Working in Harmony

By Rosemary Ford
Staff Writer

Mozart never topped Billboard's charts or performed live at the Oscars, but 17-year-old Lisandra Duran of Lawrence still recognizes his music with ease.

"You hear it in everything today," said the Lawrence High School senior.

Carl Russo/Staff photo New England Classical Singers Artistic Director David Hodgkins leads the singers during a rehearsal of Mozart's "Requiem." The group will perform a concert Saturday with students from Lawrence, Andover and Lynnfield high schools.

It wasn't easy, but through this partnership and hours of rehearsal, Duran feels she and her young chorus mates are ready to perform with their elders.

Duran, along with other students from Lawrence High, Andover High and Lynnfield High, will join the singers in concert Saturday while performing "Requiem" in Latin along with Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."

For the last 23 years, the New England Classical Singers has brought world-class choral music to the Merrimack Valley, and for the last five years the group has been working with local high school students to bestow their love of music on the next generation.

"It's been very exciting to have the students fully involved in the process of creating the 'Requiem,'" said Andover's Betsey Cullen, president of the New England Classical Singers. "It's not exactly Sting, or whoever the latest musician is, but it tends to grow on you."

The group and the students sing Saturday along with soloists Sarah Pelletier, Pamela Dellal, Mark Goodrich, Z. Edmund Toliver and a full orchestra. The "Requiem" is an especially demanding piece for a singer, requiring sustained breathing and quick changes in mood from one movement to the next.

"You not only have to sustain pretty rigorous singing, but emotionally you have to change from one movement to the next," Cullen said, adding that the students have done well with the work. "(Conductor David Hodgkins) has tremendous confidence in the ability of the kids to learn it. He has found if he places his confidence in the high school students and puts a major work in front of them, they can and do respond well."

The group started collaborating with students five years ago, inviting Lawrence High students to sing at its Christmas concert. The program has evolved to include workshops and guest speakers, but this is the first combined full concert of a major choral work involving the three schools, Cullen said.

"I think that we are really committed to community outreach as part of our mission and we really believe in that," she said. "We'd also like to mentor kids, showing them they can make beautiful music their whole lives. We began singing, like these kids, in high school. We've been singing our whole lives."

The students enjoyed the challenge.

"The music is so much more difficult than anything we do," said Duran, a member of the famed Lawrence High School Girls Ensemble. "It's harder, it's challenging, but the New England Classical Singers are great and they really help us out."

Daniel Rosenweig, an 18-year-old Andover High School student who said he has been singing all his life, agreed.

"It's really a great experience working with a good number of strong musicians (and singers) because at the high school level it's hard to find that," Duran said. "It's great working with a chorus of musicians who have been at this for awhile and know what they are doing."

By the time the concert comes to the stage Saturday, there will have been four formal rehearsals between the high school students and the singers. Cullen said many students showed up for as many as four additional rehearsals to practice with the group. The high school students have been learning the music for the "Requiem" since the fall.

"It's fun," Cullen said. "Some of the students come in and they literally have the score memorized. It's extraordinary -- they leave us in the dust. Others have barely looked at the score, so it's a challenge to bring them along. The kids fall mostly in between. We all tend to learn a little bit better as the concert approaches."

Massiel Hernandez, a senior at Lawrence High, said she has learned a lot from her experience with the group, including how to read music better.

"I really have more of an appreciation of (Mozart's) music," said the 17-year-old. "All the pieces I've heard in the movies -- now I know where they come from."

Rosenweig, who sings with a variety of school and community choruses, liked the New England Classical Singers' work ethic.

"I enjoy being able to pick up the pace and not wait for stragglers," he said. "You can get to a higher level of what makes music, music instead of just working on the mechanics."

If you go

What: New England Classical Singers, conductor David Hodgkins and three local high schools perform Mozart's "Requiem"

When: Saturday at 8 p.m.

Where: Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, North Andover

Tickets: $20, $15 seniors and $5 students. Call (978) 474-6090 or (978) 837-5355