The Texarkana Regional Chorale starts its year with an "Al Fresco" great outdoors concert with music by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and other composers on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the CHRISTUS St. Michael Imaging Center.
Starting at 6 p.m., the chorale singers enliven this atypical concert location with choral music like Bernstein's "Make Our Garden Grow," Copland's "Ching-A-Ring-Chaw" and "I Bought Me a Cat," Hogan's "Ride On, King Jesus" and "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit," Poulenc's "Vinea mea electa," Bruckner's "Ave Maria," Bach's "Magnificat," Walker's "Let Music Fill the Air" and Rutter's "The Lord Bless You and Keep You."
Marc-André Bougie serves as TRC music director while Mary Scott Goode accompanies on piano for this eclectic repertoire. For this free concert, donations are accepted.
"In a concert like this, we are trying to play a variety of pieces," Bougie said. "So it's not just classical, not just religious, not just secular. The pieces are short, usually, to keep everybody's attention and showcase some of the future things happening in the semester or the year."
Last year's TRC outdoor concert at CHRISTUS was successful with a great environment and light musical selections. The concert is only about 45 minutes long. "Then you have very close interactions with the singers," Bougie said.
Fittingly, "Let Music Fill the Air" opens the concert, and other pieces follow each other with some connection. "The words bring your mind back to the environment you're in. It's a beautiful thing for people to experience," Bougie said.
The Copland pieces are American traditional songs, appropriate for autumn. "It's music that's reflective. It's warm. It fits those colors: orange, yellow, brown," the TRC director said.
The Moses Hogan spirituals provide a chance for Bougie to discuss the TRC's Black History Month concert early next year. "It's a way for our members also to get to practice that music before we get to February," Bougie said. "Moses Hogan was one of the great arrangers of spirituals in the modern age. We'll be doing these two numbers. Very lively. Also featuring a few solos."
The Bruckner is the first time for the TRC doing this Austrian Romantic composer. And of Bach's "Magnificat," Bougie said of this tuneful selection, "The music of Bach obviously stands alone in the repertoire. You can't compare it to anything. People claim that he was the greatest composer in history. I can't really argue against that. It is exceptional music."
Bach will be a challenge for the TRC singers, but they're growing into it, Bougie said. "We're going to do more of it," he said.
And about the Rutter selection, which Bougie describes as a prayer from the old Hebrew Bible. "You know there is something very powerful about singing those very ancient prayers that people have been saying and praying for thousands of years now."
It's a transcendent experience, the director said, and part of the diverse set of songs they'll share at this concert.
"It's a nice sampling of the different styles of music we approach," Bougie said, "which is what's great about TRC."
(More info: Check out the Texarkana Regional Chorale page on Facebook. The CHRISTUS St. Michael Imaging Center is located at 2500 St. Michael Drive in Texarkana, Texas.)