KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Weston Noble lives up to his name. An elegant man in his late 80's, he exudes a sense of warmth and humble grace. An American patriot, Noble saw action as a tank driver during WWII and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. As music director of the Luther College Nordic Choir, he built its international reputation for choral excellence. As a humanitarian, Weston Noble generously gave his time and talent last Saturday to guest conduct a sing-a-long of choral classics to raise money for a noble cause, The Arts in Prison.

Started by visionary musician Elvera Voth, the Arts in Prison program helps incarcerated men find a new "voice." After retiring from an illustrious choral conducting and teaching career in Alaska, Voth moved to Kansas City. Eager to engage musically again, she approached the Lansing Correctional Facility and founded the East Hills Singers. "The men were so happy to have something to do," Voth said. "That's one of the saddest things about our penal system."  The choir combines the voices of inmates with volunteer singers as a way to help them reconnect to society in a soul-fulfilling way. 

In 1998 Voth invited her dear friend and internationally acclaimed choral conductor Robert Shaw to lead a community sing-along event in Newton, Kansas, to raise money for an expanded project incorporating all of the arts. It was his last out-of-town performance before his death and the proceeds raised from this momentous occasion established the Arts in Prison Program.

The event last Saturday at Yardley Hall was modeled after the Newton sing-along and used the same program. The song books even included Robert Shaw's performance notes. It began with a workshop with Weston Noble ended with a concert. Members of the Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Shawnee Mission North High School and Lawrence High School along with other interested singers from across the metro area participated in the workshop. Weston Noble expressed the importance of music's uplifting and transformational power and emphasized the mind-body connection required for good singing.

The performance began with a rousing rendition of the famous hymn Old Hundred followed by the ever popular Ave Verum by Mozart. He, Watching over Israel from Mendelssohn's Elijah was particularly moving. After a tricky start, the Renaissance masterpiece, O Vos Omnes by Victoria, warmed the audience. 

The East Hills Singers took the stage in blue button down prison uniforms and dungarees. A combined chorus of volunteers and inmates, they sang dynamically with discipline and passion.  Their first piece, Holy, Holy, Holy, conducted by Elvera Voth, was so sensitively performed that it was hard not to cry. The highly esteemed Kirk Carson, the group's current conductor, took the podium for a moving piece called The Awakening by Joseph M. Martin. The accompaniment was expressively played by Jolynn Cotton. 

Bach's Dona Nobis Pacem from the Mass in B minor was conducted by the highly esteemed Maestro Bruffy. His uncanny ability to charm the socks off audiences with his humorous rambling is something to behold. The glorious How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place was followed by a rollicking rendition of A Mighty Fortress is our God. The choirs seemed very secure in the sure hands of Weston Noble. After the Halleluiah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, the angels must have smiled.

Arts in Prison's executive director may have summed up the afternoon perfectly. Standing on the proscenium between the chorus on stage and the singers in the audience, she compared the experience to "what heaven must sound like."

For an avid choral singer, the opportunity to sing some of the finest literature in the repertoire with great conductors in a fantastic venue with full orchestra is an experience to treasure. When the cost of the ticket goes to support a noble cause, the benefits are heavenly.

REVIEW
Sing-Along with Weston Noble and Charles Bruffy
A benefit for Arts in Prison Inc.
Saturday January 30, 2010
Carlsen Center at JCCC
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS
For more information call 913-403-0229 or online at www.artsinprison.org

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.