Shakespeare in Song

Introduction:

The performance being analyzed in this report is the Shakespeare in Song Concert that was performed by the UT Dallas Chamber Singers on the Friday and Saturday nights at the beginning of April (April 1^st and 2^nd). The performance was performed in the Johnson Performance Hall, a relatively small performance hall located on campus.

Music:

The music performed during this concert are the songs contained in the plays of Shakespeare. According to the program notes, the repertoire performed during this concert included “authentic [original] compositions [of Shakespeare’s plays], the solo songs of Roger Quilter, and the choral arrangements of Matthew Harris” (Program Notes). Besides the chorus, there was also a conductor and a pianist. Within the chorus itself, nearly all the vocal ranges were represented and the choir was almost evenly divided male and female. The performance itself took advantage of the broad vocal range, and sought to feature different vocal groups in different songs. For instance, in the song entitled Willow, was performed only by the female singers in the group

Performers:

Although the music was indeed important during this performance, the performers were the ones who really brought this performance to life. This was evident in many ways. First, all of the performers (including the conductor and the pianist), were dressed in very Shakespearian clothing to represent the type of music they were singing. Secondly, in between the actual songs were dialogues or occasionally monologues by the choir members in which the singers utilized their acting skills. These dialogues (with the support of the program notes and slide show) served a very important purpose in setting up each song and providing the audience a context with which to appreciate each song.

The way in which the performers interacted with each other is also of note. During the choral pieces, the conductor had the attention of all of the performers within the chorus as well as the pianist, as should have been the case. However, during the solo performances the atmosphere on stage between the performers is quite different, as the only communication between the performers is between the pianist and the soloist. In the solo performances, the pianist watches the soloists mouth to determine when to start, when to speed up, when to slow down, etc.

Audience:

I viewed the concert on the first night it was performed. The room was about 80% full, probably consisting of 100-125 people. The audience helped enhance the performance through the interaction that they had with the performers. The performer-audience interaction in this performance differed from other performances. Unlike some other concerts, the performers expected the audience to clap between each set, or after the solos, or laugh during the comical dialogues. Finally, the audience responded very well at the end of the performance; a portion of the audience gave a standing ovation

Time and Space:

As mentioned before, the concert was performed in the Johnson Performance hall on a Friday and Saturday night (I viewed it on the Friday night). I think the fact that it was on campus and on a Friday and Saturday night encouraged students to come, as it was close and on nights when the following days were not school days.

However, the actual space played into the performance as well. The fact that the performance hall was a relatively smaller performance hall encouraged a greater participation between the performers and the audience as the smaller venue created a closer, more intimate atmosphere.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this concert was not just a pure choral recital as the program title might have suggested. On the contrary, it was a full performance with the performers acting (in costume) as well as singing, featuring both solo music and choral music. The time of the concerts encouraged students to come (even though the audience wasn’t overwhelmingly students), and the performance hall encouraged a closer, more intimate interaction between the performers and the audience, and enhanced the performance as a whole.

Works Cited

Shakespeare in Song. Johnson Performance Hall, Richardson. 26 March 2010. Performance.