Press Releases: Amadeus Choir - toronto choir singing classical and choral music in a concert setting

"Musical Feast" brings audience to its feet to start Amadeus singers' 30th season.

Mozart and more: The Amadeus Choir at its usual home, the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Led by artistic director Lydia Adams, it performed a dramatic version of William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.

I’m not sure it was a "Musical Feast" as advertised, but the Amadeus Choir’s first performance of its 30th anniversary season made for an evening to remember at the George Weston Recital Hall on Oct. 16.

Especially memorable was the second half of the programme from which the food reference derives — William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, a symphony for mixed choir, baritone soloist and orchestra. It’s probably the most popular of the modern British composer’s works, being recorded about a dozen times since its debut in the 1940s, although I hadn’t heard it live before.

Belshazzar’s Feast retells the story from the Book of Daniel about a Babylonian king who threw a banquet at which he blasphemed and declared himself the king of kings, only to be smitten by the real Almighty. At times, it’s a silly story involving a ghostly hand that writes the king’s fate on the wall, the famous lines "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting."

It’s to the great credit of the guest soloist, British-Canadian opera singer Jeffrey Carl, that he brought such fiery conviction to his delivery. Although Feast is a standard part of Carl’s repertoire, he sang his baritone part with an intensity that was something to behold as well as to hear.

The instrumentalists accompanying the singers included the Nova Amadeus Chamber Orchestra visiting from Italy. Belshazzar’s Feast is a bit unusual in that it optionally includes two brass bands with the usual small orchestra of strings, wind and percussion. Amadeus went with a brass band, seated in the loft over the choir and standing to deliver brilliant punch to the performance when needed.

Not that it was needed to lift the singers and orchestra. Directed by Amadeus’s indefatigable conductor Lydia Adams, they soared to heights that threatened to go beyond the composition or text. The wonderfully dramatic blend of voice and instrument grew in power for a tremendous crescendo and release at the end. Words like "transcendent" and "otherworldly" come to mind.

The three-quarters-full hall rose for a well-deserved, prolonged, standing ovation. Evenings like this are what has led some critics to call the Amadeus Choir one of the finest in North America — if not suitably appreciated by Torontonians.

The first half of the programme was similarly accomplished, if less spectacular. Mozart’s Mass in C Minor is an even more popular choice for public performance, following a traditional form of worship, wringing multiple variations out of lines calling for divine mercy, praising, expressing belief, and so on, with soloists and choir taking turns.

The four guest soloists were led ably by sopranos Sharla Nafziger and Andrea Ludwig. The veteran Nafziger was especially outstanding, with clear, unforced singing that bordered on the ethereal. Ludwig’s stronger mezzo worked nicely with Nafziger’s voice on the duet halfway through the piece.

Tenor Stephen Harland and baritone Carl capably completed the quartet of soloists.

For the next Amadeus performance on Dec. 18, the choir returns to the same hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St., with "Carols and Lullabies", a programme of music by Conrad Susa, Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Edwards, Eleanor Daley and winners of the annual Christmas Carol and Song Writing Competition.

Reserved seating at Amadeus events is usually $32, with season tickets from $77 to $136. A bargain for what may be Toronto’s best-kept musical secret. Call 416-446-0188 for information about the choir and Ticketmaster at 416-872-1111 for tickets.