Written by Carl Burnam; originally published on Delaware Online.
It’s a Small World, the saying goes — so small, in fact, that CoroAllegro hopes to take you “Around the World in Eighty Minutes” at its choral concert later this week.
This amazingly diverse and intense collection of folk and local music, packed into a program less than an hour and a half in length, spans six continents, 15 different cultures and 11 languages.
The program is mostly locally grown folk music — a wild Scottish dance, a tender Korean love ballad, a sentimental American tune, a popular Argentinian bossa nova, an evocative Estonian ode. There’s a Ukrainian shepherd song, driving and intense; a hand-clapping Arabic invocation of praise; an anguished, layered musical poem where tribal Aboriginal folk struggle with the overwhelming confusion of modern, civilized chaos.
And there’s the sweet, sentimental Irish ballad “Danny Boy.” Around the world with your head still spinning, but home in time for bed!
“There is so much unique cultural expression that comes through the music,” says Sam Stein, CoroAllegro’s interim music director.
The group’s hope, he says, is that music brings humankind together into community.
Consider a Ukrainian shepherding song, set against a Russian folk dance — two songs from countries currently locked in a death match. Challenged to justify his programming decision, Stein said, “The people who made the music have no animosity toward one another.”
CoroAllegro is something of a musical institution in the area. Now in its 36th season, it has established a reputation for creative and sometimes unusual programming. The group has been known for taking chances, chorally speaking, including commissioning a number of new works from local and nationally known composers, and presenting challenging pieces from outside of the traditional canon.
Recent offerings include “Madrigal Mystery Tour” (a Beatles review), “Fifty Years of Disney,” and an entire program featuring women composers.
“We are trying to bring the music to a broader audience” says Becky Kelly, board president. “Through partnering and collaborating with local groups, we support the causes that we believe in while we make the best music we’re capable of.”
CoroAllegro (loosely translated from the Italian — “Merry Choir”) is a labor of love for its singers, who include both professional musicians and experienced amateurs. Periodically, it expands its chamber choir profile to become CoroAllegro and Friends, inviting singers from the area to join in putting on larger-scale works with orchestral accompaniment.
Speaking of partnering with local groups, CoroAllegro is sharing the platform (literally) this time with Water Is Life Kenya (WILK).
This vital Newark-based nonprofit is focused on getting water access for the indigenous and drought-stricken Maasai people of Kenya.
“We have 27 active clean water projects, and we’ve been able to serve about 80,000 people,” says Aaron Lemma, operations and outreach manager. “Our new program, Hope for Widows, helps make survival possible for women who have lost their husbands.”
As an added bonus, Joyce Tannian, co-founder and executive director of WILK, also happens to be a well-known vocal artist. She’ll join the group and perform the solo part on “Sigalagala,” a Lua spiritual praise song made popular by the Muungano National Choir of Kenya.
It’s not just a small world. It’s a fragmented, fractured world. CoroAllegro keeps hoping that holding up the unique musical voices of our variety can also reclaim what makes us all human together.
CoroAllegro presents “Around the World in Eighty Minutes,” Friday, April 28, 7:30 p.m., at Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Newark. Also, Saturday, April 29 at 7 p.m. at Concord Presbyterian Church, Wilmington. Tickets available at coroallegro.com. CoroAllegro is funded in part by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts.
Carl Burnam is a tenor with CoroAllegro.
