Director Kristina Boerger chases a Chamber Singer
dressed as an evil teacher.
TYLER MURPHY / THE DEPAUW
As difficulty as it may be to imagine, the DePauw Chamber Singers and the University Chorus turned a set of bleachers and all-black outfits into a funny, entertaining hour-and-a-half show in Kresge Auditorium Sunday afternoon. After a week of festivities, DePauw’s thirteenth annual ArtsFest, with the theme of Arts and Laughter, came to a close with their performance entitled “To Make You and Me Laugh.”
Directed by Kristina Boerger, the presentation included an alternation of the two groups on stage and 11 pieces of music by the over 70 performers.
While the attendance wasn’t Jimmy Kimmel-scale, Kresge saw a large turnout for the event and the performances didn’t disappoint. Several bursts of laughter could be shared throughout the show, from both audience members and singers in the groups.
Many of the pieces performed were laced with humor, playing on the echoed singers and being written completely in satire.
“This was something completely different than anything we have ever done before,” said senior Patrick Brems, a member of the Chamber Singers.
While the pieces were indeed funny, it was the faces of the performers that brought the humor to the audience. Since their attire was only black dresses, pants and button-ups, their faces were the focus of the audience’s attention and these groups didn’t fall short in their acting ability.
“They were so funny,” said first-year music student Tabatha Hickey, who attended Sunday’s performance. “Especially since I know some of the singers personally, it was hilarious.”
The concert began with the University Chorus singing William Billing’s “Modern Musick.” The piece is a mockery of how songs trick the audience into feeling certain ways and mocks the typical framework of other composers. It even goes as far to say that his “process surely will not fail to please.”
The Chamber Singers then debuted with Benjamin Britten’s “The Lift Boy,” a piece written in a very nonsensical manor about a boy with nothing in his pocket but a jack-knife and a button. Amanda Hopson performed the piano for this piece, as well as the concluding one.
The first few choices set a light tone for the rest of the concert, only building with comedic inserts as it progressed.
While the piano was slowly being dragged away after the previous piece, the Chamber Singers waited in what seemed to be awkward silence, but was in reality a purposeful act to prepare for the next piece which, unknown to the audience, featured both of the musical groups.
Senior Anna Gatdula begins the song, “O, La, Che Buon Echo,
which featured both of the musical groups.
TYLER MURPY / THE DEPAUW
One girl ran up to the front and began belting a solo to the auditorium. In return, however, there came an echoing voice from the rafters above. Soon after the rest of the Chamber Singers joined in the song, the University Chorus echoed their every voice from the balcony, unseen to the audience. The piece was “O, La, Che Buon Echo,” or “The Echo Song,” by Orlando di Lasso.
After this came several others, including a French song about a man who won’t eat pork because he once saw a confrontation between a pig and a “turd.” Following close suit with the animal theme came “Of All the Birds that I Do Know,” a metaphorical song about, you guessed it, birds.
Once finished, the University Chorus took the stage once more to sing a piece by P.D.Q. Bach, a favorite and must-have when looking for humor. P.D.Q. Bach is the fictitious alter ego of the actual composer Peter Schickele, who took to writing parody pieces, this one in particular about the stench his wife possesses.
Following this the Chamber Singers took the sage, only to have a backstage worker come out to tell one of the students about a problem in the back. The singer then followed the worker off of the stage. After a few seconds, however, he came bolting back out the door followed quickly on the heels by the director.
Boerger, dressed in her professor graduation attire and wielding a long stick, chased him back to his place and then began to conduct the next song, “Brainy Teacher,” by Robert Dennis. The song consists of several lines and solos of students rebelling against their teacher.
“My favorite part of the show was when the director came in chasing after one of the singers,” said sophomore Grant Spratt, also in attendance. “It made me laugh out loud because it was so unexpected.”
Tailing closely with the teacher gig, Boerger brought out a whiteboard and started pointing to places on it with her stick. Members of the University Chorus began naming geological places on the map, which eventually turned into the next song, “Geographical Fugue,” which consists only of the names of places around the globe.
This performance was then followed by two more which included a variety of shifting tempos as well as humorous duet dances by group members. All of this, however, was leading up to the end: the most comical portion of the concert.
The last presentation reprised P.D.Q. Bach, with his piece “The Seasonings.” This piece pokes fun at Joseph Haydn’s “The Seasons.”
In Bach’s new rendition, the singers literally buzz about different types of seasonings and spices. It includes puns such as “bide thy thyme,” and even draws from “Old McDonald had a Farm,” with lowed-down ee-i-ee-i-os.
Though the lyrics were comical, it was not necessarily them that had the audience rolling. It was the performance by the singers, the director and the entire staff who teach voice in the School of Music. They came out in full-force, purple boas blazing, whoopee cushions in toe and tiaras atop their heads.
“Our conductor and the voice faculty didn’t even tell us they were going to be doing everything that they did,” said Brems. “We knew it was going to be funny but even us singers didn’t know it was going to be to that extent. I think that’s the main reason it was so entertaining.”
The audience agreed, applauding the singers long after the singing had commenced.