Earl Rivers reminisces

Earl Rivers has not yet tallied the number of premieres he's conducted in 20 years as music director of the Vocal Arts Ensemble. Besides awards, recordings and performances aired over more than 200 radio stations, the two ASCAP awards for "adventuresome programming of contemporary music" tell much of the story of Rivers' tenure.

Rivers will conduct his final concert with the Vocal Arts Ensemble Saturday in Corbett Auditorium at CCM and Sunday at St. Margaret of York Church, Loveland. The program includes Gian Carlo Menotti's madrigal fable, "The Unicorn, the Gorgon and Manticore," staged with the CCM Dance Department and Chamber Players. Each program also features an outstanding area children's choir -- Cincinnati Children's Choir-Bel Canto Choir on Saturday and the York Youth Singers on Sunday.

Rivers will continue his posts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where, as director of choral studies, he oversees one of the top five graduate conducting programs in the U.S. He'll also remain as director of music at Hyde Park's Knox Presbyterian Church.

He'll step down after he prepares the Vocal Arts Ensemble for its final season concert on March 30 (to be conducted by Mischa Santora).

Question: What have been some highlights of the works you and the VAE have premiered?
Answer: Our most recent premiere of a commissioned work was by Aaron Jay Kernis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, who wrote "Two Meditations" for the celebration of the restoration of the Plum Street (Isaac Wise Temple) Temple's historic 19th-century organ. The commission was funded by CCM's Tangeman Sacred Music Center. Aaron attended the premiere, and spoke eloquently about the opportunity to write a new work that for him memorialized his parents.

Q: What are some of your proudest moments as music director?
A: The lasting partnership with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the role modeling of choral artistry through collaborations with dozens of children and youth choirs, and the opportunity to open the Underground Railroad Freedom Center with a regional premiere that included a collaboration with Ensemble Theater and the choir of Central State University.

Q: Name one of your most memorable concerts.
A: (Composer) Libby Larsen made a particular impact on her last visit (she has been with us twice, for her "Seven Ghosts" and "Eleanor Roosevelt") when she spoke a length to the audience about researching Eleanor and what she learned about this person. Of all the VAE concerts I have conducted, the Eleanor Roosevelt program stands out, as the audience members didn't want to leave Memorial Hall after the concert. Most stayed to share their "Eleanor" stories.

Q: What has your Visiting Composer Series accomplished for the ensemble?
A: Having visiting composers attend rehearsals and performances has enabled the singers to dialogue with composers about what inspired them to write a work, what techniques they used for musical expression, and the points of emphasis they might like to hear in a performance. Likewise, the audiences have benefited by meeting composers who have been discovered to be "real" people who live very normal lives.

Q: Why is this region so receptive to choral music?
A: Three factors have contributed to the Greater Cincinnati public's appetite for choral music – CCM's strong presence as a nationally recognized choral program and choral training program that produces a number of choral concerts each academic year; the presence of the May Festival Chorus that has produced generations of choral/orchestral masterworks programs; and the presence of the VAE for almost 30 years (28 to be precise).

Q: This concert is a good example of your initiative to collaborate with other arts groups. How has VAE benefited from that?
A: Artists benefit from the company of other artists. VAE's collaborations with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, children and youth choirs, Cincinnati Opera Education Ensemble, Starling Chamber Orchestra, and many others have enabled the singers to encounter repertoire that can only be produced through collaborations. Thus, the palate has been expanded.

The Menotti this weekend, (a work we have previously performed in concert version), is enhanced by the engagement of the CCM Dance Division as well as the CCM Chamber Players. In the rehearsals with the dancers, the singers have been offered a new perspective of the music and its meaning.

Q: You have championed many living American composers. How did you select the American composers for this program?
A: To complement the textures and feel of the Menotti, I sought out recent works that have a "madrigal" feel in their voicing, textures and texts. I narrowed the choices down to selections from the "Firesong Madrigals" of Morten Lauridsen, who won a National Medal of Arts presented by President George W. Bush in 2007, "Fuggi, Fuggi" by William Hawley, who was a VAE Visiting Composer in 1994-95 and was commissioned for "Four Reveries" for the VAE's 15th anniversary season; and "Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine" by Eric Whitacre, a composer who whose works and imaginative writing have taken the choral field by storm.

Q: What would you like the audience to know about Menotti's "The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore"?
A: It's a 40 minute work of 1956 and the style is a series of a cappella, madrigal-like settings, interlaced with instrumental interludes and movements with voices and instruments. Expressed through dance and music, (it's) a madrigal fable of an eccentric, castle-dwelling poet that tells the story of his life in the three stages of youth, middle, and old age, each symbolized by unusual pets – a unicorn, a gorgon and a manticore. Each appearance of the poet in the town with a new beast sets off a series of spellbinding events.

Donald Nally, CCM alum and currently Chorus Director of the Chicago Lyric Opera, nicely describes the work: "The whole piece describes Gian Carlo’s view of the ways of people, of society, and especially of the fickle nature of audiences toward artists, due to their general lack of understanding."

Q: What will you do with your newfound free time?
A: Become a better runner and improve my bridge game.

Q: Not many people know that you are an accomplished marathon runner. What are some major races you have participated in, and how have you placed?
A: I won (in my age class) the Louisville Derby Marathon in 2006, and qualified (under 4 hours for my age group) for the Boston Marathon, which I ran in April 2007. Boston had the worst weather in the over 100-year history of its marathon, and I hope to qualify again and run it on a beautiful day. Flying Pig is my next event.

Q: How do you feel as you lead your last concert as music director?
A: I am a very lucky guy to have worked for 20 years with the VAE singers, the supportive VAE board members, and many members of the community – individuals, foundations, and concert sponsors – who have supported the VAE's mission.

Photo of CCM Dancers by Wendy Maness