Finding its voice
Atlantic Boychoir returns to Max Simms camp for retreat
The Atlantic Boychoir will be crafting its rich, one-of-a-kind sound when it returns to central Newfoundland next month.
The choir will be back at Lion Max Simms Memorial Camp in Bishop’s Falls from April 6 to 10 for one of its regular retreats. This time, the young singers will be preparing for an exciting third European tour to come later this spring.
The retreats are an essential means to bring all the singers together, to educate, bond and sing in preparation for their performances.
“To make the choir work, we need to bring them together,” co-artistic director and founder of the Atlantic Boychoir Jakub Martinec tells SaltWire Network.
The Atlantic Boychoir is a cross-provincial comprehensive choral music program providing artistic training for more than 80 boys and young men from ages four to 22.
There are singers in the choir from across the province, from Labrador to the west coast, central to the east coast and, recently, they have expanded to include singers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
With so many singers spread out geographically it can be difficult to get everyone together.
While the boys work with their music educators in their individual regions throughout the year, every six to eight weeks they try to get everyone together for a retreat either on the west coast, central, or St. John’s. This will be their second retreat at Max Simms.
They had previously done multiple retreats at Killdevil Camp in Gros Morne National Park. But last summer the camp was closed and they headed to Max Simms instead.
Martinec, who is also the director of choral studies at Memorial University, felt the camp was a great location for them.
“We were there for 10 days in the summer and we absolutely loved it,” he says. “It’s a great facility. The people there are wonderful and the food there is phenomenal.”
The choir will spend about six to eight hours singing each day. But there is more for them to do.
They will engage in a variety of activities, playing sports such as soccer, as well as taking art and voice lessons.
According to Martinec, it’s necessary to provide the singers a more well-rounded educational experience.
“Many things that we try to combine together as an intensive education training,” he says. “To try to get as much information for them when they are together, from many different perspectives.”
The retreat is also an opportunity for the boys to bond. Martinec notes many of the singers are also hockey and soccer players and he feels the teamwork necessary to sing in a choir is comparable to team sports.
This will be the choir’s first retreat since December in St. John’s. Since then, they have been unable to get together due to COVID-19 restrictions. It makes this retreat that much more important and exciting.
BUILDING A PROVINCIAL BOYS’ CHOIR
Martinec is the co-artistic director and founder of the Atlantic Boychoir with his wife Jennifer Beynon-Martinec.
The Martinecs moved to St. John’s from the Czech Republic in 2013 when he was hired at Memorial University. At that time, there were many choirs in the province but none that was only for boys and young men.
According to Martinec, there are a very small percentage of male singers in choral singing worldwide, making it that much more important to promote choral singing for boys.
Furthermore, they have a son who they wanted to provide the opportunity to sing in a boy choir.
Within a couple years they were exploring opportunities and the Atlantic Boychoir was started by the Martinecs in 2016. It quickly “exploded” says Martinec.
“We had many singers and huge interest and wonderful educators from across Newfoundland who were really supportive,” he adds. “It was wonderful to see how the choir grew from this small ensemble into something very unique.”
The choir has since gone on two international tours across Europe, with concerts in Prague, Paris, London, Vienna, Munich, Tabor, Budweis and Nuremberg.
They have collaborated with artists including the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Nurnberger Symphoniker, the worldfamous King’s Singers and the Swingles.
They have also performed all over the province, in St. John’s, Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor, Port-au-Port, Twillingate and elsewhere.
Plenty of recorded music has also been made available.
The Atlantic Boychoir has released two albums, Gloria: A Choral Celebration for Christmas and Tutto Mozart, available on CD and on streaming services such as Spotify.
Plans for the next album, a baroque era concept, is already underway. The major work they will be performing is Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. It will also feature compositions by Bach and Lotti.
Martinec feels it’s a challenging repertoire.
“Usually it’s performed by professional choirs, or adult choirs, but to do it with the boy choir is very significant,” he explains.
“Because this music was originally written for boy choirs in the baroque era in Europe.”
Today, the concert choir features 30 boys and young men aged eight to 22.
Martinec notes the diversity in voices across ages means they can incorporate tenor and bass voices along with the higher treble, soprano and alto voices.
“The sound of such choir is irreplaceable,” he comments.
According to Martinec, this follows the European model of boy choir singing rather than the North American model which strictly features the higher voices.