “A pianist or a violinist can do beautiful concerts by themselves. But I’m a conductor, so I need to work with people to create this musicwe love. I can’t imagine doing anything else. So, yes, I’m fortunate in that I’m healthy. But it has been a challenging year.”
Gomes plans to end 2020 with a bright and hopeful presentation. He’s overseeing “United in Song: A Convergence of Houston Choirs,” a holiday program that will bring together, virtually, five choirs that represent just some of the breadth of vocal ensembles in Houston.
Three of the choirs— Houston Masterworks Chorus, Houston Choral Society and Houston Cecilia Chamber Choir — work in a classical tradition. The Houston Show Choir will represent singing/dancing ensembles. And Space City Sound works in an a cappella/barbershop sound. Each of the ensembles will perform a piece or two in its style before collaborating on “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
In total, more than 200 voices will be heard during the program.
“Houston is amelting-pot city,” Gomes says. “So it made sense to try something with several different artistic approaches.
“All of these groups have struggled this year. So this was us deciding to fight back. To keep singing alive. And to represent Houston.”
Gomes says vocal ensembles have had a particularly challenging time during the pandemic.
“It’s verymuch a community activity,” he says. “But masks muffle the sound, and theymake it hard to breathe. Our mission is to inspire, uplift and educate. So we are going to try to continue that.”
Thatmission has been ongoing formore than three decades since Dr. Ara Carapetyan started the Houston Oratorio Society, which would later change its name to the HoustonMasterworks Chorus.
A native of Brazil, Gomes has sunk roots deep into this city since coming here for a doctorate inmusic arts at the University of Houston. In 2012, he founded the vocal ensemble Houston Camerata. He’s looking ahead to next year, though uncertainty regarding the pandemic has made planning a cautious endeavor.
As Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770, Gomes sees no harm in trying to salvage some anniversary plans in 2021. And until then, there’s “United in Song.” Gomes says the choirs have reached out to Randy Eckman of Stretch Your Mind Entertainment, who is the project director helpingmake this convergence of choirs happen.
Each of the five choirs is trying to take steps to keep its singers safe.
“We don’t want anybody to get sick,” Gomes says. “Things in the arts are bad enough at this time. But the idea is that even bad things canmove us to help each other. They force you tomove forward and think about what’s possible, what can be done.”