Schola Cantorum shift gears without losing any of its intensity, authority

By David Stabler
For the Oregonian

So far, the undisputed star of the Oregon Bach Festival is a group of 45 men and women from Caracas, Venezuela. They call themselves the Schola Cantorum, or School of Singing. Last week, they astonished audiences with their chanting, swaying, snarling and pell-mell pummeling of Oswaldo Golijov's "The Passion According to St. Mark."

So great was their effect, I returned to Eugene on Monday to hear them again, this time in a concert of European and Latin American music at the University of Oregon. Their singing, while different in effect, was just as marvelous. Under director Maria Guinand, the choir has drawn global attention for premiering Golijov's "Passion" around the world.

But it's not that the Schola Cantorum is that much better than other choirs. Rather, their attraction is their authenticity. They not only sing music we don't hear in these parts, but they also sing it with an intensity and authority rooted in a living culture.

For "The Passion," which opened the festival last Thursday, they produced an open, pushed sound that was earthy and raw. For most of Monday's program, they changed to a more-blended, refined sound appropriate for concert music from Hungary, Belgium, Norway and Venezuela.

Tonal smoothness spread like a lake in works by Gyorgy Bardos and Vic Nees. Syllables took on percussive rhythms in Alberto Grau's substantial "Confitemini Domino." Grau founded the Schola in 1967. Grau's "Stabat Mater" offered moans and whispers in a lament of quiet power.

In an interview before the concert, Guinand said the singers rehearse three times a week and give between 50 and 60 concerts a year. Many are professional musicians, but they hold day jobs as music teachers, conductors and performers. What Guinand looks for in her singers is commitment, she said. 
"I need very engaged people who feel they belong to a family. We don't only share rehearsals, we strive to higher levels of artistry, of discipline as human beings."

The Schola is a "landmark" organization in Venezuela, she said. In addition to performing, the choir is on a mission to bring choral music to poor children in Latin and South America. Plucked from squalor in Bogota, Medellin, Lima and La Paz, the children turn into "an elite corps," learning how to behave, how to be disciplined, how to concentrate.

"It's huge," she said.

No wonder Guinand calls her choir the "School of Life."

On the second half of Monday's concert, the choir sang jubilant rhythms and dances from Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba. Assistant conductors helped out, including Ana Maria Raga, and solo singers from the choir. Pianist Gonzalo Grau, who played a key role in Golijov's "Passion," improvised with the choir, assisted by Otto Gygax, a Peruvian drummer living in Portland.

For the last work, a Cuban song translated as "Do It Well," Guinand stepped into the alto section to join in the swinging, swaying work, a huge smile on her face.

As she said, paraphrasing one of the songs, "Never mind the song, it was the singing that mattered." 
A cheering crowd heartily agreed.

David Stabler: 503-221-8217; davidstabler@news.oregonian.com