The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s season finale features the sweetest voices singing a new tune. The Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus (DSCC) will join the orchestra to sing the world premiere of Italian tenor-composer Andrea Basevi’s Four Poems by Emily Dickinson.
The concert, which also features Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 in G minor and Walton Symphony No. 1 in B-flat minor, is at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District through May 26.
Established in 2022, the DSCC is an auditioned chorus and currently has a roster of 140 students divided into three choirs: Training Choir, Symphonic Voices, and a high school Mixed Ensemble. The chorus, directed by Artistic Director Ellie Lin, rehearses on Monday evenings at Lovers Lane Methodist Church in Dallas.
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The Symphonic Voices, a chorus of students with unchanged voices in 6th - 8th grade, regularly performs with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra commissioned Four Poems by Emily Dickinson for Symphonic Voices to perform.
Basevi and Lin talk about the creation of the piece, setting Emily Dickinson’s poetry to music, and preparing the choir for this world premiere.
The Scene
NBC DFW: Have you composed a piece for a children's chorus before? What are some challenges for composing for a children's chorus?
Andrea Basevi (AB, translated using Google translate from Italian): Composition is a challenge and when writing for children, even more so. I have been working with and for children for many years, I have written 15 operas for children, including for schools, and a lot of vocal music. I have always used texts by poets for children such as the Italian Roberto Piumini, or I have used poems by great poets where there was a lightness in expounding the verse. It is above all a question of respect; respect for the world of children, respect for the world of music.
NBC DFW: What makes Emily Dickinson's poems perfect for a piece for a children's chorus?
AB: I have read many poems by Emily Dickinson, and I initially chose ten which I submitted to Fabio Luisi [Music Director] and Katie McGuinness [Vice President of Artistic Operations] with the DSO. We have chosen together the four that you will listen to. They are poems that talk about the birds that in Dickinson's poetry represent memory and not just a light-loving sound. Emily Dickinson's poetry is light, airy and enters like the wind, moving memories and splendid sensations. Nature is important for us humans and not just for children. We have a duty to look at the little things and rejoice together.
NBC DFW: How has this world premiere challenged the chorus?
Ellie Lin (EL): This commissioned piece is the most challenging piece of music that our children's chorus has ever tackled. During the two years since its formation, this particular choir of elementary and middle school-aged choristers have performed in many languages. Besides English, we have sung in Italian, French, Latin, Filipino and Chinese. This commissioned work, although is in English, its musical language is contemporary. We had to lengthen rehearsal times in order to learn all the rhythms and pitches accurately. I believe our choristers have been stretched as musicians in ways that they had not previously imagined possible.
NBC DFW: What do you appreciate about Andrea's approach to these poems?
EL: Andrea's writing brings playfulness, gentleness as well as excitement to these poems.
NBC DFW: Are there any specific parts of the piece that this chorus has enjoyed learning?
EL: These Emily Dickinson's poems described nature, and the composer had the singers using their voices to imitate birds, bees, winds, etc. in parts of these songs. Our singers enjoyed experimenting with making these various sound effects.
Learn more: Dallas Symphony Orchestra
