NEC Concert Choir + Joseph Nizich & Jennie Segal: Great Music for a Great (Virtual) Space

The NEC Concert Choir offers a program of choral works from the 17th century to the present which give voice to a wide range of emotions common to all human beings: joy, anger, nostalgia, delight, longing, and hope. This concert was created using a combination of in-person ensemble recording and remote submission.

From Erica J. Washburn:

Choral singing, whether in unison or in parts, is the oldest form of ensemble music making. It has lived for thousands of years despite human oppression and catastrophe. 

The pandemic has required us to try our hand at replicating the traditionally intimate experience of choral singing while standing 16 feet apart, masked, and in some cases, separated by thousands of miles. What this pandemic could not change is the passion for choral artistry, and it most certainly was not going to prevent NEC choristers from dedicating themselves to finding a way, despite the challenges, to share their art.

Every human has a voice, whether the use of that instrument flows from their vocal cords or their hands. Every human must be seen and should be heard.


WATCH CONCERT STREAM:
 

Ensembles
  • NEC Concert Choir
Conductors
  • Joseph Nizich '21 MM
  • Jennie Segal '21 MM
Artists
  • Da-Yu Liu, keyboards
  • Sarah Tindall and Sameer Apte, cello
  • Astghik Martirosyan, guest artist

  1. Isabella Leonarda | Ave Regina caelorum

    Ave, Regina caelorum

    Ave, Regina caelorum
    Ave, Domina Angelorum:
    Salve, radix, salve, porta
    Ex qua mundo lux est orta:

    Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,
    Super omnes speciosa,
    Vale, o valde decora,
    Et pro nobis Christum exora.

    Hail, O Queen of Heaven

    Hail, O Queen of Heaven.
    Hail, O Lady of Angels:
    Hail! thou root, hail! thou gate
    From whom unto the world a light has arisen:

    Rejoice, O glorious Virgin,
    Lovely beyond all others,
    Farewell, most beautiful maiden,
    And pray for us to Christ.

    Artists
    • Lina Chung and Runyu Feng, soloists
    • Da-Yu Liu, harpsichord
    • Sarah Tindall, cello
    • Jennie Segal '21 MM, conductor
    • Sopranos and Altos, NEC Concert Choir

  2. Pärt Uusberg | Mis on inimene?

    Mis on inimene?

    Mis on inimene?
    Kas ingli vari?
    Või igatsushüüd hingeühtsuse poole?

    Igaüks meist on pill,
    läbi mille võrratuid vise vilistab Jumala tuul:
    Hoia, küll siis hoitakse sind.

    Doris Kareva

    What is human?

    What is human?
    The shadow of an angel?
    Or a cry of yearning towards a union of souls?

    Each of us a pipe
    For God’s wind to whistle:
    Take care, then you are cared for.

    Artists
    • Jennie Segal '21 MM, conductor
    • Tenors and Basses, NEC Concert Choir

  3. Johannes Brahms (arr. James McCullough) | O wüsst' ich doch den Weg zurück, op. 63

    O wüsst’ ich doch den Weg zurück

    O wüsst’ ich doch den Weg zurück,
    Den lieben Weg zum Kinderland!
    O warum sucht’ ich nach dem Glück
    Und liess der Mutter Hand?

    O wie mich sehnet auszuruh’n,
    Von keinem Streben aufgeweckt,
    Die müden Augen zuzutun,
    Von Liebe sanft bedeckt!

    Und nichts zu forschen, nichts zu späh’n,
    Und nur zu träumen leicht und lind;
    Der Zeiten Wandel nicht zu seh’n,
    Zum zweiten Mal ein Kind!

    O zeigt mir doch den Weg zurück,
    Den lieben Weg zum Kinderland!
    Vergebens such’ ich nach dem Glück,
    Ringsum ist öder Strand!

    Klaus Groth (1819–1899)

    O that I knew the way back home

    O that I knew the way back home,
    To joyful days in Childhood-land!
    O tell me why I had to roam,
    And leave my Mother’s hand?

    O how I long to be at rest,
    Yet strive for nothing to annoy,
    Then close my tired eyes, and be blessed
    With love and dreams of joy!

    And to leave riches far behind,
    And dream, instead, how to be free:
    Then turn back time, and try to find
    The child I lost in me!

    O show me, now, the road to take,
    That brings me back to Childhood’s door!
    In vain that joy I could awake,
    Then find an empty shore!

    Translation by James McCullough

    Artists
    • Da-Yu Liu, piano
    • Joseph Nizich '21 MM, conductor
    • Sopranos and Altos, NEC Concert Choir

  4. Spiritual (arr. Stacey V. Gibbs) | Steal Away

    Steal Away

    I ain’t got long to stay here, no, I ain’t got long to stay here,
    When my work down here is done an’ my race down here is run,
    Then I’ll steal away home.

    Steal away, steal away. steal away to Jesus,
    Steal away, steal away home.  I ain’t got long to stay here.

    My Lord, He calls me, yes, my Lord, He calls me,
    He calls me by the thunder. The trumpet sounds within-a my soul.
    I ain’t got long to stay here.

    Oh, steal away…

    Traditional Spiritual

    Artists
    • Jack Keller, soloist
    • Joseph Nizich '21 MM, conductor
    • Tenors and Basses, NEC Concert Choir

  5. Florence B. Price | The Moon Bridge

    The Moon Bridge

    The moon like a big, round ball of flame
    Rose out of the silver bay,
    And built a bridge of golden beams,
    Where the fairies came to play.

    I saw them dancing in jewel’d robes
    On the wavelet’s rhythmic flow,
    And I long’d to stand on the magic bridge,
    In the moonlight’s mystic glow.

    But over the sky a veil of mist
    Thin, soft as a web of lace,
    Was drawn, then parted, then came again,
    With easy coquettish grace;

    And the moon put on a somber mask,
    And frowned on the rippling wave,
    And the beautiful bridge went under the sea
    Nor a beam could the fairies save!

    I wondered if this would end their play,
    And if, as the bridge went down,
    They would lose their jewels so frail and fair,
    And their queen her diamond crown!

    But they glided away in merry mood,
    To their home in the rosetree’s bow’rs,
    And there they danced on the dewy grass,
    Till the “wee sma’” morning hours.

    Mary Rolofson Gamble

    Artists
    • Da-Yu Liu, piano
    • Jennie Segal '21 MM, conductor
    • Sopranos and Altos, NEC Concert Choir

  6. Larry Nickel | Long Black Arm

    Long Black Arm

    Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,
    Great Gun towering…about to curse
    …Reach at the Arrogance which needs thy harm
    Beat it down before the sins grow worse.

    Be slowly lifted up …toward Heaven
    Great gun towering…long black arm
    And when thy spell be cast complete and whole.
    May God curse thee. and cut thee from our soul!

    Wilfred Owen, from Sonnet on Seeing a Piece of our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action

    Artists
    • Da-Yu Liu, piano
    • Jennie Segal '21 MM, conductor
    • Tenors and Basses, NEC Concert Choir

  7. Caroline Shaw | From Rivers (2017)

    From Rivers

    To the sky from rivers.
    We are beginning will be again.
    We are beginning round and round.

    We are beginning will be again.
    We come together around you.

    You are beginning will be again
    We come together around you.

    My feet in the river, my face to the sky.

    Caroline Shaw

    Artists
    • Astghik Martirosyan, soloist
    • Sameer Apte, cello
    • Joseph Nizich '21 MM, conductor
    • Sopranos and Altos, NEC Concert Choir

  8. NEC Concert Choir

    Yüksel Çınar Atilla
    Marina Beeson
    Jádon Brooks
    Lila Brucia
    Kaitlin Burton
    Pin Chieh Jewel Chen
    Justin Chen
    Lily Chien
    Sophia Daisy Chesler
    Haram Choi
    Lina Chung
    Su Cong
    Despina-Nektaria Dassouras
    Sophia Grace Donelan
    Colleen Ernandes
    Runyu Feng
    Marissa Fieland
    Molly Flynn
    Jonathon Fornoff
    Rae Frenette
    Shengying Gu
    Eric Guan
    Yuntong Han
    David Helder
    Jack Keller
    Minji Kim
    Sunghyun Kim
    Wanjoong Kim
    Feiyi Liao
    Jia-Nan Liu
    Mingyang Ma
    Sally Millar
    Ji Young Mok
    Tristan Murphy
    Sarah Nalty
    Joseph Nizich
    Jimin Park
    Ruoxi Peng
    Emma Schoetz
    Jennie Segal
    Wenhao Shou
    Cobi Tadros
    Alexander Tsereteli
    Joseph Vasconi
    TanNi Wang
    Hongjian Yan
    Beyoncé Zambrano
    Haiqi Zhang

Tags
Watch OnlineCollegeChoralVoice