A Way With Words

June 29 2007

Jonathan Souza, Christina Stanard-Souza, and Kevin Sharkey established the Six Rivers Choral Artists and A Choral Workshop Experience in June of 2005.  Six Rivers Choral Artists (formerly Arcata Choral Artists) was created for serious singers in Humboldt County to participate in a short intense rehearsal process  creating a meaningful music experience through the study and performance of the choral arts as a choral ensemble. 

 

Singers from all walks of life enjoy experiencing an interesting and challenging repertoire each season. The repertoire is addressed in our eight rehearsal workshop and culminates in an exciting performance for family, friends, and our community. 

 

Another important part of the Six Rivers Choral Artists is the inclusion of some of Humboldt County’s fine instrumentalists including Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnee-Hull as our accompanists. Such collaborations only add to the diverse and exciting nature of the experience  and we are proud to include such excellent musicians in our organization.

 

Other fine instrumentalist who have been featured with the Six RIvers Choral Artists:

 

Jay Byker, bass

Greg Granoff, organ

Holly MacDonald, viola

Viginia Ryder, oboe

Russell Shorey, horn

Anna Marshall, violin

Klamath String Quartet

    and

Many of our fine singers who are also instrumentalists

Untraveled Words

June 30 2006

Debut Concert

July 9 2005

“We have come together this evening to enjoy and celebrate music for voices. Choral music touches us all in a very deep place, since it is our own instrument, the human voice, that we will be hearing.  Choral music is also a celebration of words.  It begins with poetry.  Some of the words you will hear are from church liturgy; some are by contemporary poets; some are folk songs.  The composer, inspired by the poetry, creates his or her response - a musical setting of the words.  The music is strung on that framework of words, of poetry, which already has a rhythm and lilt of its own.  Words, like music, unfold in time, flowing like rivers into our souls.  Words also have the dimension of meaning.  There are visual images that we receive, along with the waves of pure sound.

 

The word, that inspired the composer, are there for us as well, fleshing out the purely musical sounds, giving us a  story, the poet’s story - which is also our story.  They tell of love, of humor, of separation and longing.  The sacred texts connect us to the great spiritual traditions.  The folk and gospel songs connect us to our common roots.  Words are landmarks, into which music pours its own magic.  So the poetry and the music are in response to each other, two art forms dancing together.  these two forms, music and poetry, melded together, tell us things that our minds alone can’t conceive, but in combination, can move us, touch us, and change us.  The songs connect our bodies with our hearts, our hearts with our souls, and each of us with each other.”

Nancy Correll - June, 2007

The following was written by our accompanist, Nancy Correll, and captures the spirit of the relationship between choral music and literature.  She wrote the following as the forward of our recent concert “A Way With Words.”

Try My Words, Fly My Song

June 28 2008