Musica Vitale accents Russian choral music’s vitality

The choral group Musica Vitale. (Courtesy photo)

One entertainment option in San Diego that often gets short shrift in the public eye is classical music. There are numerous organizations, big and small, putting on programs at various locations for those who would like to investigate music from past centuries, though it something takes a bit of digging to find out about them.

Still, such groups continue to flourish locally. One such grassroots choral group is Musica Vitale, which will perform at the program “Voices of the Motherland - Russian Music of the 20th Century” at All Souls Episcopal Church on Sunday, June 28.

Specializing in a cappella (voices only) music, Musica Vitale is helmed by Elena Vizuet, who moved to the area from her native Russia in 1999. Over the past four years, Vizuet has worked hard to establish Musica Vitale with a core group of a dozen performers and a series of two to three concerts a year.

“Each one is unique,” said Vizuet. “For Christmas, we might have madrigals and so on. However, for this event I was longing to get back to my roots.”

The program, which lasts roughly an hour, is a musical journey through Russian history.

“These compositions will take you through the pages of Russian history of the 20th century,” Vizuet said. “From monarchical Russia before the Revolution of 1917, through Soviet times, with its complete absence of sacred music and its flourishing of folk music, through World War II and to Russia after the fall of communism, this program covers a lot of ground in an hour.”

While Russian choral music is among the world’s most loved, Vizuet acknowledges that some of the program might be unknown to even diehard classical music fans.

“When smaller choral groups perform, it tends to be early Renaissance pieces written before 1700. We’re working with 20th-century pieces, full of rich Russian history, but some so obscure that you can’t find them on iTunes or online. They are rich, wonderful compositions but they haven’t received their due.”

Molly Whittaker, a singer in the chorus, notes that these songs can be a challenge for the performers as well because most don’t know Russian.

“It’s done phonetically, but Elena is so good about giving us word-for-word translation of everything we’re singing that it feels perfectly natural,” Whittaker said.

Vizuet admits times are tough for musicians of all genres, but classical is being particularly hard-hit.

“I think a lot of the problem with small crowds comes down to how the word gets out about an event,” Vizuet said.

While other regions around the country seem to be taking strong hits to their arts programs, Vizuet points to the relative success of opera and the symphony locally.

“There are people interested in classical music,” Vizuet said. “People still want to enjoy this music and there are always those who have a curiosity toward sounds from the past. Your impact is based on how well you aim your advertising and especially how good your program is.”

Vizuet considers longevity to be a key to success.

“You have to work with an audience. It’s a matter of time,” Vizuet said. “When people know you or are aware of you, it builds from there.”

While some might gauge the success of their projects on box office receipts or crowd size, Vizuet has a more pragmatic way of measuring.

“My ear tells me when things come together,” Vizuet said. “However many people might be in an audience, you can feel the energy and the satisfaction in both the players and the listeners.

“When you are able to bring your exact vision to the stage and take an audience with you, that’s success,” she said.

Musica Vitale performs at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 28 at All Souls Episcopal Church, 1475 Catalina Blvd., Point Loma. Tickets are $15. For more information, visit www.all-souls.com

Bart Mendoza writes for the Peninsula Beacon, where this article was originally published.

Tags: All Souls Episcopal Church Point Loma, Elena Vizuet, Molly Whittaker, Musica Vitale, Russian choral music, SDNN

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Arts & Entertainment . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.