Many people often ask how we select and invite artists to come to Purdue, and I’ll spend some more time writing about that during the course of the coming year. But there is a particular set of relationships in place that have opened the door for our engagement with Calmus, the five-voice a cappella ensemble from Leipzig, Germany, that I thought I’d share with you. By the way, a cappella, literally means “in the way or manner of the church,” that is, the voice without accompaniment (as in early Gregorian chant). Today this Italian expression simply refers to unaccompanied vocal music, regardless of style, as indeed there is an astonishingly diverse landscape of “voice-only” music out there. (But I digress…)
So, back to Calmus. They are the 2009 winner of the Concert Artist Guild (CAG) International Competition, held annually in NYC. Purdue Convocations has a four decade-long history of presenting competition-winning artists from CAG, so shortly after I became Director of Convocations back in `99, I agreed that we’d begin offering a Performance Prize to one of their winners. Convocations remains among a noted group of presenting organizations who do just this (and we also have a relationship with the Van Cliburn piano competition now, as well!). So, through CAG I came into contact with Calmus, but this group has a terrific history and musicality that is meritorious enough on its own to suggest that they have a worthy place on our season.
Calmus hails from Leipzig, Germany, the city famously known as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) spent the final twenty seven years of his prolific life. In fact, the original five singers of Calmus all met in the St. Thomas Boys’ Choir (where Bach served as Capellmeister). This great tradition notwithstanding, it was with the addition of a female singer in 2001 that the format for Calmus’ current success was established. Calmus clearly radiates their mastery and internalization of Bach’s influence, as they are especially skilled in his masterworks. Yet Bach had a profound musical and intellectual curiosity, and Calmus does, as well. Calmus reaches even further back to early music that predates Bach and yet they are finding inspiration by developing creative arrangements of today’s popular music, too.
So, knowing that we could bring Calmus, hear their sensitive and informed performances of an especially wide range of vocal music (including Bach) here in a community where vocal music is valued in our local Bach Chorale, the Purdue Glee Club, and so many more settings, I couldn’t resist Calmus. Singers know that, as a small ensemble with only one voice singing each part, each singer has both an important and clearly heard role within the ensemble. The skill and talent required to do this artfully is immense, and the good news is that Calmus has demonstrated that they can deliver this in spades throughout their career.
And the last bit to note here is that, thanks to our friends at the St. Thomas Aquinas Center, we’re able to host Calmus in a space where the acoustics will favor the resonant harmonies and radiance of the human voice.
