The Houston Chamber Choir will have audiences in awe of what comes out of the mouth of babes – in a good way. The organization will present its annual Hear the Future Invitational Choral Festival, now in its milestone 25th year, on Sunday, January 26 at South Main Baptist Church. Attendance is free.
The festival includes a clinic with eight choirs on Saturday followed by a public concert on Sunday that showcases three area K-12-aged choirs performing superb work. This year’s three banner choirs are McCullough Junior High School with director Kelsie Quintana, The Treble Choir of Houston under Marianna Parnas-Simpson and Bethany Stuard and The Woodlands High School, conducted by Patrick Newcomb.
“There are plenty of festivals and conventions where outstanding school choirs get to sing, but they very seldom get to sing in a community setting,” said Robert Simpson, founder and artistic director of Houston Chamber Choir. “One of the things that we’ve really prided ourselves on is the ability to bring these choirs out into the public so that folks who don’t necessarily attend choral conventions or are not affiliated with the schools can get to hear them. This is a sought after opportunity for these choirs to be heard and appreciated by a much broader audience.”
The festival also presents an opportunity for the chamber choir to give educators their flowers for what is a vital, yet sometimes thankless, job of supplementing an arts education.
“From the chamber choir standpoint, everyone in the chamber choir and anyone who is singing at any level at all has been inspired by a teacher at one point or another from elementary age through high school,” he said. “As a payback, the chamber choir pays recognition to the work that’s being done now that will, in fact, inevitably result in one of these singers appearing on stage with the chamber choir in a couple of years.”
Simpson continued with his thoughts about why an arts education, whether or not the student pursues a career in the arts, proves essential to creating a fully informed individual.
“A complete education includes being exposed and introduced to a wonderful range of subjects, certainly including math and science, but also art, literature, music, dance…that completes the whole person,” he said. “A person who is acquainted with the arts is in touch with a part of themselves that only the arts can reach. There is an awareness of beauty and subtlety and meaning and interconnection that the arts are fundamental in supporting and creating, and it’s those kinds of individuals who make the best citizens.”
In addition to spotlighting the three exemplary choirs on Sunday, the Hear the Future also serves as an investment in other area choirs that could benefit from a chance to be exposed to and learn from skilled experts and other vocal groups.
The eight choirs are selected by Sally Schott and Eddie Quaid, who both had distinguished careers as music educators. Although neither is in the music room anymore, they are both still very active within the area’s choral work. Schott works with student teachers at the University of Houston, and Quaid helps choirs prepare for UIL contests.
“They know everybody, and they know who is doing the best work,” Simpson said. “When we’re looking for our Saturday [clinic] participants, they can say, ‘These folks are really working very hard with what they have, but maybe a little enrichment in their program could mean a lot to them.’ Eddie Quaid and Sally Schott are the two who are very much the ones who tell me whom to select, and then I’m happy to follow their lead.”
This year’s clinic will be taught by Alyssa Rowe, associate professor and Galante Director of Choral Studies at Louisiana State University. She is an active guest conductor and adjudicator, has given choral and vocal workshops in the Midwest and Southern states and has conducted all-state and regional honor choirs. Her recent research on individual assessment in the choral rehearsal led to presentations at the 2019 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference, Georgia and Louisiana ACDA conferences and the 2020 International Conference on Arts and Humanities.
“LSU has a long and illustrious choral tradition, and there have been a number of award-winning conductors in that position, so she came there with a great reputation and has made it even stronger,” Simpson said. “She is well known, a leader in the field, and when we look around at some of the premier university programs throughout the country, LSU always comes to the top. She is one of those people you immediately want to have involved, if at all possible.”
This year marks a special year for Hear the Future. Simpson announced this will be his last year leading Houston Chamber Choir, so now, as the 25th annual festival approaches – he cannot help but look back at its success as well as what the future holds.
“It makes me feel very proud to look back on 25 years and all of the choirs that have sung in Hear the Future, and to think about the fact that none of the people on stage were born when this festival started,” he said. “We are very grateful for the support of the community and the opportunity we’ve had to give this prominence to work for a quarter of a century. As I step away, I can feel very, very confident that the future of Hear the Future is bright, and this [festival] will continue on indefinitely under the leadership of [Artistic Director Designate] Dr. Betsy Cook Weber and [Executive Director] Brian Miller.”
Houston Chamber Choir will present ‘Hear the Future’ at 4 p.m., January 26 at South Main Baptist Church, 4100 Main. For more information, visit houstonchamberchoir.org. Free.
