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Many music lovers have no doubt already realized that 2009 is a special year. During this year, we are celebrating some very important anniversaries. The biggest three are the 250^th anniversary of Handel's death, the 200^th anniversary of Haydn's death, and the 200^th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth. These three composers' music is always well-represented on a wide variety of programs, but this year their music is being celebrated even more, making for an extremely exciting music season.

Kansas City, with our performing arts scene going through a boom of vitality, is playing its part in offering the works of these masters to the public. In early March we heard Mendelssohn's oratorio St. Paul at Village Church, and just a few weeks ago Musica Sacra gave a wonderful program that included a Haydn Missa Brevis, and an obscure but marvelous work by Handel. This coming weekend, Arnold Epley's new ensemble Musica Vocale will present the exquisite oratorio Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn.

Musica Vocale is one of a handful of new choral ensembles to join the ranks of an already impressive stable of choruses in the Kansas City area within the last few years. Their first concert, given just a few months ago, was well-received and showcased great music-making. In their season-ending concert, the group will expand its vocal forces and partner with a 30-member orchestra and some distinguished soloists.

Music Director Dr. Arnold Epley formed Musica Vocale in the fall of 2008 to help fill the void left in his schedule by his departure from the Kansas City Symphony Chorus last summer. All of the singers in his new group were hand-selected by Epley, who has built a wonderful long-lasting legacy as a conductor, singer, educator and supporter of the arts.

In an interview last week, Epley said, "Conducting is teaching. They are one in the same." His love of education is evident. He has been the Director of Choral Studies, as well as the Director of Vocal Music Education at William Jewell College for many years. Even though he will be retiring from university teaching this spring, he plans to stay active in education by conducting and maintaining a vibrant studio of students.

Epley could hardly contain his excitement about the upcoming Elijah performance. His soloists are some of the nation's best. Singing the role of Elijah is baritone Douglas Williams, a graduate of Yale University. Andrew Childs is the tenor soloist. Hometown favorite Ida Nicolosi will sing the soprano solos, and Martha Hart, artist-in-residence at Graceland College in Iowa, will sing the mezzo-soprano solos. The orchestra will be comprised of some of the area's finest instrumental musicians.

Felix Mendelssohn wrote Elijah in 1846, just a year before his death. Some scholars have put forth the notion that in Elijah, Mendelssohn displayed a sense of cohesion in his musical ideas, cultivated over years of non-stop work and dedication to excellence. Mendelssohn was a seminal musician and was highly regarded not only as a composer but also as a conductor and performer. His improvisations are legendary, drawing some similarities to Mozart. In the writing of this work, the composer made a conscious decision to write a dramatic work. The characters portrayed are always pushing the story forward.

Dr. Epley believes that Mendelssohn wrote from the inside-out rather than the outside-in, as the musical lines weave throughout the work's richly layered textures in an organic and extemporaneous way. In this performance, Epley is working to bring out the dramatic nature of Mendelssohn's writing. He said, "It's overly dramatic! Sometimes it's hard to remember that because the music is so beautiful." As the story depicts the life of the old-testament prophet Elijah and uses texts drawn from 1^st and 2^nd Kings in the Old Testament, Dr. Epley also believes that this work is the perfect balance of faith; Mendelssohn pays homage to the Jewish faith of his grandfather while balancing his own Christian faith.

Mendelssohn's music remains some of the most intrinsically beautiful and moving of all time. In years past, largely through the shadow and acts of Richard Wagner, he has been branded as a conservative composer. With this, the 200^th anniversary of his birth, many of those preconceived notions are being washed away through some new scholarship and inspired performances. We are beginning to see his music in a new light, recognizing that Mendelssohn was more of a revolutionary composer than he is typically given credit for.

There are few concerts that come around in a given season that can be thought of as "can't-miss" performances. With Dr. Epley on the podium, his hand-selected Musica Vocale singing, a top-notch orchestral ensemble and a world-class collection of vocal soloists, this Sunday's offering of Mendelssohn's Elijah promises to be such a performance. 

Musica Vocale
Elijah - by Felix Mendelssohn
Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 3:00pm
Temple Beth Shalom,
9400 Wornall Avenue, Kansas City, MO
For online tickets visit www.musicavocale.org

By R. Douglas Helvering

Classical and Vocal Contributor (Past writer)

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