Porco a May Festival Treasure

May Festival Chorus director Robert Porco

The 135-year-old May Festival, aristocrat of the musical arts in Cincinnati, can boast of many things: a distinguished history, a hall built for it (Music Hall), a splendid chorus and the top flight Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, led since 1979 for the two-week event by May Festival music director James Conlon.

   However, it would be less than what it is today without one man, Robert Porco, director of choruses for the festival since 1989.

    Porco took what was largely a community participation ensemble and honed it into an alert, responsive chorus unlimited in its aspirations and abilities.  The self-effacing Porco, a Steubenville, Ohio native from a family of Italian immigrants, delivers a Rolls Royce of a chorus to Conlon each year, taking his bows at the end of each concert.

   A fine conductor in the mold of his mentor Robert Shaw, Porco leads his own concert at each May Festival and guest conducts the CSO and Pops Orchestras during the year.  He was on the Music Hall podium May 23 for a program of sacred music that drew in his listeners, both musically and spiritually.

   The concert was remarkable for its fineness and precision, kind of like Japanese porcelain, but with expressive dimensions fully in line with the music.

   The opening work, Faure’s Requiem, is a gentle, ethereal work with small concession to “Dies Irae” fire and brimstone.  In contemplation, it seems too intimate for over-sized Music Hall (3,500 seats), but Porco and his forces made it deeply and personally compelling.

   The "Introit" unfolded solemnly on a unison D, darkly colored by the lower strings, the sopranos like a thread of silver before the full-voiced “Exaudi.”  Baritone soloist Donnie Ray Albert’s “Hostias” was warm, but light before the sublime choral “Amen,” shaped to otherworldly perfection by Porco.

   Violins and harp lit up the “Sanctus” over undulating figures in the violas followed by a strong, affirmative “Hosanna in excelsis.”  Soprano Yulia van Doren displayed the perfect lyric voice in “Pie Jesu,” letting it bloom a bit on the repeat, but without over ripeness.  Ravishing may not be too strong a word for the “Agnus Dei,” with its soaring viola melody and dramatic repeat of the opening “Requiem.”

   Albert gave his voice a slight edge in the “Libera me,” rolling his R on “tremenda” before the chorus’ cautionary “Die Irae” and the final “Libera Me,” softly underscored by Albert.  Faure’s “In Paradisum” was just that, with its halo of strings, choral fullness on “ Jerusalem” and soft organ arpeggios (by Heather MacPhail).

   The Chorus was joined by the May Festival Youth Chorus (directed by James Bagwell) and a reduced CSO in a brisk, bright and wonderfully baroque “Gloria” by Vivaldi after intermission.  MacPhail moved agilely between portative organ and harpsichord here, and the CSO piccolo trumpeters shone.  Vocal soloists were sopranos van Doren and Maghan Stewart and mezzo-soprano Julie Anne Miller.

   The “Gloria” (and its repeat before the closing fugue) had extra spring and bounce, the choruses waxed full and rich in “In terra pax” and van Doren and Stewart shared a bright “Laudamus Te.”  CSO oboist Lon Bussell stood for his important solo with Stewart in “Domine Deus, Rex coelestis.”  It was Miller’s turn in “Domine Deus, Agnus Dei,” a darker movement with an affecting cello solo by CSO principal cellist Eric Kim, and in the crisp “Qui sedes.”  

   Ensemble, both within the CSO and with the choruses, was a bit shaky in the rapid, tripping “Domine Fili unigenite” (where the strings utilized hooked bowing on the dotted rhythms).  This was the only flaw in an otherwise superlative performance capped by the chorus’ nimble “Cum Sanctu Spiritu.”

   Another “Gloria” closed the evening, J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 191, “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” with tenor John Aler, Stewart, the May Festival Chorus and reduced CSO.  It was a May Festival premiere, opening with a zesty “Gloria” followed by a smooth caressing “Et in terra pax.”

   CSO flutist Jasmine Choi followed Bussell’s example (standing) in the gorgeous “Gloria Patri,” a gentle, wafting duet for Aler and Stewart over muted violins and pizzicato cello.  Choral textures were full and rich in the final “Sicut erat in principio.” which drew warm, repeated applause from the audience.

   Conlons leads the final concert of the 2008 May Festival at 8 p.m. tonight with a multi-media presentation of Berlioz’ “Romeo and Juliet” featuring Aler, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, baritone Albert, the May Festival Chorus and the CSO.