The Journal

Media Credit: Robert Wujcik Music professor and director of choir activities Kathryn Bowers served as guest conductor for the St. Louis Chamber Chorus concert "Music of the Fall," on Saturday, Nov. 8. Professor Bowers conducted the first and third motet from Max Reger's "Romantic Drei Motetten," or "Three romantic motets," while the WU Chorale joined the Chamber Chorus on Nov. 3. Above, Bower conducts the WU Chorale.

Voices blended as the collaboration of two choirs sang the intricate works of select composers Sunday, Nov. 8.

Kathryn Smith Bowers, professor of music at Webster University, guest-conducted the concert, titled "Collaborations II," with performances from both the St. Louis Chamber Chorus (SLCC) and the Webster University Chorale at the Community Music School on campus.

Eight songs were performed at "Collaborations II" - two of the songs were sung solely by the Chorale, and a third was performed by SLCC and the Chorale together. Bowers conducted four of the eight songs, and SLCC assistant director Orin Johnson conducted the latter.

Bowers, who plans to retire after this year, was chosen to guest-conduct the concert after Philip Barnes, artistic director for SLCC, decided to leave on a year-long sabbatical and needed a conductor to take his place.

Having known each other for nearly 20 years, Barnes was confident Bowers was up to the task.

"I've always admired (Bowers') work," Barnes said. "I thought she would be an ideal person to take over for me."

The music performed in "Collaborations II" stems from nearly five centuries of composing, from medieval times to current day. Included within the eight songs were German composer Max Reger's "Romantic Drei Motetten" or "Three Romantic Motets." Two of the motets were performed by SLCC, while the SLCC and the Chorale performed the final motet.

With Johnson's help, Bowers not only conducted the third and final performance, but she was initially given the opportunity to choose a piece for both choirs to do together. The third motet was her choice.

"The music was extremely difficult," Bowers said. "The choirs performed very well, and they were very easy to work with."

Bowers said she believes the concert was a good experience for the Chorale, and the choir collaborated well with the SLCC.

Ines de Erausquin, a piano performance major and singer in the Chorale, said the highlight of the evening was the final motet performed by both choirs.

"(It) was a very difficult piece, but it came out perfectly," de Erausquin said. "Obviously Professor Bowers got the message across. I think she did very well."

Both Barnes and de Erausquin agree Bowers' acute ear for detail in the pieces she conducts is what makes her excel at the podium. Barnes said Bowers studies and scrutinizes any musical scores she is given long before rehearsals take place.

"She's extremely good at detail," Barnes said. "She doesn't let things go. She takes apart a composition and sees it in such detail. I really admire that about her."

To be a conductor, Bowers said that one has to know exactly what the singers in a choir need. But at the same time, the conducting has to be expressive.

"You have to have a clear beat (when you're conducting)," Bowers said. "But you have to be sensitive to what the music is trying to express as well."

Bowers said that, after the first performance was over and the intermission followed, a fellow colleague was sitting next to a couple in the audience and the colleague overheard them say, "That college choir was really the highlight of half of the program."

A few days after the concert, Bowers said she was listening to 90.1 KFUL radio station and, before the next song played, the DJ had "some incredibly complimentary things to say about the Chorale, especially the solo quartet."

Though the music was complex and surely difficult to perform, Barnes said he was confident in Bowers' ability to achieve a quality performance.

"You have to be very careful (whom) you invite to stand there in your place," he said. "I think that's really what qualifies her. This was not music that could be done on the fly. Therefore, you need (someone) who really knows what they're doing and who plans ahead."

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