The New Haven Chorale turned its back on its audience Saturday—literally.
After two years of being tethered together by online sessions and classes, virtual projects and even outdoor rehearsals, members of the Chorale once again donned their concert dress and performed in person before a live audience. The Holiday Concert is a long-standing tradition of the Chorale’s 70+ year history, but this year’s performance was far from traditional. While all the musical elements fans have come to love and expect were there—from carols and Hannukah songs to baroque classics and spirituals, performed with orchestral accompaniment in a gorgeous church—the logistics were a foray into uncharted territory.
Rather than standing together on risers in the front of the church, fully masked singers were socially distanced in alternating pews facing the altar where Maestro Edward Bolkovac conducted the concert, surrounded by instrumentalists and soloists. Audience members, who were required to show proof of vaccination before being admitted, filled the back of the church behind the Chorale.
Thanks to St Mary’s lush acoustics, the sound was magnificent from any seat in the house. Audience members who walked in as skeptics left as converts, most expressing tremendous gratitude at having had the opportunity to be among the few able to attend the concert, given the limited capacity.
But the range of emotion in the church was also palpable. From the elation of Mozart’s Gloria and an African Noel to the wistfulness of Carol of the Lamb and We Sing Because, a commissioned piece by composer Colin Britt created in response to choristers’ experiences of the pandemic, Saturday’s concert was very much a reaction to the end of two years of destabilization, isolation, separation and loss. Perhaps nowhere was that more evident than during the moving instrumental interlude, Gabriel’s Oboe, specifically dedicated to loved ones lost during the pandemic. It offered a deep moment of reflection, and throughout the church, musicians and audience members alike were visibly moved.
For the Chorale, this concert was nothing short of cathartic. Despite the challenges of singing with clarity and cohesion when spread out and masked in a deeply resonant space, simply being able to come together under one roof and sing again for friends and family was a gift. As one of the few choral groups to make it to the other side of the pandemic not only whole, but with the most new members of any year in recent memory, the New Haven Chorale proved that the soul of its organization is in community, not product. That spirit of community was alive, well, and nothing short of triumphant Saturday.
