BRATTLEBORO \u2014 \u201cThy Coming Morrow Will Be Clear and Bright,\u201d is the theme of the Brattleboro Concert Choir\u2019s next performance, Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. and Feb. 1, at 4 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre. The Concert Choir is the oldest performing ensemble of the Brattleboro Music Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, a concert program starts in one of two ways for me,\u201d said Dr. Jonathan Harvey, the Concert Choir\u2019s music director. \u201cEither it begins with an idea that I then find music to fit, or, as in this case, it begins with a particular piece that I build a program around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe starting point for this concert,\u201d he said, \u201cwas Marques L. A. Garrett\u2019s 2022 piece, \u2018My Heart Be Brave,\u2019 a setting of a poem by early 20th-century poet and Civil Rights activist James Weldon Johnson, which speaks to the necessity of courage in the face of oppression, cruelty, and darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe poem was written by a Black man in the post-Reconstruction United States,\u201d Harvey continued, \u201cin the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. Garrett then takes that poem and effectively communicates ideas of fear and hope\u2014it feels tailor-made for our moment in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey said that what resonates most strongly about the piece for him is the sense of hard-won hopefulness, so he built the program around that idea, around music that considers the future in that light.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important for a performance to be deeply informed both by the origins of the work and by the expectations and needs of an audience in today\u2019s world,\u201d he said. \u201cCommunicating those ideas to the performers is an ongoing process. I\u2019m lucky to be able to work with the Concert Choir every week, so that we can gradually build the meaning together, both through musical technical devices and through discussions of meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunicating those ideas to an audience is tougher because we have less time together,\u201d he continued. \u201cI write notes for the concert program to help illuminate the music, and I always speak from the stage during performances. But I also think that what the music means to me doesn\u2019t necessarily need to align exactly with what the music means to the other musicians or to the audience. That ambiguity and flexibility is one of the reasons that music is so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to directing the Concert Choir, Harvey is music director of the Brattleboro Camerata. He is also Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at Fitchburg State University.<\/p>\n
Although Harvey enjoyed music all through elementary and secondary school, he didn\u2019t set out to be a professional musician.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was only as an undergraduate student that I started believing people who told me that music-making was something I should consider pursuing as a career,\u201d he said. \u201cBy the time I finished undergrad, I had been a teaching assistant for both orchestras and choirs. I had won the college\u2019s concerto competition and played the \u2018Concerto in F Minor for Bass Tuba and Orchestra\u2019 by Ralph Vaughan Williams. And I was headed to grad school in conducting. My fate was sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey has conducted all kinds of ensembles, but he finds the voice particularly interesting for two reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, the voice can carry text, which adds an entirely different and fascinating expressive layer to vocal music,\u201d he said. \u201cSecond, voice is the ultimate egalitarian musical opportunity\u2014almost everyone can sing, and your instrument is always with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Brattleboro Music Center, more than 70 years ago, violinist and conductor Blanche Moyse envisioned a community chorus of local voices performing celebrated choral music. She directed the group for decades. Susan Dedell became the choir\u2019s music director in 1989. Harvey succeeded her in 2018. He founded the Brattleboro Camerata in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference between these two groups is primarily size and repertoire,\u201d he said. \u201cConcert Choir is a large group that sings music of many different styles, and has a tradition of high-quality performance of adventurous programs, often including new music. For example, in our next concert, we\u2019ll be performing music in four languages, across 400 years, and about half the pieces are by living composers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCamerata, on the other hand, is a smaller group that specifically focuses on music from and inspired by the Renaissance era,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a consequence, singers in Camerata need to be relatively strong sight-readers and must be comfortable holding their own part.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say, he added, that Concert Choir members can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cConcert Choir is filled with tremendously accomplished musicians,\u201d he said, \u201cmany of whom currently sing in Camerata or have done so in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most complicated and important part of conducting an ensemble, Harvey said, is helping the singers grow in their understanding of the music.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of this work is accomplished by the music itself,\u201d he said. \u201cThe pitches, rhythms, and syllables allow singers to form their own personal relationship with a piece. I also provide singers with an extensive set of resources, including practice tracks, texts and translations, multiple recordings (if they exist), and contextual information about the composer and the piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen throughout the rehearsal process, many discussions of musical meaning take place,\u201d he said, \u201cwhether in the form of brief one-on-one conversations, organized discussions, or written communication. So I try to help, but I don\u2019t feel the need to control the musicians\u2019s relationship with the music. It\u2019s also an individual process for every singer.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a choral conductor, Harvey operates from three core values.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the music to feel fresh and immediate, no matter when or where it was written,\u201d he said. \u201cI want the musicians to feel safe to make mistakes and take risks. And I want the shared humanity of all performers and audience members to be at the center of my musical decisions. I\u2019m always trying to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Harvey sees supporting local arts as an essential act of citizenship and communal interdependence, his more immediate goal for the audience at this concert is the experience of hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot a facile optimism,\u201d he said. \u201cA clear-eyed and hard-won sense that we as humans are capable of addressing the challenges that we face together. Cumulatively and individually, I hope the pieces on this concert help audience members process the challenges and complexities of our current moment.\u201d<\/p>\n