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REVIEW: Tulsa Oratorio Chorus
Published: 3/22/2009 8:11 PM
Last Modified: 3/22/2009 8:11 PM

I intended to write a review of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus' performance Saturday of the Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi.

However, a concatenation of circumstances and responsibilities – most of them on the behalf of a beloved and extremely ill wife – resulted in time getting away from me, and I ended up getting to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center about 10 minutes into the performance.

This was galling for several reasons.

First and foremost: I have been writing about the arts in Tulsa for about as long as many of my colleagues at the Tulsa World have been alive, and this is the first time in all those hundreds of nights at the theater when I have not been in my seat when the curtain goes up. I've cut it close a time or two, but I've never been so late.

Second: The concerts by TOC are among the shows I most look forward to each season.

Third: I did hear the majority of the concert, and what I heard was so good I regretted not being able to experience the piece from the very first note. So we'll just talk about the portion of the concert I did see.

When I took my seat, the off-stage trumpets were playing their parts in the "Tuba mirum" then bass soloist Wayne Tigges began his solo, singing this passage with great passion and power, filling the Chapman Music Hall with a resonant rumble.

In fact, each of the soloists – Tigges, tenor Dan Snyder, mezzo-soprano Dana Beth Miller and soprano Erica Strauss – gave thrilling performances separately and in various combinations. Miller, who recently sang the role of Mother in Tulsa Opera's "Hansel and Gretel," was phenomenal in the "Lacrymosa" and "Liber scripta"; Snyder's work in the "Ingmisco" made this prayer of mercy incredibly poignant; and Strauss' performance of the "Libera me" could not be faulted, moving from strength to strength.

The comment that Verdi's Requiem is an "opera in ecclesiastical robes" has more than bit of truth to it. It's there in the way Verdi treats the soloists, giving them solos that have the shape and drama of an operatic aria, that build in logical ways to a climax, or series of climaxes, rather than simply coming to an end. It's also there in the way Verdi uses the "Dies irae" – like any good theatrical composer, Verdi knows it's important to get the most out of the best tune in the show – whether in whispered tones to underscore certain solos, or in full-blown, cataclysmic blasts of furious sound punctuated by thunderclaps of percussion.

The chorus was in superb form, going from those whispers of "Dies irae" through the "Liber scriptus" to the bright double fugue of the "Sanctus," as the vocal lines wove together in a musical web that was – in every sense of the word – spirited.

TOC artistic director Donald Studebaker kept all this music and all these musicians is perfect balance. The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra played with finesse throughout the evening.

The TOC has one more concert this season, April 18. I plan to make sure my wife is well enough by then, so I'll be able to be at this show on time.



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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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