Albany Chorale tuning up for a challenging season

ALBANY — The Albany Chorale will begin preparing for its 2016-17 performance season on Aug. 8, one that Chorale Director Marc Boensel says will be challenging and ambitious as the group continues to push to be the region’s premier vocal ensemble.

“The Chorale members asked me to push them this year,” Boensel said last week. “So I said, ‘OK, I can push.’ They’re excited, but they also know they’re going to have to work hard at it.”

The most challenging performance on the schedule will come in mid-February, the third concert of the season. That program, titled “The High Renaissance,” will be performed a cappella.

“This will be a new experience for them,” Boensel, who is in his second season of directing the group, said. “The Chorale has never done a concert before without any accompaniment.”

The group is usually supported by Meri Beth Hillard on piano and sometimes has other accompaniment as well, as it will when it performs next spring with the Albany Symphony Orchestra at two ASO concerts.

“They’ll be performing High Renaissance music,” Boensel said of the Feb. 16 concert, set for First Presbyterian Church of Albany. “It’s going to be powerful for them … and a powerful experience for the audience.”

He said that concert will require the most of the Chorale members, both in performance and preparation in rehearsals.

“It’s going to be the biggest challenge the group’s ever had,” he said.

The season will open Oct. 13 at Porterfield United Methodist Church, which is home turf for Boensel, who serves as music minister there. He said the acoustics have been recently improved in the sanctuary where the Chorale will perform “Faure Requiem,” a well-known late 19th-century piece.

“It’s been many years since the Chorale has performed here at Porterfield,” he said. “This is now an excellent venue for choral music.”

That performance will be followed Dec. 15 with what has become a Christmas-season tradition, the Chorale’s holiday concert. It again will be performed at Walden Chapel of First United Methodist Church of Albany.

“It’ll be similar to last year’s concert,” Boensel said. “We’ll have familiar carols and familiar holiday songs. The audience will sing along at the end.”

After “High Renaissance” in February, the Chorale will perform its final concert of its season — “A Night at the Movies” — April 22 at the Creekside education center at Chehaw. It will be a lighter event with a reception and will serve as the group’s season-ending fundraiser.

“We’ve loved doing performances at Chehaw,” Boensel said. “It’s a great venue. The music will be coming from stage and movies, so it’ll be more fun and light-hearted. It’ll just be a nice evening of fun and music.”

Before that season finale, however, the Chorale will join several other choral groups to perform “Durufle Requiem” with the Albany Symphony Orchestra at the Albany Municipal Auditorium on March 25 and in Tifton on March 26.

“That’s in addition to our four-concert series,” Boensel said. “We’re joining in a group effort with the Albany Symphony Orchestra and choirs from other different areas.

“This is a great opportunity for this region. You just don’t get to hear music like this. You only get to hear it every few years when the Albany Symphony does this. It provides us with music that we can’t provide on our own.”

Boensel and Chorale officials made it clear before the 2015-16 season that their ultimate goal is to make the Chorale a more regional draw. He said he think the organization made progress that can be built upon.

“Our concert attendance and participation last year was good compared to previous years,” Boensel said. “As far as attendance, fundraising and participation, it seems to all be headed in the right direction.”

He said he’s also heard from a few folks who didn’t sing last year but who said they’re planning to join the group.

The Chorale will have a board organizational meeting Monday and then, immediately following a get-acquainted reception at 6:15 p.m. on Aug. 8, the singers will get down to work preparing for the October show. The group meets at Darton State College, Building F, Room 115.

The first three of the Chorale’s regular concerts are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with the fundraiser set to start at 8 p.m. Doors will open for the latter show at 7 p.m. Boensel says the performances are opportunities for residents of the area to enjoy some rich music that they’re rarely exposed to these days.

“High art is complex, whether its visual or musical,” he said. “Complex art requires a great deal of dedication to that art. It also requires dedication from the audience. This is not just casual background music.”