‘Lift Every Voice’ concert by MGPA held at Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Hall, Chennai. , Photo Credit: Velankanni Raj B
On a night when 45 different voices harmonize in unison, silence, in the right pinch, can be just as powerful. Conductor Atul Jacob Isaacs accompanies it with a chorus of ‘And So It Goes’ – Billy Joel’s famous song for silence as self-defense.
The song comes in the Madras Guild of Performing Arts (MGPA) solo debut concert ‘Lift Every Voice’ held at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Hall recently. Conducted by Atul, it featured Avinash Mario Grubb on piano, Donan Murray on guitar, Keith Peters on bass and Rahul Gopal on drums and percussion, with 45 choristers ranging in age from four to 80.
“I started MGPA last year based on the talent I saw in musicians from Chennai who come with years of experience. If each musician has this much talent, imagine what we can achieve when we all come together in mind, body and soul,” says Atul. The MGPA consists of established choral singers, senior musicians as well as junior singers (whom they affectionately nickname Short). This is his first solo performance after a previous collaboration with Mumbai’s Stop Gaps. He further added, “We are trying to set a high standard of performance and play to our strengths, which we have.” MGPA’s repertoire is a diverse setlist the group has been rehearsing for the past six months – it features a variety of genres, countries, composers and eras. So while the song list included classics like favorites from The Sound of Music and Mozart’s Gloria, it was also mixed with a new-age crowd – a surprise rendition of ‘The Addams Family’ theme song by the junior choir and, smack In the middle of the setlist, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen, a playground for tenors and accompanists. “MGPA has amazing tenor singers. For ‘You Are the New Day’ by John David, the boys sang in falsetto. They’re all learning to use their voices like they’ve never done before,” says Atul.
Solo concert ‘Lift Every Voice’ organized by MGPA, held at Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao, Chennai. , Photo Credit: Velankanni Raj B
repertoire in place
Atul has spent the past year selecting, customizing, organizing and refining today’s repertoire. Sure, the pop hits might attract outsiders, but the setlist also had a solid base of musically-complex pieces that aren’t usually performed in India, including songs from Africa and the Shakers community in America.
The finale to Beethoven’s ‘Choral Fantasia’, originally a 20-minute full orchestral piece that takes you on a woodland journey, was arranged in dialogue between soloists and piano. The repertoire introduced listeners to songs they may have heard but not known about, unless they were musically inclined. One of the most performed pieces in pop culture, the ‘William Tell Overture’ by Rossini ended the evening. Depending on your age, you may have heard different sections of The Overture either as the theme song to the Lone Ranger TV series, as background music in The Princess Diaries 2, or even in The Flintstones, as Fred sends Wilma an anniversary song. wakes up with Atlus’ adaptation of the piece would have had the choir playing as an orchestra to accompany the song. “Whenever a piece of music is performed, it’s like poetry—it’s subjective, no two choir conductors would ever approach a piece of music. My point of view is not just on music, but on literature, which It’s based on the context of what’s being said. I also look at the background of the music,” says Atul. This focus on the poetry behind a song led to a performance of ‘The Old Mill’, a poem by Thomas Dunn. Kenneth Rigg’s haunting rendition. With piano ups and downs like a river flowing beside the mill, the delicious harmonies had you introspecting about the transitional nature of life and was one of the highlights of the evening. However, Atul MGPA does not want to limit itself to choral music. “The premise of MGPA is that we can work with anyone who wants to do theatre, musical, Broadway shows; we want to collaborate with Carnatic and Hindustani singers, dancers are – they all come under this umbrella.
Atul hopes the guild will continue to grow with new talent from all these genres over the next few years. “At our first concert, we had three generations of our family. A 90-year-old woman, who doesn’t go out much, came to see her son perform, and two of her granddaughters were in the junior choir. That’s literally the sense of community and family we hope to build,” he says.