Mexican composers created pieces for local singers

• Music

Brian Korthals/Daily Globe Fourth- and fifth-grade students rehearse for their “Cantare!” concert under the direction of Jeanette Jenson Tuesday morning at Prairie Elementrary in Worthington.

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WORTHINGTON — Lake Okabena and its surrounding prairies inspired Mexican composer Jesus Echevarria last fall as he visited Worthington for the first time and prepared to create new music expressly for District 518 student singers.

Now the finished works are ready to be performed, along with those of fellow Mexican composer Diana Syrse, and will premier at the Cantare! Community Concert at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Auditorium.

“In September, when I started to compose the lyrics, the lake and prairies here caught my attention of course,” Explained Echevarria. “It’s not like Mexico.”

Hence, one of Echevarria’s pieces, which will be sung by 90 fourth- and fifth-graders from Prairie Elementary and Worthington Middle School (WMS), is “La Piraguita de Okabena,” which tells the tale of a young boy crafting a boat with his grandfather that they later joyously paddle on the lake.

A second number performed by that same group, which is comprised of 50 fifth-grade music students of WMS teacher Jeanette Jenson and 40 fourth- and fifth-grade Celebration Chorus singers, led by Prairie Elementary music instructor Jeanne Mammen, is “Volando,” which expresses Echevarria’s thoughts about the immigrant families that have settled in Worthington.

“They came here starting from nothing,” Echevarria said, “transplanting from Europe and from all of these other cultures, and together they contribute to a richness of culture and diversity.”

“Jesus shares a beautiful message in ‘Volando’ of what he sees as he travels from Mexico to Minnesota,” Mammen said. “He conveys the spirit of the immigrant traveling to a new land of prairies and valleys, and of the exhilaration one feels when flying free.”

Celebrating Worthington’s cultural diversity is clearly what sponsor VocalEssence had in mind when arranging, with the aid of a Minnesota Legacy Amendment Arts Learning grant, for District 518 schools to participate in the year-long residency project known as Cantare!

The program, originated by the Twin Cities-based VocalEssence, a nationally respected vocal group whose own 32-voice professional ensemble will also be a key part of Thursday’s performances, has brought Syrse and Echevarria to town three times over the past nine months to meet, work with and compose for local singers.

“Worthington is the first town outside of the Twin Cities to be included in this program,” said Amanda Timmer, the education manager with VocalEssence. “We have two other Mexican composers working with schools in the Twin Cities this year in a similar program.”

“We are excited to be here,” continued Timmer. “Everyone here has been so kind and generous, and it’s been fun.”

Echevarria echoed Timmer’s sentiments.

“The students are doing well, and the teachers here are very good,” he said.

Philip Brunelle, the internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar and performer who founded VocalEssence in 1969, has personally worked with District 518 students ranging from third graders to high schoolers during visits here this year. He will conduct some of Thursday’s numbers, too.

“Trojan Express, our select high school choral group, will get to sing ‘Popourri’ with the VocalEssence ensemble, a nationally recognized professional chorus, and I think this is something the students my not grasp the full impact of until years later,” said Kerry Johnson, Worthington High School (WHS) choir director.

“To have the chance to study so intensely the music of another culture, to perform in concert with a group like VocalEssence, to have a composer work with you over the course of a year and compose pieces just for you — these are once-in-a-lifetime, unique opportunities,” she added.

The Cantare! project has had a wide reach within the district’s music programs. Composers Syrse and Echevarria spent a week in the schools during September and March, and again this week, with Syrse working with and composing for WHS singers and Echevarria mainly at the elementary and middle schools.

“Jesus has been a delight,” Jenson said. “He has always put the kids first and wants his music to work for the singers.”

At Prairie Elementary, Echevarria also composed two songs for the school’s 195 third-graders, approximately 150 of whom will perform Thursday night. Prairie music teachers Mammen, Linda Van Westen and Katie Stafford each interacted with Echevarria in their respective sections of third-grade music classes, which meet three times weekly during each full five-day week.

“They’ve all learned the music, which was composed especially for them in two, three and four parts,” Mammen said. “It’s been a real challenge and adventure for the kids, and it’s really enriched them.

“How many kids get to sing a song composed for them, meet the composer and work with him personally?” Mammen said. “It’s been a huge leap for all of us, including the directors, and it’s definitely been worth our time.”

The Worthington Chamber Singers, the community’s premier adult ensemble, also got in on the Cantare! act. About 16 of the Chamber Singers will premier Echevarria’s “Madrugada” at both of Thursday’s concerts.

“This has pushed the Chamber Singers a lot,” said director Eric Parrish. “The rhythms and metric changes, very indicative of the Mexican music style, are not as familiar to us, and singing in Spanish is extra challenging due to the piece’s speed.

“It’s been something very outside the box for them, but it’s invaluable exposure for our community to see the process of classical music — which is alive, not dead — being composed.”

As momentous as Thursday’s two concerts will be, they are not even the highest point of the Cantare! experience for some of the participants.

On May 24, the combined fourth- and fifth-grade singers will travel to St. Paul to perform their songs at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, better known for hosting the likes of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, operas and other famous performing artists.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Jenson said. “To have had access all year to Dr. Brunelle, to be associated with a quality group like VocalEssence, and then to get to perform at the Ordway — it’s hard to fathom.”

Performing at the recently reopened Memorial Auditorium is in itself a terrific experience and a first for many of the younger student singers, and the chance to demonstrate what they’ve learned for an appreciative hometown crowd will be exciting to them.

“I can’t wait to hear it all put together, with the instrumentation and acoustics at the auditorium,” Jenson said.

Added Mammen, “We hope people will be pleased and surprised to hear what these kids have achieved.”

Summarized Johnson, “It’s been an intense project, and a huge undertaking, really, but what an impressive opportunity and so very worthwhile. We are so lucky to have had this chance.”

The Cantare! Community Concerts are free and open to the public, with tickets available at the Nobles County Integration Collaborative or at the Memorial Auditorium box office (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays) in advance of Thursday’s 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. concerts. However, seating is general admission and will be available on a first-come, first-seated basis.

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