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Rudolfinum

Radio Hall, Prague (L-R: Bass Torrie Allen, Alto Nancy Caudill,  Lyndon Woodside, Soprano Katherine Harris, Tenor Robert Dingman)
Smolney Cathedral	Church of Spilled Blood	Novogorod

Thanks to Lyndon Woodside and Richard Pace for these great photos!

     Selected places of "Master Class of Healthy Collectivism" published in the Evening St. Petersburg on 28 July 2004.
     One of the leading choruses of New York - the choir of Oratorio Society of New York - has given a charitable concert in the Smolny Cathedral.  Together with the quartet of opera soloists and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the famous conductor Lyndon Woodside, the choir performed Antonin Dvořák's Stabat Mater.
     Anyone going to a concert by serious American musicians can be sure to feel a strong impact of freedom, sincerity, naturalness of expression...  Americans and choral music form a natural combination.  The idea of a personality as an integral part of a group of people, the ideas of freedom, equality and brotherhood finds it full expression here.
     The Americans swam in the beautifully melodious cantata by the great Czech as if it were water flowing from a clear spring...  The public were especially impressed by the four soloists: the strong yet soft tenor of Robert Dingman, the noble sound of bass-baritone Torrie Allen - their partners soprano Katherine Harris and mezzo Nancy Caudill softened the surge of the men's expressiveness.  The public gratefully applauded the wonderful performance.

Press Review translated by Petr Antonin. 
The review was written by Olga Kittnarová, Dr. of Musicology, 
of the Czech Magazine "Music Overview."
AMERICAN-CZECH DVORAK
     The second oldest ensemble in New York, whose tradition goes back to 1873 and whose Board of Directors´ President Andrew Carnegie gave an impulse to build the famous concert hall, came to Prague to celebrate Dvořák´s anniversary. Within the framework of Dvořák´s Nelahozeves 2004 festival, the Oratorio Society of New York choir joined the members of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra for an imposing rendering of Maestro’s Stabat Mater. The Dvořák Hall of Rudolfinum hosted the almost eighty-member choir, conducted by Dr. L. Woodside. This artist unceremoniously brought with elegant gestures into accord his artistic idea and achieved a stylish unity of vocal and instrumental parts, rendered by Czech and American performers. It is well known that Stabat Mater was inspired by a human tragedy and gushed out as an expression of sorrow over two children’s death. The strength of a dreadful personal experience authentically connected with a description of suffering of a weeping mother, full of sorrow. The psychological power of the compassionate lyrics makes the individual singers contemplate and expresses a desire to help the broken Mother of God. Under her protection they want to go through the Last Judgment and their appeal finishes with a plea: “When the body dies, make the soul reach the glory of Paradise.”
     Since its phenomenal premiere in England in 1883, this Dvořák´s work has reaped a lot of success all over the world. In the composition, the lyric and contemplative sections effectively merge with dramatic resolution. The melodic line is in some places simple, based on sequential technique and chordal prompts, using imitation openings in voice, with the harmony illustrating colorful spectra of moods and building expressive current of flowing music.  The American choir sings on a professional level, with good intonation and rhythmic discipline, expressively underlying the meaning of the text. (A weaker spot was the pianissimo opening in Virgo Virginum.) The soloists asserted themselves markedly both in quartet (e.g. Quist est homo or Qando corpus morietur) and in solo parts. The soprano K. Harris commands a lovely, well-set voice, while a darker timbre of N. Caudill´s alto asserted itself naturally in the opening and in the last but one part of the work. R. Dingman´s (tenor) as well as T. Allen´s (bas) performances testified of their challenging personal experience, which was also clear from the list of their repertoire and performances with renowned opera houses and orchestras. The conductor, Dr. L. Woodside, expressed his feelings after the concert with these words: “There are composers who speak to my heart, and Dvořák is one of them. The tragic story of the creation of this work has always touched me deeply. I also very much appreciated working with the Radio Orchestra, which has enormous charge and spirit. The goal of our interpretation was to enhance the emotional message of the work. We spent a long time studying this work, the singers love Stabat Mater and I am happy to have had an opportunity to conduct this work in Prague.
Olga Kittnarová

Click here for Mary Ellen Rooney's article on Pond Fishing in the Czech Republic.