By Rachel Lajunen
The first concert of its 58th season has ended, but the Ottawa Choral Society still has something to sing about — a new musical director for the 135-voice symphonic chorus.
Daniel Gordon, who replaced Iwan Edwards as director three months ago, conducted his first concert with the choir Nov. 8 at St. Matthew’s Church to a full house. The choir had a lot of different music to learn and was hustling right up until the afternoon of the concert, Gordon says.
The program consisted of two styles of music: traditional music made up the first half while the second half involved American spirituals.
One song, “A Hymn to St. Cecilia’s Day,” was composed by the local musical director of St. Matthew’s Church, Matthew Larkin. Gordon chose it because he says it made a great opener for the concert.
The chorus sang without a musical director for over a year after Edwards resigned in 1997 after five years of work. Edwards, who had four other choirs in Montreal, commuted a similar distance to rehearsals and concerts as Gordon does now.
Gordon, who directs three other choirs and teaches at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, N.Y., makes the commute from New York every Wednesday and selected Saturdays for rehearsals. He travels to Ottawa more often when the choir has shows with the National Arts Centre or the Ottawa Symphony.
Gordon says he is happy with his new position but doesn’t see moving to Ottawa as a possibility any time soon.
“In the business that I’m in, you do have to look at opportunities as they present themselves. So you never say never to things like that,” he says.
Bass singer Errol Gray, who has been a choir member for 29 years, says he looks forward to more concerts with Gordon.
“I can see that Dan Gordon is going to be doing something just slightly different, and I think that’s going to be a good thing for the choir,” he says.
His enthusiasm is shared by other choir members like alto Elinore Nelson-Chatillon.
“I enjoy him a lot because he has a new approach, and he’s quite knowledgeable when it comes to the spirituals,” she says.
Retired aviation inspector Gary King, who sings bass, says Gordon was chosen as director because of his charismatic nature.
“It’s ‘wow,’ and he brings it (enthusiasm) to every rehearsal.”
Gordon doesn’t think of himself as a conductor but as a teacher who happens to conduct.
“As long as I keep that perspective, it really helps me because I always think of everything we do as being process-oriented instead of product-oriented. As long as you keep the process in mind, that people are always in a state of becoming, then it’s a lot easier to deal with the good things that happen and the bad things that happen. You just kind of stay on a steady course that way.”
He compares his extra work in Ottawa to those who play with the NAC and “live and die by what they do.” He says those musicians can’t miss notes.
“I just take the pressure off myself and I say, ‘Wait a minute. I’ve been working with a volunteer choir. This is a process.’ Today we did very, very well, but I can also see that there are some things that I would like to see get better.”
The society has a busy season ahead with a performance in December of Handel’s Messiah with the NAC orchestra. Its next concert is March 7, 1999 at 2 p.m. at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi.