It’s been a busy year for the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. Longtime music director Anne Tomlinson stepped down and Fernando Malvar-Ruiz was named as her replacement. And then there was a music sensation taking the world by storm by the name of Billie Eilish who recently played Coachella. Eilish is a former member of the Chorus.
Los Angeles Children’s Chorus was founded 33 years ago. They have long been known for their Bel Canto style of singing which uses smooth phrasing and big tones. The chorus is made up of boys and girls ranging in ages from 6-18. They have performed around the world and have their spring concerts coming up on May 5th and 12th at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.
So how do you replace a widely-beloved music director and deal with one of their own becoming a big star? These are just a couple things I talked about with Malvar-Ruiz when we spoke recently as he was in the midst of preparing the chorus for their concerts which are entitled “I Raise My Voice.”
You are about nine months in. What have the singers taught you about themselves and the chorus?
The way they have accepted a new person, a new way to work and a new approach to making music wholeheartedly and without questions is an amazing lesson. The degree to which they have done this has surpassed my expectations and that was a lesson in and of itself. Working with them is truly the joy of my job and the day of rehearsals is my favorite day of the week.
You’ve worked with many different ensembles (including The American Boychoir, The World’s Children Choir and Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia). The LA Children’s Chorus is widely acclaimed. What is your goal in making the group better?
The approach is not to make it better. The approach is to make it more diverse. It’s bringing repertoire they were not performing before and using different techniques. The choir is well-known for bel canto sound – which is the basis and fundamentals of 70% of choral music literature. The challenge is how can we perform music from say South Africa where bel canto doesn’t apply. Or you want to perform music from Southeast Asia or South America. How do we adapt our vocal technique to perform that music? Choral music is as diverse as the world is.
Is making the chorus itself as diverse as possible part of your goals?
You hit the nail on the head. One of the things that attracted me to this position and this town is the amazing cultural diversity. I see as one of my charges to make LA Children’s Chorus look and sound like Los Angeles.
When programming a concert, what is your priority and how did this Spring concert get put together?
My first priority is how is this music going to enrich the lives of the choristers. I’m here to serve them. What is it about this piece that will make them better artists and people. Then I try to see how it fits into a general idea for the concert. I do not believe they should be just a collection of songs. They should be experiences.
The title of these concerts, I Raise My Voice, seems like it could serve as a call to action in today’s divisive environment. Is there a subtext to both the title and the program?
It goes to that children do raise their voices in song. But they have opinions and sophisticated views of the world. It’s giving them a chance to do that. Interspersed within the songs are going to be quotes relevant to the children. I really try to avoid political subtext of any point.
That said, art is an expression of society and sometimes the art is a reaction to the society and sometimes it is a continuation of where society is going. If anything, the voices of children are the voices for hope and the voices for optimism.
Billie Eilish was a member of the LA Children’s Chorus since the age of 8. Does she serve as inspiration for members of the chorus? Or does setting her up as an example lead to broken dreams?
We are very proud of Billie Eilish’s membership in the choir. I haven’t met her yet. I would love for her to visit the choir and spend some time with us in rehearsal. I think we have to separate the person that attended the choir with the artist that is performing right now. She is a product of the music education she got at LA Children’s Chorus which allows her to do everything she’s doing.
I don’t think the reason to join us is so you can become Billie Eilish. You join because the experiences here are transformational. We are going to help you become a better artist, a better person through the interactions between the choristers and ensembles when we perform, the concerts and the touring. It helps you round your artistry and person. If you haven’t had the talent and breaks she’s had, maybe you could be Billie Eilish, but that should never be the goal.
Arts education has taken a beating from the federal government since the Reagan administration. If you were to use your own experience to explain the value of arts education to the most staunchly anti-arts education politician, what would you tell him or her?
I would say that you cannot explain humankind without art. And that a whole person is formed by different elements. Sensitivity to arts, art as an expression of humanity, is essential. We can say that scientific studies say that students who do music do better in schools. But that’s trying to justify art from one perspective. Art justifies itself. When you have an example of a human being that hasn’t been or has chosen to to be exposed to art – and we can see that at the highest level of society – we can see that empathy is not there. Donald Trump would be a much better person if he had been exposed to the arts.
For tickets go here.
Main image of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus by Jamie Pham.
Photo of Billie Eilish by Justin Higuchi/Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Please note this image has been cropped to fit a 16×9 aspect ratio.