Brady Cates
bcates@uwyo.edu
The Collegiate Chorale at the University of Wyoming has that soft, beautiful sound that could put someone to sleep at night. This sound and the voices that these members have, leads them to be the top mixed chorale ensemble at the university.
Dr. Nicole Lamartine, conductor of the Collegiate Chorale, said that there are 30 members to this choir and these men and women are the top choir at the university.
“This choir contains vocal music majors so they are either studying to be vocal performers or music educators, but there are also a couple members who are not music majors,” Lamartine said.
Lamartine said that Collegiate Chorale concerts throughout the year tend to be rooted in the basic repertoire of the western chorale tradition. The choir also tries to add in some multicultural pieces, some pieces from past centuries as well as some music from new composers.
Lamartine added that the choir’s tour opportunities are limited but they have been able to sign at some very prestigious conferences over the years.
“We were able to go to Fort Collins for a national collegiate chorale organization conference, we also went to Seattle a couple years to sign at a music educators conference,” Lamartine said. “We just want to share our music with people.”
Lamartine said that they try to go around the state as much as possible to be able to spread their music to as many people as they can.
For this year’s holiday season the Collegiate Chorale will be putting on a concert for the community to attend.
“This is our holiday performance but it’s not necessarily a Christmas concert,” Lamartine said.
Lamartine added that this is her favorite concert of the year because it is a very small venue so the choir gets to be closer to the audience and it is their greatest opportunity to spread joy to people’s lives.
Aubrey Heessel, a music education major, seconded that this is her favorite concert of the year.
Heessel added that the music they will be singing is not the typical Christmas music, they will be signing normal Christmas carols throughout the concert, but the other music they will be signing is thoughtful and very intimate music.
“We have some pieces that kind of talk about what is going on in the world and explain where our hearts are, it’s music that makes you feel,” Heessel said.
This performance covers the whole spectrum from classical music to contemporary pop music.
“This year we have everything from The Black Eyed Peas, to the Beatles, to Bach and Haydn, we pretty much are covering the whole spectrum of music,” Lamartine said.
Heessel said that her favorite experiences from Collegiate Chorale includes performing in the holiday concert every year because it is such an intimate setting. The concert is in the church so there are times where the audience is in the pews and the choir is up front by the alter and there are times where the completely surround the audience, so they are basically with them the entire concert.
“We break the barrier with the audience and ourselves so we are basically with the audience for most of the show,” Heessel said. “That’s what I like about this show the most is that it is very intimate and personal.”
The performance will be taking place Dec. 9 at St. Mary’s Cathedral and the performance is called “Choral by Candlelight.”
“It is not geared to any one religion but it highlights the themes of the holiday season: peace, giving, caring and being with each other in a very human way,” Lamartine said.
