Spellbinding

Voces8 | October 13, 2024 Concert Recap Ms. Treble

As 3:15 approached on Sunday, October 13, the full house at Trinity Baptist Church was abuzz with anticipation.  Over three hundred enthusiastic young singers from area college and high school choirs joined the SACMS audience as invited guests for the opening concert of our 82nd season featuring the much-beloved British vocal ensemble Voces8.  The exciting program encompassed the gamut of choral writing from the 16th Century – Orlando Gibbons, to the Romantics – Sergei Rachmaninov and Felix Mendelssohn, and on through to contemporary composer Caroline Shaw, 1950s pop sensation Nat ‘King’ Cole, and modern arrangements by VOCES8’s supremely talented arranger, Jim Clements.  We were fortunate and proud to be on their U.S. touring schedule in 2024 as they kick off the celebration of their twentieth anniversary.

The captivating first half of the program ended with an ethereal and poignant vocal arrangement of “Nimrod” from Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.  The arrangement, titled “Lux Aeterna”, was deeply moving, thanks in large part to the lovely soaring voice of VOCES8’s outstanding soprano, Andrea Haines.  Not a pin dropped in the church auditorium through the final pianissimo from the ensemble.

The second half of the program, titled “Songs from 20 Years”, took us through a glorious Baroque romp with Thomas Weelkes and Orlando Di Lasso, followed by mesmerizing arrangements of popular songs: “The Sound of Silence”( Paul Simon) and “Vincent” (Don McLean), right through to the rousing “Slap That Bass” by George Gershwin which brought the entire audience to their feet. After a prolonged standing ovation , Voces8 returned to the stage and treated us to an encore : a masterful mash-up of “Fly me to the Moon” and “Come Fly Away” (apparently inspired by the frequent flying which is a big part of the life of a globe-trotting ensemble).