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"lighten and uplift
them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses"
-Baha'u'llah
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Spirited
choir wins encores
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BUDAPEST,
Hungary, 30 July 2003 (BWNS) --
Sustained and often rhythmic applause greeted
every song at the opening night here of a
concert tour by Voices of Baha, an international
Baha'i choir.
Rewarded
with encores, the audience did not cease
applauding until long after choirmaster Tom
Price had taken his leave from the stage.
The
performance on 2 July 2003 crossed the borders
not only with respect to the nationalities --
the 120 singers came from 21 countries -- but
also in terms of musical genres. |
Van Gilmer singing up a storm. (Photo: Edit
Kalman)
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Styles
ranged from Western classical music and modern popular
music, to traditional Persian songs and, most
dramatically, African-American gospel.
On stage
with the choir was the Budapest Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Mr. Price, a composer from Nashville,
Tennessee, who founded Voices of Baha. (The choir's name
is a reference to Baha'u'llah.)
The concert
in Budapest was the starting point of a tour that was to
take the choir to Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Wernigerode
and Frankfurt.
The
Hungarian audience enthusiastically greeted gospel-style
sounds from the full choir and from individual soloists
like the veteran Van Gilmer and 17-year-old Rachael
Price (the youngest of Mr. Price's three daughters) --
and, on one dynamic occasion, the two together singing
"Soldiers in God's Army."
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Mr.
Gilmer, the choir's gospel director, proved to be
a master of the style. With a voice born for the
occasion, he brought emotion to a pitch with his
rendition of "Amazing Grace."
Ms.
Price, in fine voice, gave a demonstration of how
the body -- and in particular the hands -- can
convey in physical terms the pulsating power of
gospel.
Most
of the some 1100 people present in the elegant
Budapest Congress Center were the general public,
guests of the Baha'is, and VIPs such as members of
the diplomatic corps, parliamentarians and
musicians.
The
occasion marked an historic anniversary. Ninety
years earlier 'Abdu'l-Baha had blessed the city
with His presence, and now His words were to soar
in song as the choir celebrated in praise of His
Father with the oratorio, "O Baha'u'llah." |
Choirmaster Tom Price. |
First sung
during the inaugural performance of Voices of Baha at
the 1992 Baha'i World Congress in New York, the song
featured in Budapest the glorious soprano voice of Emily
Price, another of Mr. Price's daughters.
Ms. Price
also gave a memorable performance of the spiritually
uplifting "Whither Can a Lover Go?"
Later, she
sang "Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day" with
sisters Rachael and Juliet, in a rendition that was a
sassy mix of energy and humor.
Harmony in diversity... some members of
Voices of Baha. |
The multi-cultural choir, dressed in
black with colored scarves, followed the direction
of Mr. Price with close attention. That paid off
in excellent timing and controlled variations in
volume that enabled them to work with the
orchestra in a way that clearly delighted them
both.
Among the songs presented were "Render
Thanks", "God is Sufficient unto
Me", and "Dastam Bigir
'Abdu'l-Baha."
Perhaps the most heartfelt applause of the
night came after the choir sang the song "Oh
God, My God" in Hungarian, a language the
singers had only recently encountered.
Mr. Price varied the emotional level of the
night between high drama and humor by employing a
mix of self-deprecating humor and affectionate
teasing of some of his colleagues. |
One such
target was Paul Seaforth, who repaid the attention with
a stirring rendition of "We Are One," a song
by Dan Seals that points to the acceptance of the
oneness of humanity as a solution to the agonies of the
modern world.
Mr.
Seaforth also delighted on other occasions with his
solos on the saxophone and trumpet, and later playing
alongside the orchestra members.
Mr. Price
revealed his own melodious tenor voice when he led a
barbershop quartet in the sweetest of harmonies as they
sang "Darkness on the Delta." At times both he
and Mr. Gilmer accompanied the singing on a grand piano.
Soaring soprano... Emily Price. |
Complementing the concert in
Budapest was a display of photographs, by
Hungarian Baha'i Dr. Laszlo Farkas, of terraced
gardens on Mount Carmel at the Baha'i World Centre
in Haifa, Israel.
A large part of the proceeds from ticket sales
went to a development project for Roma women in
Hungary.
Following the concert in Hungary, Voices of
Baha went on to win enthusiastic receptions from
big houses in Prague, Warsaw, and Berlin. |
The choir
won a gold prize in the Johannes Brahms International
Choirs Competition Festival in Wernigerode. It was the
only choir selected to give an entire concert, singing
before some 2000 people in a performance shown live on
German television and repeated twice in the following
days.
It also
sang in the Baha'i House of Worship in Langenhain near
Frankfurt in Germany. The Temple was filled to
overflowing for the occasion.
Voices of
Baha, which has performed in Asia, North America and
Europe, is setting its sights on other continents for
future concerts.
For more information on Voices of Baha see here.
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| Published in Bahá'í
World News Service |
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