Article: Harmonic Convergence

Music of Africa and Haiti shares a program with works of Brahms and Mendelssohn.

By WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD, Special to the Star Tribune

Classical music: Harmonic convergence

MANY LIVES, ONE SONG: HOPE FOR A WORLD BEYOND AIDS
Who: One Voice Mixed Chorus and Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra.
When: 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat.
Where: Hopkins High School Auditorium, 2400 Lindbergh Dr., Minnetonka.
Tickets: $10-$25. 651-298-1954.

Next weekend, One Voice Mixed Chorus puts the "World" into World AIDS Day, in a joint concert with the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. Minnesota's only GLBT chorus and orchestra join forces with their guest artists, the Titamba West African Drum Ensemble, to mark the 20th anniversary of the day of awareness and memorial.

One Voice's artistic director, Jane Ramseyer Miller, lived in Haiti for years, which shaped her perspective on HIV/AIDS. "I am aware of how completely different the issue is here than elsewhere in the world," she said. "I want to acknowledge the different experiences."

She is particularly excited by the collaboration with Titamba. "We live in such a wonderful community where these relationships are possible," she said.

Titamba, which means "welcoming the masters" in one of the languages of Zimbabwe, is the brainchild of Christian Adetti, an immigrant from Ghana. He wanted to participate in a program focusing on AIDS, he said, because "it is very important to get the message out."

Miller pointed out that the demographic with the state's highest number of new AIDS diagnoses is African immigrant women.

The ensemble will perform sets of their own and will accompany other pieces, including a new work.

The idea for a commission came out of Miller's desire to find a way to bring the two cultures together. Christopher Gable, a professor at Macalester College who had previously written for the orchestra, was tapped. The result, "By the Fireside," is set to poetry of Nigerian poet Odia Ofeimun and South African Ingrid de Kok. The latter is a dark meditation on the social costs of HIV/AIDS. The work concludes with "Lux Aeterna" from the Latin Requiem.

"I'm a white guy trying to write faux African music," Gable admitted. He uses African polyrhythms to create an authentic effect even with a western orchestra. He is also working with Titamba, which will improvise around his composition.


Miller programmed "Noél Ayisyen (Haitian Noel)," featuring the native technique of tongue clicking. The rest of the program spotlights a diversity of traditional choral music. It includes a setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams of poetry by Walt Whitman, a movement from Brahms' "A German Requiem" and "Verleih uns Frieden (Da nobis pacem)" by Mendelssohn.

A new gospel setting, the hymn "Abide With Me," and a ballad about a community of HIV/AIDS caregivers are also featured.

"I tried to pick pieces that would bring comfort, to move from grieving to hope," Miller said.

The orchestra accompanies the chorus in much of the classical repertoire, but is also featured in a movement from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and in John Corigliano's "Voyage."

"This concert has particular significance for the orchestra," said MPO music director Joseph Schlefke. The orchestra's founder, Kevin Ford, only lived through the orchestra's first two seasons before succumbing to the disease in 1995.

"It's important to draw everyone's attention back to World AIDS Day and to remember that AIDS is still a part of our lives," he said.

William Randall Beard writes regularly about music.