Madras Youth Choir (MYC), one of the oldest Indian choral music groups in Chennai will be performing at the prestigious International Choral Music Festival “The 2017 Serenade†in Washington DC on June between June 27 and July 3.
The festival that will feature 18 choirs from 14 countries is being held to mark the Centenary celebrations of Former US President John F Kennedy and the Peace Corps.
During the festival, the Choir will premiere a piece that is a medley of seven songs embodying the spirit of love, freedom, courage, unity, friendship, patriotism and peace. The composition is drawn from works of the renowned national poet Subramania Bharati, Indian folk tradition, Martin Luther King and late MB Srinivasan, the founder of MYC.
The last day of the festival organized by Classical Movements USA, a premier concert company, along with John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, will include Mass Choir Finale. For the session, singers from all over the world will come together to render soulful music conducted by Joshua Habermann, director, Dallas Symphony Centre.
The MYC, a not-for-profit to Government of India’s Sangeet Natak Akademi — the event is a great platform to popularize Indian choral music and their compositions that are a blend of Indian classical melodies and western techniques. Their songs are usually themed on national integration, human and social values, and women empowerment, and sung in over 10 languages. Madras Youth Choir (MYC), started in 1971, has been promoting Indian choral music since its founding four decades ago.
Gayathree Krishna, MYC executive committee member, says, “This choral festival in Washington is organized by Classical Movements, a concert touring company and John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Neeta Helms of Classical Movements has been in touch with MYC since the end of 2015. She heard us sing and she was quite impressed. Recently, she brought down two groups from Yale University and Juilliard School for concerts in the city and we also collaborated with one of them. Prior to that, she also invited us to Africa for a tour, but that was on a short notice and we didn't have enough time to prepare for it. Funding was the main issue then. Now, we've collected a good amount through crowd funding. And that how's things finally fell into place. “
S Ram, another executive committee member, adds, “The festival will feature 18 choirs representing 14 countries. In all, there will be 14 concerts in historic venues in Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland, of which six will be at the Kennedy Center. Our repertoire will consist of 20 songs in different languages and they range from simple harmonies to complex choral arrangement. Also, we will be conducting workshops highlighting the nuances of Indian choral music with demos.“
All the songs embody the spirit of love, freedom, courage, unity, friendship, patriotism and peace, which were held dear by John F Kennedy. And for the grand finale, we have chosen our show piece composition--Mazhai (Rain). It is a composition with six-part harmony and one of the most complex pieces in our repertoire, requiring much control of voices. The poem itself describes the fury of a violent storm, and the calm thereafter. The violence of the storm, the howling winds, thunder and lightning are captured through just singing voices,†Ram says.
“MYC conducts choir music classes and workshops in schools and colleges in India. Last year, we saw the participation of 600 children from 20 schools. MYC has a children’s choir for the age group of 5 to 15, where they can experience the joy of singing together without any kind of differences,†Ram says.
There will be two workshops on June 28 each of 45 minutes duration and same day evening at 730 pm Concert at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Baltimore Maryland for 25 minutes . On June 30, there will be an evening Concert at the Millennium Stage at Kennedy Centre for 24 minutes. On July 3 at 630 pm, there will be a finale at the Kennedy Centre Concert Hall.
