The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Presents “A Feast of Carols”, the Holiday Tradition Combines Musical Works from the Past and the Present

By Catherine J. Barrier

The Mendelssohn Club is one of the country’s oldest choruses, having been founded in 1874 by William Wallace Gilchrist (1846-1916), a leading 19^th-century musical figure in Philadelphia, who was also a choral conductor for several choruses, a composer, and the organist and choirmaster for several area churches.  Gilchrist also founded and conducted the Symphony Society of Philadelphia in the 1890s, one of the symphonies that reorganized into The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1900.  Since its founding, the Mendelssohn Club has been a major force in choral music—in Philadelphia and beyond. 

The Mendelssohn Club in Concert
at Holy Trinity Church

The Club started as an eight-voice male chorus, grew in size, and added female voices.  In December 1879, the Club performed its first subscription concert, which included instrument solos as well as choral works.  Today, its programming is innovative and includes the finest choral music of many cultures, traditions, periods and styles, and the Club enriches the lives of its members and the public, enhancing the Club members’ knowledge and experience of music and assisting in the development of new musical compositions, new artists, and new audiences—all to bring fulfillment to those who listen to and love music.

William “Bill” Walkowiak is one past member of the Mendelssohn Club whose life was enriched by his involvement with the group.

“[Performing with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia] was a fantastic experience,” said Walkowiak, a Club member from 1984 to 1996. “It exposed me to a wonderful, diverse repertoire of music and enabled me to perform with talented musicians in many famous venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and the Mann Music Center, among others. I have many, many exquisite memories of my years with the Mendelssohn Club.”

Walkowiak had sung with his church choir for many years before friends told him about the Mendelssohn Club and urged him to audition. “I thought it would be a big step up for my love of music, and decided to give it a try,” said Walkowiak.  “Fortunately, I passed the audition.”

“Working with the Mendelssohn Club, it’s a delight,” said Alan Harler, the Club’s Artistic Director.  “And it has a wonderful history.  It’s a professional dream for me to have such a big, thriving group of singers, with an orchestra, doing our own productions.” 

Since 1988, Harler has led the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia while both teaching graduate conducting and serving as the Laura H. Carnell Professor and the Chairman of the Choral Department at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.  He just recently retired from Temple, but his work with the Mendelssohn Club is still almost a full-time job.

“I’d been in Philadelphia—at Temple—for about 3 or 4 years and was asked to put together a chorus to do the Verdi Requiem at the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, so I approached the Mendelssohn Club [to see if they’d be interested],” said Harler.  “At the time, I believe they were between conductors, and they agreed, so I worked with them and several of the choirs at Temple to prepare for that performance.  Soon thereafter, they asked me to stay on and lead them, and I accepted.”

This Saturday, December 11^th, at 4:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m., the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia will present “A Feast of Carols” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Avenue, in Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill).  This year’s annual event for the whole family will feature holiday music spanning several centuries, a world premiere—as well as other works—by the Mendelssohn Club’s Composer-in-Residence Donald St. Pierre, Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols (Op. 28), well-loved traditional carols with audience participation, and much more!  General admission: $25; tickets are available online at www.mcchorus.org.  Students receive special discounts; check show time for student ticket price.  For more information, check the Website, e-mail info@mcchorus.org, or call (215) 735-9922.

“We’ve done [these holiday concerts at St. Paul’s in Chestnut Hill] every year, and they’re very popular,” said Harler.  [St. Paul’s] is a beautiful space, a beautiful church, with great acoustics, and there’s a wonderful church organ.  We use the church organ and our Mendelssohn Brass Quintet.  We’ve been going there for a long time.”

“Holiday concerts were always a highlight of the year,” said Walkowiak. “They made the season really feel special, and certainly got me into the ‘Christmas Spirit’. Each year we did a concert in Chestnut Hill at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where we stood on the altar literally surrounded by an enormous pipe organ. The crescendos with the organ and choir literally vibrated through my entire body. I can still feel the sensation. Being part of such a musical performance is the most spiritual feeling that I have ever experienced.”

There have been numerous changes at the Mendelssohn Club since Harler first became its artistic director.

“It’s a much larger group since I’ve been involved,” said Harler.  “When I first started, there were about 75 members.  We’re a much larger chorus now (currently 135 members).  And the real focus now is that we perform new music and are frequently commissioning new pieces.  I guess what I’ve brought to the group is the performing of American music from the current time.  And the Chorus is being choreographed in movement and the audience is [now often] being actively engaged; for example, they’re given the opportunity to sing along with the Chorus on certain songs during performances.  And in fact, in February, we’ll be doing a program entitled The Audience inCHOIRing.  With that, through Facebook and Twitter, the public will be given the chance to learn several simple tunes and a little play that will be incorporated into our performance program.” Evidently, using modern technology is one way the Mendelssohn Club continues to offer innovative programming.

But Harler normally achieves his innovative programming a bit differently.  He often combines new or rarely heard musical compositions with more familiar, traditional works, believing the combination enhances each of the individual component parts.  He recognizes that such programming also provides the audience with familiar contexts for the newer musical experiences.

“I think it’s just really important that at the same time that our Western European traditional music [continues to be performed] that we do American music,” said Harler.  “After all, it’s the music that comes out of our culture.  It’s important to me to champion American music—and new music.  Normally, until the 20^th-century, that’s what was usually done (an individual country’s new music was performed by its choirs and choruses).  It was only in the 20^th century that we started to focus on repeatedly performing the [older] music of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  And when I’ve traveled, [I’ve found that] the choirs from other countries are doing mostly music from their countries.  German choirs are performing German music; French choirs are doing French music.  [Performing our new American music] is a way for us to encourage our own American culture.  We’ve done about 45 new commissioned works during my tenure [with the Mendelssohn Club].”

“New commissions were one of the most exciting aspects of the Mendelssohn Club under Alan Harler,” said Walkowiak. “I was very proud that we were able to commission so many new works, and felt that I was part of something historic.  Of course, some turned out better than others, but each one was performed for the very first time by the Mendelssohn Club, and I was part of it. How many people can experience such a thing?”

“Donald St. Pierre has done a lot of commissions for us,” said Harler.  “He’s our Composer-in-Residence, and it’s his 15^th anniversary with us.  He’s also our accompanist.  We’re doing three of his pieces [during this upcoming concert], including his Three Carols, a work to be sung a cappella.  Another, his A Visit from St. Nicholas, is based on what we know as the famous ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas text, and we’re doing his Songs of Sweet Accord for men’s voices and harp.  After we did [Benjamin] Britten’s Ceremony of Carols (Op. 28) a number of years ago, we immediately commissioned Don to write a parallel piece to be scored for men’s voices with harp.  The Britten piece is scored for women’s voices and harp.  So, these are three big pieces of Don’s on this upcoming program.”

St. Pierre is also a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music (since 1990) and has served as the principal keyboard player for the Milwaukee Symphony.  Moreover, he served as Music Director of the Skylight Theater in Milwaukee (from 1978-1990), where he composed 3 chamber operas and directed in excess of 50 productions.  He has also held several positions as head voice coach and recital accompanist throughout the United States and abroad.

“And we have a young harpist working with us for the first time,” said Harler.  “Her name’s Coline-Marie Orliac, and she’s a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.  We’re happy to have her join us for this performance.”

Coline-Marie Orliac began playing the harp at age 7, studied for nearly a decade after that with Madame Fontan-Binoche, and attended the National Conservatory of Nice (in France)—graduating with first prizes in both harp and piano.  She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music last spring.  Her technique has been praised as being “flawless”, and she has already won top prizes in five international competitions and has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2009.

Also an active chamber musician, Orliac has participated in a number of well-known chamber music series and festivals worldwide and is a member of the Dolce Suono Ensemble, a highly praised ensemble.  For Orliac, who says she deeply loves learning new works because of the fascination involved and the need for a completely different approach to the music, this will be her first time performing Ceremony of Carols (Op. 28), as well as St. Pierre’s new works.

“The [Benjamin Britten Ceremony of Carols (Op. 28)] piece was written by Britten after he’d spent a considerable amount of time in America, and he wrote it on a ship, while traveling back to Europe,” said Harler.  “It’s 11 movements long and based mostly on Old English texts.  It’s probably one of the most famous sets of carols, and it’s a beautiful use of harp and women’s voices.”  Britten was traveling back to Britain in 1942 on the Axel Johnson, and while docked at one of the ports during that trip, found Gerald Bullett’s The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, a collection of medieval poems, and began composing music for them.  Ceremony of Carols has an opening procession and a closing recession, which together serve as the framework for the other otherwise-unrelated songs. 

Over the years, Harler has prepared choruses for many of the leading orchestras and conductors throughout the United States, and he believes that a good conductor’s strongest characteristic is his/her ability to teach.

“I think it’s just part of the work,” said Harler.  “A conductor is constantly informing the performers about everything—the meanings of the texts, the formal structure of the music, etc., and that’s true of any kind of conducting role, for choral works, for orchestral works.”

“I have not had much formal musical training,” said Walkowiak. “Most of my experience had been with school and church choirs prior to the Mendelssohn Club. Alan taught me how to become a much more professional singer and performer. Every rehearsal was a lesson for me. In addition, I greatly expanded my knowledge of the musical repertoire, as we were constantly working on new (to me) pieces of music.”

“We also were required to re-audition for Alan each year,” said Walkowiak. “These re-auditions were like private lessons. Alan pointed to areas that needed improvement, and gave me instruction and materials to practice.”

Alan Harler is also an active guest conductor, performing regularly at the Festival of Casals in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Aspen Choral Institute.  The Taiwan Philharmonic Association has also sponsored him to conduct performances in Taiwan and China, as well as to give master classes in conducting in both locales.

The Mendelssohn Club offers a conducting apprenticeship program, and within that framework, Harler works with a young conductor apprentice each year, sharing his knowledge and skill.

“We have a wonderful apprentice program called An Apprenticeship in Community Chorus Leadership,” said Harler.  “And in addition to the musical part, [the apprentices] also find out about the workings of the chorus, what is needed to operate a choral group.  They attend Board meetings and learn about how budgets are done.  The first criteria for their being accepted [into the program] is their musicianship, but many of them will most likely want to have their own choruses in the future, . . . it’s a total immersion into what’s necessary for the running of a chorus.”

Harler has played an important role in influencing choral music in the United States.  In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Chorus America, the national professional association of professional and volunteer choruses, and in 2009, he was awarded Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art.  He is the recipient of a number of other honors and awards as well.

“I had taken a year leave of absence from the Club when my job took me to Washington DC from mid-1987 to mid-1988,” said Walkowiak. “When I returned to the Club in 1988, Alan had become Artistic Director. His positive influence on the Club can never be overstated. He raised us to higher levels in every aspect of our musicality and performance. He truly loves music and his passion to strive for excellence was contagious to all of us. I think that every member of the Club was willing to work very hard -- on very challenging material -- in order to achieve the performance standards that he strived for.”  Bill Walkowiak has recently moved to San Diego, California and is not currently involved with any chorus.

“A lot of people [at these holiday concerts at St. Paul’s] like that we do sing some of the very familiar carols with the Brass [Quintet] and organ, and I weave these into the overall program, and people always seem to respond to and like that part of it,” said Harler.  Some of the traditional carols the audience will be able to sing with the chorus this Saturday are: Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (music by Felix Mendelssohn), and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

“A lot of the music for 'A Feast of Carols' is music that goes back to my childhood, and it’s a very joyous but reflective time—to hear this music again,” said Harler.  “Some of it we come back to every year—to these certain arrangements that I know and like.  And there’s a special message that comes through—a message of hope and joy—and that always makes it delightful.”

For a delightful holiday feast of carols, be sure to attend one of the Mendelssohn Club’s performances this Saturday at St. Paul’s in Chestnut Hill.  You will undoubtedly be glad you did.

* Photo by John L. Shipman, Courtesy of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.

© 2010 by Catherine J. Barrier.  All rights reserved.