Rehearsals are well under way for Los Cantantes del Lago’s 2014 Spring Concert – “Nature’s Music,” directed by Timothy G. Ruff Welch at the Auditorio de la Ribera on Tuesday, March 25, 7 p.m. and Wednesday, March 26, 4 p.m.
Welch has chosen an imaginative and challenging range of music for this choir. The concert comprises a wide variety of songs, encompassing many of the facets of nature – birds, beasts, elements, earth, sky and human emotions. Light-hearted or deeply moving, some works are familiar while others are new to Ajijic audiences.
Monday’s rehearsal of just a part of the repertoire for the concert, demonstrated all of the above. The choir has its own ethos and it’s tangible. The relationship between Welch and the choir members is as humorous and relaxed as it is serious about its music. That probably explains why Los Cantantes is such a popular choir with singers and boasts some 50 members.
Eleanor Strombergh is the rehearsal and concert piano accompanist and they began with “’When You Wish Upon a Star,” written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington. Stopping and starting like any normal rehearsal, the astonishing thing was the sound. A banal comment, it’s true, but having only ever heard Jiminy Cricket’s (Cliff Edwards’ character voice-over) version of the song, from Disney’s “Pinocchio,” I had absolutely no idea that it could sound like that. No wonder the song’s ranked number seven in the American Film Institute’s 100 All Time Greatest Songs. Los Cantantes’ treatment is mystical, powerful and addictive – all rolled into one.
Next they worked on “Seal Lullaby,” Eric Whitacre’s beautifully mesmerizing composition for Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same name. In it, the eight sections of the choir create the impression of the sea’s movements, rolling and swirling around the words.
Welch commented that this is the first time they had performed a piece by Whitacre, whose work is known to be complex, but even in the rehearsal setting this exquisite piece was so moving that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing to attention.
Flautist Mike Leisenbach joined Strombergh in accompanying “The Lamb,” Carl J. Nygard Jr’s orchestration of the poem by William Blake. The guileless words and pure timbre of the flute make it very striking.
A swift run-through of Cole Porter’s “Night & Day,” then the focus shifted to the very moving, “August Moonrise,” composed by Blake R. Henson using a poem by Sara Teasdale, accompanied by cello and piano. Cellist Mariana Raquel Martínez Cruz was not present so Strombergh covered both parts, which can’t have been easy.
Last up was “Omnia Sol” by Z. Randall Stroope which was breathtaking. It’s always an emotive piece, but Los Cantantes sang it so beautifully that my stiff upper-lip completely failed and the tears were inevitable.
The way their selected pieces are coming together and with several rehearsals yet to go for the other songs in the program, “Natures Music” is obviously going to be a very impressive and throughly enjoyable concert by Los Cantantes.
Tickets costing 250 pesos are available from Diane Pearl Colecciones, Mia’s Boutique, from any Cantantes member or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..