Chorale is thriving with Bruffy as maestro
At 7 o’clock on a Friday night in downtown Phoenix, the pews of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral are nearly full. The hundred-plus visitors aren’t here for a sermon, but they’re getting one anyway.
It’s an open rehearsal for the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Chorale, and two dozen singers are practicing the traditional gospel tune “Down in the River to Pray” for an upcoming series of concerts titled “Amazing Grace.”
Meanwhile, maestro Charles Bruffy is preaching the word — not about spiritual salvation, but about vocal artistry.
“We have to talk about which nanosecond of the pitch is louder, what direction the pitch is going to go, what direction the dynamic is going to go. And then we have to all do it together,” he tells the crowd.
“I think what we have accomplished so far is pretty darn good. But have we gotten your hairs yet?”
He strokes his forearm for emphasis. Clearly, there is still work to be done.
Held during the First Fridays art tour prior to each concert of its season, the choir’s open rehearsals are one component of a rare success stories in the arts. At a time when many performing companies are hunkered down in survival mode, the Phoenix Chorale is thriving.
Over the past five years, receipts from single tickets have risen 70 percent, while income from season subscriptions has more than doubled, as have contributions from individual donors. The choir hasn’t been immune to the decline in support for the arts from corporations and charitable foundations, but it has avoided the epidemic of red ink afflicting non-profit cultural institutions nationwide and has continually expanded its audience.
President and CEO Joel Rinsema naturally would like to take some of the credit, having spearheaded efforts to
cultivate deeper relationships with the choir’s patrons through such initiatives as the open rehearsals. But he understands that the company’s greatest asset is Bruffy.
Maestro ‘magician’