The University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Choirs gave a concert entitled “Our Reply to Violence” on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
The concert will be reprised on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at New York City’s Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. It was organized by Dr. Jamie Spillane, Director of Choral Studies at UConn.
Dr. Spillane oversees a choral program with seven choirs, directs the UConn Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and teaches choral conducting and choral literature courses. He has held many state, regional and national leadership roles in American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and National Association for Music Education (NAfME), was named Connecticut ACDA Choral Director of the Year and is the current president-elect of the Eastern Region of ACDA.
When asked how the theme “Our Reply to Violence” originated, Spillane cited a quote from legendary conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
“There’s lots of violence around,” Spillane said. “We wanted to do the Mozart Requiem — the mass for the dead, right? It’s what you do literally when someone dies. But to add to that, I think Paul McShee, who is our orchestra director, decided to widen the net a little bit and include pieces that he loves and felt would just provide some balance and color to the program.”
For Spillane, the concert’s message extended beyond performance; it served as a reminder of music’s enduring ability to communicate what words cannot.
“Music opens the heart to hear,” he said. “Music has this ability to change our minds more than words, or to set up our minds to hear words. With choral music, we are lucky to have text — but music is more than just reading.”
“You always hope that people come to our concerts and they are changed, hopefully for the better,” he continued. “Whether they were changed because they were entertained or changed because they felt that something was powerful or caused them to think about things a little differently, or just that they were moved because the people making the music had joy in making music.”
His intentions were clear in the evening’s selections. The concert unfolded in two parts — the orchestra’s dynamic first half and the choir’s transcendent requiem.
The first half of the show focused on the orchestral aspect. The instruments’ melodic sound blended seamlessly under the direction of Paul McShee, capturing the tension buildup in their dazzling rendition of “Kauyumari” by Gabriella Ortiz, a piece that focuses on atmospheric storytelling. The orchestra created a marvelous soundscape with powerful crescendos and delightfully intricate textures, telling the story of a complete journey and leaving audiences satisfied by the time the piece concluded.
In “Hymn to the Fallen” from the 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan,” the rounded vocals of the chorus combined with the beautiful instrumentation of the orchestra to create an utterly moving sonic blend that was blissful to the ears. The chorus only amplified the glorious production of the orchestra while adding subtle texture that was very pleasing to the ear.
The orchestra also played selections from “Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 Suites 1 and 2,” which had a gracefully poetic and balletic feel. Energetic crescendos initiated by cymbals and delicate rhythmic flourishes from the tambourine during quieter measures kept the audience fully engaged in the story.
From the huge crescendos perpetuated by the layers of percussion to the gentle, floating swells of the string section, every sound the orchestra made was created with a purpose and intentionality that was almost palpable.
Perhaps the most awe-inspiring part of the orchestra’s performance comes not from the instruments themselves, but from the conductor. McShee conducted with such focus, passion and dedication. It is clear that he gave his all and relished every second of it. Following the intermission, the choirs took the stage, and the requiem began.
From the beginning, the piece and the way in which it was performed had a very clear message: “we sing this song, this mass of death, so we will no longer have to sing it. So that one day the number of deaths caused by violence will be so drastically decreased, the mass of the dead will no longer have to be performed.”
The blended and full chords created by the vocalists were extraordinary, and the soloists demonstrated a captivating level of vocal control and precision. The concert was a blessing to the ears and fulfilling for the soul. Attendees didn’t have to understand a single Latin word to understand the message of the piece, and that’s the mark of an exquisitely talented group of singers, artists and all-around performers.
By the concert’s end, many audience members were visibly moved, some wiping away tears.
“This was such a beautiful concert and such an enjoyable experience to get to listen to such talented performers,” said Kayla Grenwis, a first-semester economics major.
This incredible performance awarded the choir and orchestra a much-deserved several-minute standing ovation.