by Marvin J. Ward

Orange, MA, 11 January 2009.  What does a choral conductor do to celebrate his 80th birthday?  With the help of his chorus and a few family members and friends, he throws a concert, that’s what!  If his name is Charles Heffernan, and he is dedicated to choral singing and conducting, and music education in general, and he has music blood cells flowing through his arteries and veins along with the red and white ones, what else would he do?

Founded in the early 1990s, the Quabbin Valley Pro Musica is a community chorus with 29 members this season.  There is no Quabbin River or Valley on the map; the Quabbin is the reservoir created in the 1930s by damming the Swift River to supply the Greater Boston area with drinking water, and in the process wiping 4 towns (Dana, Enfield, Greenwich – pronounced ‘green-witch,’ and Prescott) off of the map.  The area served by the chorus is primarily that around and above the northern end of the reservoir.  It rehearses in New Salem in the church next door to the historic and unheated 1794 Meeting House, which latter is the venue for its spring concert – a beautifully simple hall with a nice acoustic.  Heffernan was named director of the group 1.5 years ago; he has already won the choristers’ hearts.

For this birthday bash, they rented the 1892 Central Congregational Church in Orange, a wooden structure with a square sanctuary with the Johnson & Son of Westfield organ (not used for the performance, but the painted and decorated pipes were a lovely backdrop) and the pulpit area in the NE corner of the building, the pews arranged in a semi-circle facing them, a creative arrangement that gives it a wonderful acoustic.  The QVPM also recruited some additional singers, 9 from the Keene, NH, Chorale, a group founded in 1984 by Heffernan and which he continued to direct until 2004, and 2 from Northampton’s Hampshire Choral Society, with which Heffernan sings, as does one of the soloists, and, full disclosure, this writer.  A 16-piece pick-up orchestra was hired, with Heffernan’s daughter, Priscilla Heffernan Johnson, its concertmaster.

The program offered 2 works: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and Haydn’s Mass in d, "Missa in Angustiis" ("Mass in a Time of Distress") that has come to be called the “Lord Nelson Mass” because it was premièred shortly after his victory in the Battle of Trafalgar and he is believed to have attended an early performance.  Neither of these works is child’s play; the Britten is full of tricky spots, not to mention the Middle English texts that present pronunciation difficulties, and the Haydn is a large-scale piece with lots of long sections and lines and few chances to rest and relax as it moves right along.

Except for tenor Richard Chase in the Britten, who is a member of the QVPM, the soloists mostly came from outside the immediate area.  The soprano in the Britten, Allison Pollitt, lives in the general area; the harpist, Kathleen Lyon-Pingree, originally from Lexington, MA, lives in NH.  In the Haydn, soprano Jennifer Tyo hails from CT, and now lives in Northampton, mezzo-soprano Eileen Ruby lives in Greenfield, MA, tenor Ethan Bremner, who is originally from Athol, MA, and sang with the QVPM when he was in high school, now lives in Boston, and bass Steve Curylo, originally from Springfield, MA, lives in Chicopee.

The performances of both were well nigh impeccable.  The chorus controlled the pitches and the dynamics well and its diction was crisp; every word was readily audible and intelligible.  The choristers may not be paid professionals, but their commitment and enthusiasm were everywhere evident as were their effort and quality.  Solo work was outstanding, especially in the Haydn.  Tyo, who had the lion’s share of it, was stunning.  Lyon-Pingree held the audience enraptured with her work on the harp in the Britten.  The orchestra did not leave any loose or ragged ends, performing as if its members were accustomed to playing together regularly.  These were as fine renditions of the works as one could want.  There was no need to forgive error, laxness, or imprecision because of personal feelings and connections or because of the circumstances of this special occasion.

Oh, and after the concert, the chorus threw a post-concert reception with simple but scrumptious goodies, salty and sweet, mostly prepared by its members, and replete with a spice cake in the shape of a BMW motorcycle – Heffernan’s other passion: he owns 4 bikes including the one that served as model for the cake and an antique Triumph that he bought new in his youth.  You invite your audience, which the previous night’s and morning’s snowstorm seemed not to have decimated, to attend the party, of course.  Who says classical music is for or full of stuffed shirts?  Or can only be performed well by professionals?  Certainly NOT Charles Heffernan!