Pacific Mozart Ensemble

Et In Arcadia Ego... The Founding of PME
by Larry Rose, still a member!

Dick Grant, Tom Mugglestone, and I (easy to remember- Tom, Dick and Larry) and Lindsay Laton and Gwen Pittman met at Laval's Beer Emporium on North Campus like a cell of revolutionaries at the Relais de St Antoine, or Lenin and his buddies in Paris, or Sam Adams at the Liberty Tree Tavern. We declared that our new chorus shall be better, that is, more fun for the audience and the performers, than anyone else's chorus...it shall be open to theater and dance and small group work, open, open... a feeling of repertory, an ensemble, featuring Mozart, the sublime Master of Pool and Babes and the cycle of fifths and suspended sixths, the master of form and energy within form, with soloists from inside the group, kept small and nimble but large enough, just large enough to do the great works... .. but what about a name??? That will come later. The question now is what were the events that led up to that fateful pitcher or three?

Recent events provide part of the answer. Last weekend (March 24, 2007) I saw Dennis and Marsha Johnson in the audience after the Strauss concert. Seeing their smiles and feeling their warmth of appreciation for the music and our friendship, it came to me that this is exactly and wonderfully what PME is about --- after 27 years of PME and after thirty-three years of knowing Dennis and Marsha --- this is what keeps the music exciting for me. The people made PME what it was and still is today. Marsha and Dennis were there at the beginning, so telling the story of the founding of PME is important to me.

An announcement of a concert of the Mozart "Solemn Vespers" and a Bach cantata at the church down the block on Gough appeared in the pink sheets in the Fall of 1974. Paying my three dollars, I sat in the pews and was glad to hear that music again. New to San Francisco, I asked about joining the chorus of about seventy and was glad to hear that they needed tenors ( hello!!!!) and that they pretty much took anyone into the San Francisco Bach Choir. Eventually becoming tenor section leader, I sat in a quad of four with Dick Grant, Jeannie Young and Linda May Robertson Groobin, the other section leaders. Also in Bach Choir were Gretchen Grant, Gretchen Nicholson, Barbara McKenna Pattie, Josie Diaz (a year earlier) and Janet Corah. Dennis was the accompanist and organist.

Linda May drafted me into the Presidio Protestant Post Chapel Choir as tenor soloist in 1976. She was the soprano soloist and Marsha Haner (later Johnson), was part time conductor. Young followed as mezzo soloist and then, needing a new director, we hired Dick to be the conductor. Then Dick hired Dennis to be our organist (Dennis met Marsha!). We were in the Army now and served the retired and active members of the Presidio's United States Sixth Army and Letterman Hospital with weekly music at the services and with special functions on parade and in the cemetery and at the hospital. We had the services of the Sixth U.S. Army Band, as well as a very nice budget for hiring instrumentalists for special concerts and holiday performances. The Post Chapel itself was an ideal little bandbox in which to sing with perfect acoustics and with a very supportive chaplain staff. We were in Arcadia in one of the most beautiful settings in the world with our small whitewashed Mexican colonial church overlooking the Bay, the Marin Headlands and the Golden Gate. We invited many members of the Bach Choir and later PME members to come sing with us there over the nine years of my tenure. Larry Moore, Tom and Linsay (now Mugglestone), Peter Sly, Tony Antolini, Gretchen Grant, Nile Norton, Gretchen Nicholson, Trixie Donaldson, Betsy Bell Taylor, Dalene Drake, Janet Rensel , Barbara Pattie, and many others who would later form the nucleus of PME would be found at the Post Chapel in the Seventies and early Eighties. Bob Hawkins, who grew up on the Presidio since his dad was chief ranger of what would later be the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, was our beautiful Bass/Baritone.

So there we were in semi-music-heaven with four fine soloists, a talented and adventurous conductor, the nucleus of a potentially excellent chorus, a great musician on keyboards, the 6th US Army Band at our disposal, and a nice budget for music and guest artists. And then came Peter with a proposal, an invitation, to join a little elite chorus in Berkeley, the former select chorus of the old Oakland Symphony run by Joe Liebling and calling itself the Berkeley Chorus Pro Musica. I guess they meant that they were in favor of music, that they weren't against it. (Contra Musica?). Peter was one of Dick's Stanford friends along with Tony, Nile, Gretchen G, Chuck Alston and others who were at Stanford at the same time and who were involved in music there. So Peter was trusted. So Dick and I joined. There we found Tom and Lindsay. But the leadership group was a group of really poor musicians --- that is, they did not have musical souls. Maybe they sang and read, but it soon became obvious that music to them was a closed alley, a participant sport that if it were appealing to an audience it would be nice, but not important- and strictly an accident. But that was okay, because their audiences averaged about ten including the director's landlady who said she would come if he drove her. Let me tell you about "Der Staub des Tod!" Mendelssohn was so enamored with Bach that he attempted a few pieces in the style of Bach, one of which was the "Dust of Death" in cantata style. Interesting. An interesting music history note, yes? Well, Berkeley Chorus Pro Musica chose this piece as the central work for its Christmas Concert. ( Here we go a-wassailing amongst the dust of death....la la la") A few weeks later Dick received a knock on his door from "The Committee" telling him that since he joined there was "too much jocularity in the bass section". We all knew it was time to get radical and leave and finally found our own chorus. And so a few of us had a beer at Laval's.

To be continued....

Technorati : Berkeley Chorus Pro Musica, Laval's, Mozart, The Pacific Mozart Ensemble, solemn Vespers

Et In Arcadia Ego... The Founding of PME .... continued....
by Larry Rose

Building the chorus followed soon. We made a list of singers to invite. Then two weeks later we met with those who responded at my place in SF, 9 Nebraska Street off Cortland, in Bernal Heights, our first official meeting. We voiced our thoughts and we agreed on Monday nights for rehearsals, and Dick found us a place, the new Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley. Too numerous to remember and too forgettable to recount, names for our new choral thing came flying. My mom suggested, in light of our new venue, "The Morgan Tabernacle Choir". Tom, Dick and I looked at each other and just for a brief instant... but, no. Finally the name you have all come to know and love was fleshed out and argued and adopted. "Pacific" gave us a place, "Mozart" showed our love for the tradition of his genius and nimbleness, even playfulness, and "Ensemble " gave voice to our uniqueness and adaptability to all forms of music-based stage work. And through the years, in spite of many attempts to change it, it has remained, and has served us well. One of the ways it served us was to provide an opening line for numerous reviewers, such as "The Pacific Mozart Ensemble didn't do any Mozart last night. Instead it was a program of Adams, Part, Brubeck, Andy and John Williams, M. Monk, Ligeti, Brahms, Russian Liturgies, The Hi-Los, Sufjan Stevens, etc etc." You get it. It was a strange and quirky name that got noticed and under which we have become well-known for our accomplishments.

Sunday, June 28, 1980, 5 P.M.--- Julia Morgan Centre for the Performing Arts, College Avenue, Berkeley, suggested donation $3.50. Bach Cantata #106, "Gottes Zeit ist der allerbeste Zeit"; Songs by John Dowland; Mozart "Vesperae Solennes de Confessore" K.339---

The chorus was dressed in afternoon street clothes, jacket and tie for the men, skirts, blouses for the women. I took my usual position, as I would for the next several years, out front greeting and counting the house, answering questions, helping with programs. "Dick, there's a guy here who wants to know if we're using recorders or flutes. I told him flutes for the Bach and now he wants his money back." Jerk alert!!! We gave him his money back. I got first shot at a solo with "Ach Herr, lehre uns bedenken." The Bach went beautifully with Dick conducting the twenty-four of us. The Dowland was prepared and conducted by Tom Mugglestone and it was excellent madrigali a cappella. The Mozart had Dick conducting again and it was terrific for all of us and became, as always, a touchstone, and a signal piece for PME.

For a first effort, and with flutes not recorders, we all felt very good about our debut. Twenty-six years later, and at least four more concert sets which featured the Mozart Vespers including bringing it with us to Parisat L'Eglise de St. Louis en L'Ile , we still feel very good. PME is a great memory machine, and I hope it continues to make memories for everyone from our newest to oldest members. For those of you who don't know them, I would love to introduce you to Dennis and Marsha Johnson at our next show.

-Larry Rose
April, 2007

Technorati : The Pacific Mozart Ensemble

PME just had another truly "feel-good" experience last Friday, March 30th, nineteen of us took the morning off work to present our "Story of Freedom" Spirituals concert to another local school, the Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley. We sang to 225 students in the second through fifth grades plus a number of faculty and staff, and one Mid-Kindergarten class, since one of them, 4 year old Camille, is the daughter of PME member Christine Grisot d'Allancé, and she wanted to see her mom sing. Our son Alex Stenzel (2nd grade) was really looking forward to this concert too, as he is already a great fan of this music from listening to our CD over and over again.

As usual, Music Director Lynne gave wonderful, short, interesting educational intros to each of the songs, occasionally asking questions of the children, who always responded enthusiatically. One of the best reactions (and a great serendipity!) was when she asked if anyone was familar with the Underground Railroad. A number of students all over raised hands, but the entire back section of the audience almost whooped and raised hands en masse--we learned afterwards that they had just finished an entire multi-week course of study about the Civil War, slavery, the Underground Railroad! Was our timing perfect, or what? And the teacher of that 3rd grade class was Mary Havemann, who taught both of Kathie Longinotti's children way back in the early days of EB; she and Kathie had a nice homecoming, not having seen each other for awhile. Another great reaction was when Lynne announced the last song we would do, "Battle of Jericho." This was already an obvious favorite with a number of kids in the audience, as more cheers accompanied raised fists going "Yes!" (Alex and his buddy Dao were among the loudest cheering!)

The PME & EB connections go back to the beginning of time: PME's founder and Artistic Director Dick Grant along with his wife Gretchen were among the five founding families of EB in 1977, their kids Phyllis and Ben were some of the very first-ever EB students, Mindy & Jeremy Longinotti joining them soon after. Gretchen of course has sung with PME since the beginning (1980), & Ben for many years too [he is on leave right now, teaching music in the south bay--hey Ben, maybe we should bring the show down to you now!] And Phyllis Grant & Matthew Ross's little daughter Isabel Ross will be joining EB's Pre-Kindergarten in fall of 2007, along with Bryan & Kymie Matheson's son Kames. Maybe some day they will sing in PME too, along with Don Kelly & Susan Getman's Devon (EB 8th grade) and Jordan (2006 alumnus). Dick and Gretchen, you started some great organizations.....!

One thing for sure is, it's always a delight to sing and perform for school children--they opened their faces, hearts and minds to the stories behind the songs that Lynne told them: that "Amazing Grace" was written by a former slave ship owner who renounced his connection to the slave trade--and that "Steal Away" was the secret signal via song that one would be escaping that night on the Underground Railroad. Later that day when I picked Alex up after school, several adults and kids too, came up to me and said how much they really really liked the concert. I know it was our pleasure too, we had all gotten a real high again, from the experience of reaching so many children at once, with these powerfully moving songs.

Amelie Mel de Fontenay & John Stenzel

Technorati : Ecole Bilingue, Story of Freedom, Underground Railroad

The a cappella Jazz and Pop concert set is unique in many ways. It is the only program PME does every year, the first two weekends in June. Although the music is different each year, the format has not changed in over two decades.

By format I don't just mean the concert itself, which usually consists of about 25 tunes performed by groups of 2 to 50 singers. I also mean the entire process of finding music, arranging it, organizing small groups to rehearse, and auditioning each tune before a committee of nine of our peers. I have not heard of any other organization that prepares a concert this way. It can be very time-consuming and frustrating for our members, especially for the tunes that do not make the cut during auditions. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, it is the worst way to do it, except for all the others ways we have tried. We continue do this because the J&P concerts are almost always our most popular events and consistently draw the biggest and most enthusiastic audiences.

A few ambitious or far-sighted PMErs start thinking about the J&P concert early in the season, but the main push begins about the time the spring concert is finishing up. Since I am one of the arrangers, I get requests from many folks to arrange tunes they want to do. Often they give me a CD with several songs and ask me which one(s) I think I could make into an a cappella chart. I create 10-15 charts each year and I also sing in about that number of small groups during the two months leading up to audition night. Meanwhile we need to find and arrange tunes for the entire ensemble - one for all the women, one for all the men, and 2 or more for the mixed chorus.

Getting 4 or 8 or 15 busy people together for 3 or 4 rehearsals outside the regular Monday night PME rehearsals is a challenge. Coordinating multiple groups so that they don't conflict or so that groups with some of the same people can rehearse the same night at the same location adds to the complexity. Then we have to schedule the audtions. This year it will take about 4 hours to hear all the tunes being preared - there are 44. We start at 6:15 and finish at 10:00. Some working folk, especially those from distant cities, cannot be get to Berkeley by 6:15, so their tunes must audition later in the evening.

The auditions will be done (we hope) by 10:00, although the collapse of the MacArthur Maze may impact this timing. Then the audition committee stays up for another 2-3 hours making the difficult choice of what tunes get into the show. The following morning the committee members call the designated contact for each group letting them know the results. We find email to be too impersonal for this, since there will be both good and bad news for people.

Next weekend, the tunes that pass auditions will go through stage 2 - the retreat. The entire chorus goes to a lovely vacation spot and spends at least one whole day being coached by two highly-esteemed directors. Each small group tune gets 15 minutes with each coach. Scheduling these sessions is much more of a challenge than the auditions, since we want to have the two coaches working simultaneously, which requires finding multiple pairs of small groups with no members in common. By the end of the retreat day we are ready to party and hang out on the beach.

I will do some more blogging after the auditions with some specific examples of how tunes progressed through the process and how they fared in the end. The retreat is sure to be blog-worthy, too.

Jim Hale