 SISTERLY VOICES
The all-female ensemble Voci di Sorelle carves
a unique niche in the local music scene
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF
Photography JANET ROGERS
Enthralled audience members
often resort to other-worldly
references to describe a concert
by Voci di Sorelle, a 12-
member all-female ensemble of vocalists
who specialize in a cappella singing.
Phrases like “I felt like angels were
singing,” or “I felt like I wasn’t on earth
anymore,” are not uncommon.
As I listened to them on a cold winter
evening at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
recently, I could see why people were
inclined to reach for transcendental comparisons.
It was only a rehearsal for their
April 13 concert, and they were just
beginning to learn new material, but
there was something, well, yes, rather
angelic about a chorus of altos and
sopranos lifting their voices harmoniously
together in a musical version of a poem
by Mother Teresa.
“The fruit of silence is prayer/the fruit
of prayer is faith/the fruit of faith is love,”
they sang into the perfect silence of the
vaulted sanctuary. Perhaps the effect was
magnified by the church environment, but
then, Voci di Sorelle — which is Italian for
Voices of Sisters — usually performs in
churches and chapels.
In fact, the April concert, titled Sacred
Tranquillity; Music for the Soul, will take
place at University United Methodist
Church on De Zavala Road. Not everything
on the program is of a sacred
nature, however. The ensemble’s founder
and artistic director, Ruth Moreland, says
that, generally speaking, only about half
of what they sing is sacred music.
Besides the Mother Teresa poem, the
spring program will feature several other
religious pieces, such as a Sanctus composed
by Moreland herself; Joseph
Gregorio’s Alleluia and the Russian
Orthodox Cherubic Hymn in a
Tchaikovsky setting. But other choices
include Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’
The Songster’s Childhood, a piece
inspired by Estonian folk traditions;
Rebecca Clarke’s Chorus from Shelley’s
Hellas, an ode to the evening star, and
the characteristic Celtic mouth music also
known as “lilting.” The latter originated in the poor communities of Scotland
to imitate instrumental music for dancing
occasions.
Except for Tchaikovsky, chances are
most composers/arrangers on the program
will be unknown even to dedicated
art music aficionados. That’s partially
because the great names from the typical
classical repertoire did not compose
choral music for women’s voices and partially
because Moreland searches far and
wide to introduce new things to San
Antonio audiences.
“My commitment is to interesting programming,”
says Moreland, who holds a
master’s degree in choral conducting from
UTSA. “I do a lot of research to find lessperformed
music, especially since there
isn’t that much written for women. And I
also arrange for women’s voices. For the
April concert, we’ll do mostly 20th-century
composers, but it’s not the angular, dissonant
kind of music (that many associate
with the 20th century); it’s very warm and
lush; a soul-satisfying music.”
Which can probably be said of the
group’s entire repertoire. Though more
composers, including women composers,
have written for women’s voices
in the last 50 years than ever before, the
group also performs medieval and
Renaissance fare, adaptations of classical
choral compositions, American spirituals
and new arrangements of traditional
songs of many countries.
Voci di Sorelle has been around for
more than four years, yet Moreland did
not actually mean to create a new
ensemble when she asked a group of
singers to come to her house one day in
July 2003. She was simply hoping they
would be willing to perform her own
new composition inspired by five poems
of the 19th-century Scottish author and
clergyman, George MacDonald. Having
discovered the little-known MacDonald
through the writings of C.S. Lewis, she
had fallen in love with his work several
years earlier, especially with his poetry
collection Diary of an Old Soul.
“They are like modern day psalms,”
she says of the poems. For quite some
time after that, Moreland kept promising
herself that someday she would set her
favorite verses to music, but she was too
busy with other things, including her
duties as associate conductor of the San
Antonio Choral Society. Then one day, it
just happened. “One morning I was on
my walk, and music just started coming
to me for one of the poems,” she recalls.
“I got back home and started writing it.
It was finished in 24 hours. I felt like I was
just a conduit for that music.”
Though she had to work more
methodically on the other four, eventually
Five Poems of George MacDonald
took shape as her first significant composing
effort. And that’s why she summoned
her singer friends to her home
that fateful day 4 1/2 years ago. “They
were all excellent musicians, and their
voices were exactly What I wanted,”
says the composer. “I put the music in
front of them, and we sang for two
hours straight.
They had never before
performed anything I had written. It
was magic!”
So much so, in fact, that the group
was reluctant to settle down for just that
one performance. Why do only one concert?
they wondered. Ideas started popping
up about a Christmas program, and
in December of that same year they actually
presented one before an audience of
150 appreciative music connoisseurs at
OLLU Sacred Heart Chapel.
One of the founding members, Tira
DelaRosa, remembers how they all felt: “We realized how much fun it was to
sing together and how much other music
there was to perform. We saw the
potential to explore different styles and
time periods. The first time we actually
performed together was at my wedding.
It was wonderful. Then we had two concerts
for the public that year even before
we performed MacDonald’s poems.”
The women also realized that theirs
was a unique sound, offered by no one
else in town or, for that matter, in Texas.
The Sisters — and they claim they felt a
sisterly bond right from the start — quickly came to see themselves as the
female version of the popular
Chanticleer male ensemble.
Like the 12 guys of Chanticleer, they,
too, would be “an orchestra of voices.” The next step was a logical one. With the
help of her husband, Tony, Moreland
incorporated a new nonprofit, Benissimo
Music Productions, whose sole project at
this moment is Voci.
Public concerts take place four times a
year, though there will be only three this
year because a lot of attention has to be
devoted to recording sessions for their
second CD. The ensemble has received
considerable attention from the local
classical music station, KPAC, though,
oddly, it has yet to be reviewed by professional
critics. That has not prevented
the public from discovering them,
though. Ticket sales have been good,
says the founder.
Voci di Sorelle members are all volunteers
who make their living through
a variety of professions. Soprano
DelaRosa is a special ed teacher, for
instance. Contralto Beth Hish is a
policewoman, and second soprano
Liliana Drake, who joined this past summer,
is a stay-at-home mom right now.
There are also a landscape designer, a
nonprofit grant writer, another young
mother and, yes, several music teachers
and a music student. What unites them
is their commitment to the group’s mission
and their love of singing. All had to
audition for their positions, and all
seem in awe of what they have been
able to accomplish.
“Ruth has taken 12 different voices and
created one sound,” says Hish with obvious
admiration. “She knows what each
piece is supposed to sound like, and she
knows how to get us there. It’s awesome
to be part of this group.” When she joined
two years ago, Hish immediately felt welcomed
by the other members, and she
believes that the group’s noncompetitive
cohesiveness on a personal level is definitely
a factor in creating the sounds that
so enchant audiences.
To enhance that sense of sisterhood,
Moreland organizes periodic retreats for
her singers, like the one they had in
January to start preparing for the spring
concert. The whole group was invited to
the director’s home, where they spent
two days, eating, sleeping, reconnecting
and rehearsing. When a member died
last year, a retreat helped everyone deal
with the loss. In fact, there was a great
deal of change in 2007, as the ensemble
had to replace four members.
 To take care of such situations in the
future, Moreland has initiated an
apprentice program she calls the Studio
of Voci di Sorelle, whose purpose is to
develop young vocalists in general and
potential future members
in particular. Members
leave, however, only
when they have to, such
as when they must relocate
because of their job.“Across the board, all the
women in this ensemble
are committed. I don’t
have to do a lot of cheerleading,” says Moreland.
For each concert, the
Sisters aim to create a special
experience, not just to
present a program. “We
try to create an aura,” is
how the director put it.
Audiences are asked not
to applaud between numbers
in order not to break
the spell. They especially
strive to achieve this mood
during their Christmas
events “to give people a
chance to get away from
the hustle and bustle and
enter an oasis of peace."
The 2007 version at
Mission San José, which showcased
medieval and Renaissance music, was
recorded and later broadcast on KPAC
on Christmas Eve.
So far, Voci has released only one
album, titled Enchante and featuring
songs and lullabies from around the
world, but the second one is on its way.
Slated for release at Christmas 2008, it
will be entirely dedicated to early music.
The way they are going, it shouldn’t be
too long before they make an appearance
on the famed Performance Today
radio program, which would bring them
national exposure and ultimately help
them spread their vocal message to communities
beyond San Antonio.
For Moreland, life could hardly be
better. “To be the artistic director of
Voci di Sorelle is absolutely the culmination
of my musical journey,” she says
emphatically. “With them, I have the
perfect opportunity to accomplish what
I have been put on this earth to do.
When I finish a concert, I am often
overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude
that I got to do this.”
Voci di Sorelle’s concert Sacred
Tranquillity;
Music for the Soul will take
place April 13 at 4 p.m. at University
United Methodist Church, 5084 De
Zavala Road. Tickets are $20 for adults,
$12 for students; call (210) 912-9555
for reservations.
|
