Sing the Body Eclectic

Many voices: The Choral Arts Society will perform Edward Bilous' multicultural "Benedictus" at the American Choral Festival this weekend.

Exploring pop influences on classical music.

by Peter Burwasser

In the popular imagination, the music world is divided into distinct categories, a concept that is powerfully endorsed and encouraged by big-business music (dreadful "crossover" material notwithstanding), including, not incidentally, musical journalism. But it is a concept that is roundly rejected by most musicians and serious music lovers. Eclecticism is more common now than ever, as, for example, a whole generation of music students of all kinds has essentially grown up on rock ’n’ roll. It has always been so. Charlie Parker idolized Stravinsky and Debussy, Stravinsky was infatuated by jazz, Debussy was thunderstruck by the folk music of Bali, Greig built a whole body of work on Norwegian mountain-fiddle music, Duke Ellington arranged Tchaikovsky for jazz band; the list is endless.

Edward Bilous, who will have a new work performed by the Choral Arts Society at the American Choral Festival this weekend, is a vivid example of a composer whose work does not fit into a single bin at the record store. He was a student of the legendary Philadelphia composer Vincent Persichetti and is currently on the faculty of Juilliard. When he is not writing for the concert hall, his collaborators include Sinead O'Connor, The Who, Dr. John and the Coen brothers. His latest piece, "Benedictus," was written for the American Choral Festival. It is scored for multiple choirs and percussion and features texts written in the African tribal language Xhosa, based on writings by South African poet Enoch Sontonga.

For Bilous, an intermixing of cultures was always a part of his musical sensibility. "I took piano lessons but I kept a blues harmonica in my shirt pocket," he recalls. "Looking back, I couldn't separate the classical from the non-classical influences in my work any more that I could take the cream out of my coffee. The biggest revolution in music was not Schoenberg's exploration of atonality or Debussy's development of nonfunctional harmony. It was the marriage of the African and European soul on the North American continent. No other event in history has had as profound an impact on the process of music-making."

Choral music is especially well-suited to demonstrate the natural lack of borders in the art form. It helps that singing is the most democratic of all styles of music-making, as well as the most ancient. The American Choral Festival reflects this with wide-ranging programming and participation of diverse groups in addition to the core performers of the Choral Arts Society. The Saturday afternoon program will also include properly wide-ranging material from Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Randall Thompson and Eric Whitacre, with singing duties augmented by local high school choirs.

Later that same day, Duo Con Forza, a Scandinavian classical guitar duet, will make their American debut under the auspices of Chamber Music Now, in a program that reflects their own varied musical influences. One half of the team, Patrik Karlsson, reports, "I turned to the electric guitar as a teenager. I played in a lot of bands doing all the standard rock 'n' roll things, like electrocuting myself while trying to play with my teeth, playing behind my neck, whammy bar diving, you know, the impressive stuff."

One of the composers that Duo Con Forza will present is Sweden's Martin Q Larsson, who, when he is not writing music for acoustic guitar duets, fronts a band called Matandarnas Transgalaktiska Hip Hopkapell. Philadelphia composer Richard Belcastro, one of the founders of Chamber Music Now, is also on the program. He began his career in music as the lead guitarist for a rock cover band in his hometown in Northern California, "I was basically raised on the Beatles. I had a copy of the White Album playing continuously in my car for most of my time in high school before the tape finally broke. I idolized guys like Clapton, Slash, Page and Hendrix. Years of playing their music has had quite an impact on my own classical music, most prominently on my guitar writing. It's in the way I feel with the instrument."

Karlsson and his partner, Anne-Mette Skovbjerg, also have deep roots in the flamenco style of playing, which they studied intensely while in Spain. They tell the story of a memorable night near the end of their stay there. "One evening while leaving the stage after a performance we had given a stranger from the audience would not let us leave and strongly urged us to play one more. Later we found out it was a man by the name of Tomatito, a superstar in the flamenco world." You never know exactly what to expect with Duo Con Forza. If you go to the concert and feel the need to emote enthusiasm, just remember; rhythmic clapping is perfectly okay, but the Fire Department prohibits the use of cigarette lighters in the Ethical Society.

Choral Arts Society performs Sat., April 17, 2 p.m. (preceded by free talk by composer Bilous at 1 p.m.), $20-$25, Tindley Temple, Broad and Fitzwater sts., 215-545-8634. Duo Con Forza performs Sat., April 17, 8 p.m., $10-$15, Ethical Society, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square, 267-679-5461.

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