Final spring choral concert features Baroque arias, recitatives

The choral program at the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music is preparing its final concert of the season, happening in Ramsey Concert Hall on Monday, April 25, at 3:35 p.m.

The concert will feature student conductors, singers, and instrumentalists in a performance of recitatives and arias from cantatas, operas, and oratorios. Each singer will perform selections from large Baroque vocal works.

“This recital is not only a relevant academic exercise for us as student conductors, but also an exciting opportunity to showcase UGA’s amazing singers in a collaborative vocal/instrumental environment,” said Jared Register, a School of Music graduate student and conductor for the concert.

Conducting recitative, the rhythmically free vocal style used in operas and oratorios that imitates the natural inflections of speech, presents unique challenges, but at its core, the task is a familiar one, according to Register.

“The foremost rule of conducting recitative can be articulated in the same terms as describing any vital instrument technique: being in the right place at the right time,” said Register. “What is required in this instance is a mastery of conducting both passive and active beats.”

Register says that this idea builds on the basic idea of incorporating the music into the conductor’s physicality and, more specifically, employs lessons learned from the School of Music director of choral activities, Dr. Dan Bara, the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor of Choral Music.

“As undergraduates we are taught how to connect sound to our body,” said Register. “On the graduate level, Dr. Bara’s teaching is preoccupied with the idea that every desired musical outcome is mirrored by the gesture.”

This concert is free admission, and all are welcome to attend this unique demonstration of UGA’s conducting, vocal and instrumental talent.

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music sponsors more than 350 performances each year. To view the performance calendar, subscribe to the weekly email concert listing or learn more about the School of Music, go to music.uga.edu.