37 UB Students to Perform in Carnegie Hall

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Students from the UB choir and chorus next month will travel to New York City to perform what conductor Harold Rosenbaum calls "the most dramatic work imaginable" -- Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 -- in perhaps one of the most dramatic venues imaginable -- Carnegie Hall.

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, will be performed at 3 p.m. June 10 by the Manhattan Philharmonic, and will feature some 400 singers from six choral groups nationwide -- with 37 of them, virtually all of them undergraduates and most of them not music majors, coming from UB.

Eighteen students from the UB Chorus and 19 from the UB Choir -- all of whom earned their place through an audition at the start of the spring semester -- will partner with 70 singers from Rosenbaum's Westchester Oratorio Society for the performance.

Rosenbaum, who taught at Queens College for 25 years, and at The Julliard School, took the reins as conductor of UB's chorus and choir in 1998.

The visiting associate professor of music shuttles weekly from Buffalo to his home in Westchester and to Manhattan, where he works as the artistic director and conductor for the three choral groups he founded: the volunteer Canticum Novum Singers and the professional New York Virtuoso Singers, as well as the community-based Westchester group. Members of the Westchester chorus will host UB students in their homes during the four-day trip.

Rosenbaum, who has conducted more than 1,200 concerts in his lifetime, is stepping out of that role for the main event. His job has been to prepare the UB students for the concert, which will be conducted by Peter Tiboris, general director and music director of MidAmerica Productions, the New York City outfit sponsoring the show.

"I'm happy to be able to bring my best students from both choirs to Carnegie Hall," Rosenbaum said. "Every major artist in the world has performed in Carnegie Hall. Everybody's dream is to perform in Carnegie Hall."

The challenges are numerous in performing the piece, he explained, not the least of which is that the singers must wait on stage for one hour and five minutes before making their vocal

contribution. The symphony in its entirety runs about one hour and 20 minutes. "The Ninth is a total nightmare -- and the most exhilarating," Rosenbaum explains of the unusually high and sustained notes of the lyrics -- sung in German -- which originate from 17th century poet Friedrich von Schiller's poem, "Ode to Joy."

"(Beethoven) stretched the limits of his composition, (but) he made things more exciting for his performers," says Rosenbaum, pointing out that the German composer was less mindful of the symphony's challenges to the individual than of its total effect.

"(The singers) have to hold their own against the orchestra," he said. "You have to not rush and not shout-hard to do because it's so high and so loud."

Part of proper training includes making sure the students preserve their voices for the day of the performance. Students have been advised to keep chatter to a minimum while traveling downstate by bus -- which is being provided by the Office of Student Unions and Activities - and to drink plenty of tea. And faced with a rigorous set of rehearsals -- four within 30 hours of showtime -- students will sing down an octave to preserve stamina.

UB chorus and choir members rehearsed for an hour each week for 10 weeks during the semester, but at separate times, Rosenbaum said. The Thursday that students arrive in Westchester will be the first time all three groups -- the UB choir and chorus, and the Westchester group -- will sing together. And on Saturday and Sunday, they will join the Riverside Choral Society of New York, the Windsong Southland Chorale of California, and the Arcadian Chorale and Richmond Choral Society, both of New Jersey, for three rehearsals in Manhattan before their performance.

Strangely enough, most members of the UB chorus and choir aren't music majors, Rosenbaum said. Virtually all undergraduates, students come from academic backgrounds ranging from engineering to English. But they're young, he said, and responsive.

"The main thing is, they're here because they want to be here," he said of the group overall, which also is open to members of the general public. "At UB, it's purely for the fun of it, the joy.

"I don't think any of them have sang in Carnegie Hall," added Rosenbaum, noting that bouts of stage fright wouldn't be uncommon for a performance of this magnitude. But butterflies and bellyaching sometimes can be hallmarks of a different kind.

"It's traumatic and stressful, but everybody loves doing it," he said. "It's something they'll never forget."