On Sunday, June 17, in Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall Distinguished Concerts International New York City (DCINY) extended their invitation to Kevin McBeth and the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus to participate in a performance of Mark Hayes’ Spirit Suite 1 and 2 as well as the Carnegie Hall Premiere of his newest piece, Spirit Suite 3, on the DCINY Concert Series in New York City.
“This particular concert was special for a lot of reasons,” conductor Kevin McBeth said. “It was structured a lot like a concert done many years ago Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman – who are two iconic black American singers who’ve performed many times at Carnegie Hall and all over the world. That concert was put together as a concert of spirituals that featured Battle and Norman with chorus and orchestra doing concert versions of spirituals. It was an iconic concert for a lot of reasons with those arrangements.”
The St. Louis Symphony, after just winning another Grammy Award last year, joined with other choristers to form the Distinguished Concerts Singers International, a choir of distinction.
“Automatically we are set apart by sheer musicianship, and spending time with that orchestra and working with the symphony here, one of the things that I continue to say is that I don’t know if there’s anything that the St. Louis Symphony can’t do,” McBeth said.
DCINY guest conductors, Kevin McBeth and Andy Waggoner, led the performance and served as clinicians for the residency.
“My job as a conductor is to help the singers, orchestra, and soloist understand the intentions of the composer and the intentions of the arranger,” McBeth said. “So, a good bit of my work is interpretive. What I love about being able to do that is to build kind of a musical community while we are doing it. It’s a special place for me to be, and to kind of help shepherd that.”
Just this year McBeth has conducted two concerts with the orchestra, a concert with Boyz II Men and a concert with Amos Lee.
The singers spent approximately nine to10 hours in rehearsals over the five-day residency. Not all of the time was spent in rehearsals, since there’s so much history and culture to see in New York City.
There were five groups from St. Louis that participated in this concert at Carnegie. There were more than 200 singers representing the city. The other groups outside of the two that McBeth conducted participating were the choir from Concord Trinity United Methodist Church, Collinsville Corral, and the St. Louis County Community Chorus.
“My friend Andy Waggoner and three of his choruses from St. Louis also joined us so it was a special time,” McBeth said. “We had a chance to make some great music and also make some great friends. It was great to represent St. Louis in such a wonderful way, and I think it continues to help audiences understand what a great musical scene we have going on here in St. Louis. I think it continues to surprise people when they know of that. To continue to foster that relationship made it really special for us.”
What many people do not know is that the St. Louis Symphony is one of the only orchestras with three resident choruses by having the symphony chorus, the IN UNISON chorus, and the holiday festival chorus.
Founded by Iris Derke and Jonathan Griffith, Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) is the leading producer of dynamically charged musical excellence. With its concert experiences in renowned venues, educational programs, and its global community of artists and audiences, DCINY changes lives through the power of performance.
Those interested in auditioning for St. Louis Symphony’s IN UNISON chorus are asked to visit https://www.slso.org/ or call 314-533-2500.
Ashley Jones is an Emma Bowen Foundation editorial intern at The St. Louis American, supported by a grant from the Democracy Fund.
