“It makes your soul vibrate”said a spectator of regarding 70 years old, who was in the Metropolitan Cathedral when the students of the lyrical choir of the Gloria Marina National Singing School were rehearsing, while waiting for the 6:00 p.m. mass.
At least six or seven people, all elderly, were the only witnesses to the July 4 rehearsal, not counting the sound engineers and the keyboard player who accompanies the group.
It is experienced a shiver when you walk along the sides of the Cathedral, and in front of the seats there is a group of 30 young people of different ages rehearsing the requiem Mozart, some wear suits and ties while others wear boots and canvas trousers. This July 6, everyone will wear dresses and black shirts.
At 6:00 p.m. on July 6, the Cathedral will open its doors for the population to come and listen to the interpretation of the Mozart’s Requiem for a lyric choir, free of charge.
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This will happen following the cancellation of the first date due to the heavy rains in Guatemala.
The director of the School confirmed that the choir also will be presented at the end of July with two concerts in operatic areas. In August they will have two more performances with the requiem in the company of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Vocal Chamber Orchestra of the Municipality of Guatemala.
Choir of big voices
The lyrical chorus Gloria Marina National Singing School It is not “very numerous,” said Salvador Guillen, director of the institution.
“This is a choir of soloists“It is not a choir of white or vibrating voices,” Guillen added.
According to Maestro Guillen, each of the young people studies in a Singing Baccalaureate to be soloists.
In the three years of operation of the Singing School, This 2024 the first promotion will graduate of lyrical singing graduates.
“Next year (2025) we hope to see the second and first graduates of popular singing bachelor’s degrees,” Guillen said.
Although there were not many, Guillen believes that the quantity and quality of the sound meets the requirements of the requiem.
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“They (the students) are voices that are preparing for opera, and in the choir it corresponds take the individuality of solo voices to match them in their registers“said Maestro Guillén.
When asked regarding the students, Guillen replied that most of them are from the department of Guatemala.
Some live in zones 6 and 18 of the capital city, some move from zone 10, as well as others from Villa Nueva, Mixco and other municipalities.
“Also There are some originally from Quetzaltenango and they attend classes every two weeks,” explained the singing teacher.
Classes are held at the National School of Singing, located on 7th Avenue and 4th Street in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, Monday through Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Rehearsals take place on Thursdays and Fridays from 2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Mass for the dead
Death, final judgment, hope and salvation are some of the emotions that surround the requiemwhich means mass for the dead in Latin.
Guillen shared that the idea of holding a concert of requiem by Mozart originated in February 2023 with the challenge for students to learn it.
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“At first we were expected to only take out certain corals, but we made an effort with the young students,” the director said.
In November 2023, the choir presented the requiem in the company of the National Symphony Orchestra. On July 6, they will be accompanied only by maestro David Texaj on the piano.
“For the historical and liturgical reasons of the placethe stage, the natural house (of requiem) has to be a Cathedral or a church with these characteristics,” commented Salvador Guillén.
“He requiem Mozart’s is one of the most complicated works for choirs that existsprecisely because of the characteristics that Mozart has,” Guillén added.
The director noted that the second piece of the requiemhe Kyrieis a double fugue, “quite complicated”.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 composed the requiembut remained incompleteAnother musician, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, was the one who finalized the composition with some of Mozart’s annotations.
“It is known that the first seven bars of Lacrimosa were the last thing Mozart composed,” explained the director.
High-caliber teachers and masters
“You can’t teach what you don’t have”said Maestro Guillén.
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At the National Choir School, a learning methodology is used where They name “maestrino” to students of higher education who teach other students.
“Arturo Dardón is the tenor teacher, he is in charge of teaching the tenor voices. Linda Castellanos teaches the mezzo-sopranos, Génesis helps us with the sopranos, and Sergio Eduardo with the baritones,” explained Guillén.
Furthermore, the study is carried out with the soloists and separately with the instrumentalists.
Guillén’s work consists of review the vocal register of each studentmake some changes and then perform the ensemble with all the voices.
According to Guillén, students have “high-caliber” teachers, including:
- Leslie Gonzalez
- Roberto Camacho
- Christian Polonsky
- Francisco Guillen
Salvador Guillén commented that for this Saturday’s presentation the management of the Metropolitan Cathedral was done by the Ministry of Culture and Sports; however, “followingwards we have I have looked for all the ways to manage the sound and the lights that we will use to enlighten the young.”
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