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UB Chorus and Choir to perform in Carnegie Hall
By DONNA BUDNIEWSKI
Reporter Assistant Editor
More than 80 members of the UB Chorus and UB Choir, led by critically acclaimed choral conductor and UB faculty member Harold L. Rosenbaum, will travel to Carnegie Hall in April to perform the dramatic—and demanding—"Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi.
"Requiem" is Verdi's masterpiece and tribute to an Italian cultural hero, writer/poet Alessandro Manzoni. It features what Rosenbaum, associate professor of music, calls one of the scariest moments in all of music history—the bass drum playing as loudly as possible during "Dies Iries," the soaring and ominous choral introduction to the nine-part Day of Wrath, which begins with trumpets blaring and concludes in a contemplative and mournful prayer of submission.
It's also the most complicated part of the work, with all nine sections to be performed as one continuous flow of music—certainly a challenge for students who will rehearse just once with the orchestra after an eight-hour bus ride from Buffalo the day before the performance.
Rosenbaum is a major collaborator with leading orchestras and founder of the New York Virtuoso Singers, which specializes in contemporary choral works, and Canticum Novum Singers, which is dedicated to performing the music of all periods. He spends his time working in Buffalo and New York City, and also performs nationally and internationally.
The New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers will join the UB students in the performance of "Requiem," along with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Westchester Oratorio Society. The performance will be held at 8 p.m. on April 14.
This singular opportunity for UB students to perform in Carnegie Hall, with its rich history, fabulous acoustics and reputation as the foremost concert hall in the country, if not the world, will be a spectacular moment for them, says Rosenbaum, noting that the students will perform with professional, well-established opera singers, as well as an accomplished orchestra.
"Every artist's dream is to perform in Carnegie Hall," he points out.
And not only that: Rosenbaum also has arranged for the entire trip to be an all-expenses-paid experience for the students, who will stay with members of the Westchester Oratorio Society during their visit to New York City.
Carnegie Hall is a unique venue, Rosenbaum says, because of its ability to expand and improve sound. "It's not too 'live' and it's not a dead sound, but very warm, enhancing every performer, every performance," he explains.
Performing a work like "Requiem," which, he points out, caused an uproar in its own time, requires certain stylistic devices—unlike singing an oratorio, such as Handel's "Messiah."
"Opera singers can take a few more liberties with the notes, sliding from pitch to pitch, for example. Some people hearing this would say it's very operatic, but it's not. It's not fluffy. I think this works, even though it disturbed the sensibilities of Verdi's generation, who believed it to be too operatic," he says. "But Brahms thought it was a work of genius."
Rosenbaum taught at Queens College for 25 years and at the Juilliard School. He has created a commissioning program for young composers, and has premiered more than 100 works, including compositions by Ravel (in Paris), Schnittke, Henze, Berio and Perle. Other career highlights include more than a dozen European tours, among them the Madeira Bach Festival in Portugal and festivals in England and Italy.
His choirs have performed numerous times in Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series, and have appeared on "The David Letterman Show," at the Tanglewood Festival and in concerts with such wide-ranging performers as James Galway, Tony Randall, Tony Bennett, Licia Albanese, Marianne Faithful, Leonard Slatkin, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Ilana Vered, Ned Rorem and many others.
For a schedule of events for Rosenbaum's choral ensembles, visit http://www.haroldrosenbaum.com .