SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - Messiah Sing Along Interview with Dennis Houser

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Send us a text and chime in!In this episode, Dennis Houser, artistic director of the Prescott Chorale, discusses his role in leading the Chorale’s performances and gives a preview of their upcoming "Messiah Singalong" on November 24th. He shares insights into the chorale's dedication, its venues, and how community members can get involved. Tune in for an inspiring conversation on music and community!Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to SignalsAZ.com. As always, I'm Alicia. And today I am lucky enough to be joined by Dennis Hauser. And you are the artistic director at the Prescott Corral. What does that mean? What does that mean? What is it? Well, it means I am responsible for the musical part of the Prescott Corral, which was formed eight seasons ago. Okay. That what does the musical portion means I select the music, I choose it, I do the programming, I do the conducting, I do the preparation for the choral concerts, and I also do the final production, if you will, of each of the concerts, of which there are four each season, Alicia. And where do you guys perform these concerts?

There are two venues that we use regularly. The first is St. Luke's Episcopal Church, which is out by the airport on Ruger Road. We rehearse and we perform at the church. The reason is very simple. The building itself is acoustically responsive to music. We have a lot of venues here in the city of Prescott and Prescott Valley. Most of them are not conducive to choral music. The reason is the human voice has its own cycles,

as does the recording business that we're doing currently with you right now. So the human voice needs a natural amplification setting. That's what St. Luke's provides. When we're not at St. Luke's, we are at the Ruth Street Theater, which is a newly renovated facility on the Prescott High School campus. It was built many, many years ago and just recently renovated. It is acoustically probably the truest facility in the city of Prescott for both instrumental, coral, or more importantly, for both mediums combined.

Excellent. I've been to the Ruth Street Theater, but probably before it was renovated. But it is such a beautiful little theater. It's got lots of space. Is that the right one? Am I thinking of pretty big? Pretty big space. Yeah, just a great theater.

And so if I, who know nothing about singing, it's, you know, Do Ramey is just a song that some lady sang a long time ago, would I sound pretty good in there too? Indeed you would. The building itself was built acoustically, beautifully, and the renovation just enhanced it. A new sound system, new seating, new lighting system, new carpet, new paint, new stage extension, That's kind of important for the performer because it means we can move as close to the audience as possible. So we have the best acoustical projection so the audience can hear both chorale and orchestra and in this case, soloists as well. Perfect.

If you, so if I wanted to be in the Prescott Corral. Yes. Because, you know, I'm delusional and think I can sing sometimes, especially in the car. How would I go about doing that? question. We have open auditions every July, and we audition anywhere between 10 and 20 new singers interested in singing with the corral. And we do have a limited number of openings because the corral membership has been steady for so many years. There are all four sections, soprano, alto, tenor bass. And we try to balance those sections so that the corral can sing

viably. So the audition process takes about 20 minutes and then we begin rehearsals the last week in July. We sing through Christmas. We take January off. February we start and then our last performance is the first week of May every season. And then you get to take a month off and you do it again. We do it again. Exactly. So I'm assuming Christmas is the big, the big one, right? Well, it is. Yes, Alicia, it is. In terms of audio. appeal because it is Christmas. And what's one of the most prominent elements of Christmas? Christmas music.

For the children, however, it's always the appearance of Santa. And for our Christmas concerts, which will be December 20 and 21 at St. Luke's, Santa will indeed be there along with the Fresca Chorale Children's Chorus and a very special soloist coming up from the Arizona, excuse me, the Tucson, Arizona boys' chorus, a wonderful young boy soloist coming up along with the children. So it'll be a festive afternoon and evening. That's amazing. So what is the first, hold on me rephrase that. You've got two concerts coming up. Correct. One is the Messiah and the Christmas concert. When is that going to be? Okay. The Messiah concert is going to be on November 24th. Okay.

And the Messiah itself is just a singular piece of music. It's written in three sections. It was written in the mid of the early 17, 10, 1720 in that range, written by George Friedrich Handel. He wrote this piece, which if performed in its entirety, which it rarely is, is over three hours long. But for this particular performance, we take the segmented choruses and solos. And of course, the most recognizable piece is the Hallelujah chorus, which is celebratory in and of itself. But there's a progression of the three movements sections of the Messiah.

The sing-along is a different format, Alicia, in that. Yes, there's a chorus on stage, orchestra on stage, four beautiful soloists on stage, but the audience becomes the chorus as well. So anybody in the audience who wishes to sing the choruses either bring their own score or they can purchase a score at the door and sing with the chorus on stage and the orchestra. And therefore it is called Sing Along Messiah. It's a format that has not been done here before. I have done probably 10 or 20 of these in my career in when I was in Los Angeles in Orange County singing there.

What was your career? What did you do? my career. I started singing when I was eight, and I finished my degrees in choral conducting. And then I also concurrently, besides working with corrals and orchestras, I was singing and directing in church choirs. I've been doing that now. I just finished my 60th year directing church choir. So it's been, I've had a wonderful career. It has been a blessing to me to have music in my life. I cannot imagine being without it, and I can't imagine anybody in your audience being without music on some level at some place. I'm assuming you were born with this baritone that I'm hearing.

Were your first words, mama, mama, yes. Well, actually, the male voice, if I can just be clinical for a moment, the male voice goes through a change, a physical change. When a young man hits 12, 13, 14, his voice generally changes to a much lower register, like mine. Mine changed very early when I was little, almost 11. But for me, that's just an anomaly. But most young men change when they're 12, 13, and 14 years old. And then the voice begins to settle. True bases don't really develop their prime until about 30.

tenors as well. They develop much more slowly. The female voice settles in more quickly because it's the soprano or the alto register. There's not as much of an recognizable instantaneous change like there is in the male voice. Good to know. And I do notice that, like with my grandson, I'll hear the squeak here and there. And then all of a sudden he's, hey, hey, nanny. How old is he? He's 14. He just got the little. If he has not already gone through the voice change, he will. And it's an awkward time for young men. Because as you just said, he's talking up here one time and then just a few moments later.

And he has no control over that until the voice has fully matured. And the vocal folds, we call them, some people call them vocal cords, have developed to the point where they're going to settle into that register. Then they'll talk on a normal level the whole time. You'll see it. You'll hear it. Definitely. That's great to know. So with the Messiah sing-along, how do we get tickets? Okay, very, very simple. There are two ways to do so. You can go on to Arizona Philharmonic, A-Z-Phil, the website.

For this particular concert, the Prescott Corral and the Arizona Philharmonic are teaming together. So we are co-producing this concert. The reason for that is simple. The chorale produces the choral singers, the chorus. The orchestra brings in the instrumentation. There's going to be a 20-piece symphonic orchestra. And then four soloists. Several of them are coming from the Santa Fe Opera.

These are opera singers who are coming in to sing the Messiah. The reason they're coming is very simple. The conductor of the Messiah sing-along is Dr. Edie Copley. She is recently retired from Flagstaff, from NAU, where she was Regents Professor of Music, just a brilliant conductor and just a wonderful human being. She's going to be directing the entire production. She has several rehearsals the week of the concert, including the choral, the soloist, and the orchestra. And then the performance is on the Sunday the 24th. There's a concert preview at 2 o'clock in which Dr. Copeland.

and probably Henry Fleury with Aze Philharmonic give sort of a background of Messiah sing-alongs. Why do a sing-along? Well, because it builds community support. Example, this concert is not just the Prescott Chorale, but it is members from the Yavapai College Master Chorale and also from the Flagstaff Master Choreau, coming down to sing with us. So it'll be 70 singers on stage from three different organizations. We have been rehearsing the past three weeks, the singers who are here in Prescott. And their last rehearsal is this coming week.

And then we have a bit of a break while we prepare Christmas and come back in the week of the 19th of November for the rehearsals and performance. Excellent. So when I hear like the corral, I just think it's, you know, some fun people. people got together and they're just going to sing a few songs and this is serious business. You know, Alicia, for me and for the singers it is, at least the Prescott Corral is a mix of professionals, semi-professionals, and those who are just learning how to sing. Do we take many who are not well-seasoned, not very many.

The reason is simple, not because we are exclusionary, but because the music. Music is extremely challenging. We spend two and a half hours on Tuesday evenings, but the singers are responsible for a minimum of four-hour rehearsal on their own before they come in for rehearsal on Tuesday evenings. And you're going to know, won't you? It's rather obvious, yes. And it's interesting to me in the rehearsal last evening

to be able to watch the singers who are accustomed to the way I work and those who have not worked with us before. So it's a learning curve for them, and guess what? For me as well. That's amazing. So we'll get ready for the Messiah sing-along. You also have a Christmas concert. We do.

Yes. This is the chorale on their own, as I indicated before. And the theme this year is love and joy come to you. So there are two distinctly different performances. Friday evening, the 20th of December, is at 7 p.m. at the church. And here's where the audience also gets to be part of the concert. We sing a series of Christmas carols with the organ, and the audience gets to sing along, and they truly enjoy it. So Friday evening is a concert of a little bit different nature than Saturday afternoon.

We do music of, can I say, a little more esoteric, a little more introspective music. Even though it's Christmas on Friday evening. Saturday afternoon is where we let our hair down, those of us who still have any. Getting wild. Getting wild. Look out here, Alicia. So on Saturday afternoon, we do the same format. The audience sings some carols.

The chorale comes in and the children's choir sings as well. And that's always a highlight. Our special director, Melanie McCauley, has been doing the children's choir for six seasons. and she is just delightful to watch with these youngsters. She's a teacher at heart, and it's interesting to watch. So I coach cheerleading, and every once in a while you'll see that one special. They practice harder than everybody else. They have a drive that is very, you hardly ever see it.

Correct. When you're listening to those children sing, can you spot that one that's going to be that special, or that has that gift. You know what? That's a really good question. And the answer to the question is simple. If you know what to look for, you will find it. And I listen to the children, but moreover, I watch their faces.

And I can see the ones who are up there because mom said they had to go. You're going to go sing. Yeah, they're going to go sing. And then there are those who are there and they ignite. each other and the audience. So I listen and I watch more over to the eyes of the children because they tell a story. I tell the singers all the time. Singers remember the eyes are the windows to your soul. And to watch these beautiful children sing is a gift. To watch them just belt it out. My granddaughter is she loves to sing. And I've never once been like, can you stop singing right now?

because there's so much joy when she's singing. And there are times when I'm like, oh my gosh, she's singing more. It's like been an hour and she's still singing. But she's so joyful when she does it. And she sings from her toes. She just, she's never happier than when she's singing or performing. And so it's really, she's eight years old.

Eight. Well, why doesn't grandma sing? Because grandma can't sing. A coach. Alicia. No, no, no. Let's go back. And sing?

Hmm, yes, you just don't know how yet. Is that true? Absolutely true. You bet. You could teach me to sing. Absolutely. I want to sing so bad and I'm so terrible. My husband will tell me, oh, you sing like an angel.

He's like, is there an angel in the house? Listen to him, Alicia, and come and sing. I'm going to challenge you. Oh, no. Come to a rehearsal on Tuesday, evening and just listen. If by the end of the rehearsal, you don't sit there and wonder, why am I not doing this? I probably have not done my job.

Yeah, I do. I love the structure what you're doing. And I love the thought that you've put into everything. And it's not, I was so, I wasn't wrong because I really didn't think about, you know, the Prescott Corral. It wasn't like, but when you think about it, it's. Like I said, I think it's a couple people who want to have fun and they want to, you know, it's a little hobby. You take this as much as a hobby as I take cheer because it's a hobby to some people, but to me, it is passion and everything. And I can tell with you, it is passion and everything.

And you attract those people with that same dedication and work ethic to get there. Well, thank you. That's kind of you. Yeah. Besides these two performances, which are large, We do a lot of community singing as well. For example, the Festival of Trees, which happens in November. The corral will be performing a small group.

We have a chamber group of 8 to 12 singers who does community outreach performing on behalf of the Prescott Corral. I couldn't take the entire group because I can't take 57 singers and put them on a small stage. So we have two separate groups. We have the large corral. Then we have the chamber group we call it. at Fort Prescott Corral as well. Awesome. Well, if you are thinking, if you're like me, you're a closet singer, reach out to you,

what's the best way to get a hold of you? If they're like, hey, I want an audition in July, what do I need to do between now and July to be ready? Okay. There's always the Prescott Corral website, which is prescottcquitcral.org or dot com. Either one, for ticket sales, for information, and I'll guarantee you, if anybody leaves a message on the Corral website. I get it that day and I'll respond within usually two or three hours.

That's that important. So people to know that we are a group of integrity and drive and purpose and that's the reason we do what we do. We love to sing. You are an impressive, impressive gentleman. And I appreciate having you here. Oh, thank you. It's been a joy to be here with you.

Well, thank you so much. If you are interested in getting tickets, please, you can go to Prescottcatechorral.org. Or AZ Phil. Right? Azeefill.org. And, I mean, at least go for the sing-along. If it's just, you want to have some fun. But if you really want to hear that, the professionalism and what music should sound like,

check out the Messiah, right? Do not miss it. Please, come and be, and I call it total immersion. You will not believe how you will feel. how you will feel when you leave after having sung the holiday of chorus and then exit. Excellent. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate having you here.

And I look forward to talking to you again. Well, listen, you have blessed my day, Alicia. Thank you. Thank you. All right, guys, we will see you next time. Thanks for listening.