Harris helps ‘Messiah’ chorus sing with spirit
When the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus filled risers for the orchestra’s roof-raising Holiday Pops concert recently, and once again when the chorus will sing Handel’s “Messiah” in the coming days, one key individual will appear onstage for no more than 60 to 90 seconds at each performance.
Robert Harris, the acting chorus director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus during the orchestra’s search for a permanent chorus director, takes bows with the chorus. But by the time those singers take the stage, his work is done.
“My job is to prepare the chorus for the conductor or guest conductor,” Harris said recently.
Harris’ list of the choral concerns involved in the kind of singing the chorus did for the Holiday Pops as well as what they will do in when performing “Messiah,” includes “Good quality of tone, intonation and diction.”
“But the singing in ‘Messiah’ is a more artistic kind of singing,” he said, mentioning Handel’s melismatic lines, which require several or many notes sung on one syllable of the text, and issues of tasteful interpretation.
Explaining that the conductor (Ben Gernon) for the “Messiah” performances is British, Harris, “With him coming from England, I know the kind of sound he wants to hear.”
He said the final “Messiah” rehearsals will be the culmination of weeks of work to ensure the chorus produces the kind of crispness and tone that is a staple of the rich British choral-singing tradition.
Harris, professor emeritus at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, grew up in Detroit, which he said, “was really a mecca for music education in those says.”
He started piano lessons at age 5, but it was during early high school years, when he had the opportunity to sing “How Lovely Is They Dwelling Place” from Brahms’ “A German Requiem,” when he knew music would be his life’s path.
“I was completely transformed that day,” he said.
He recalled his high school choral director taking him aside after that performance and saying, “Harris, that’s the first time I’ve seen you work to your ability.”
She gave him a copy of the piece to keep, which is the copy he still uses every time he has an opportunity to conduct the piece.
Harris, who has seen a great deal of the world on the choral plan, said, “I have been very fortunate in traveling to many different countries around the world and making music with people from all over.”
Harris speaks with a rich, resonant voice and perfect diction that reveal his own roots as a singer, experience that gives him an understanding of the differences between conducting singers and instrumentalists.
When speaking to instrumentalists, he said, one is talking about what they are doing with a reed, or perhaps some strings.
“When you are talking to choir, you are talking about their voices, which means you are talking about them, personally. It makes a difference in how you run rehearsals and make connections,” he said.
But Harris’ delight and success in choral conducting comes from an understanding of the very special experience of joining voices in choral singing.
“What’s so special about being a chorister is putting your voices together and working for a common good,” he said. “It’s the human spirit reaching the audience.”