The 1789 St. Matthew Passion by C.P.E. Bach, a work of great color and depth, was performed with poise and poignancy by Harvard’s University Choir and Baroque Chamber Orchestra under guest conductor Christopher Hogwood last Friday night.
I found drama and meaning in solo passages through the extraordinary orchestra, whose serene and natural sense of ensemble continually cast light on the work. Alto Suzanne Ehly sang the No. 6 aria with a nice feel for the words, but with uncertainty and incomplete clarity. The strings (modern instruments played with baroque bows), however, were animated, while the period wind instruments, with their characteristic penetrating woodsy sounds, were played adeptly, highlighting the plangent mournfulness of the music. The strings played a central role in the No. 9 bass aria, evoking tragedy and sweetness. Soprano Jean Denton did not project adequately in the No. 19 aria, but there was no end to coloration from the orchestra.
None of the four principal soloists seemed quite comfortable with the rarely performed score. Their singing was competent and occasionally probing, but insufficiently illuminating of the emotional intricacies of the piece, and their diction was often off the mark. The fifth solo part, Pilate, sung by a member of the University Choir, Neil Davidson, was the the most successful dramatically. Davidson’s voice was harshly threatening as Pilate asked Jesus, “Do you not hear how strongly they accuse you?” In a serious tone Pilate asked the crowd to choose either Barrabas or Jesus for release. With firm intent he asked what should be done with Jesus. After the crowd demanded crucifixion, Davidson’s Pilate turned sorrowful as he inquired with remarkable pathos,“But what evil has he done?”
The choir, with its flexible and well-articulated voices, was superb in the intensely solemn “O Jesu Christe, Gottes Sohn” (No. 2) and in the contemplative and beautiful “Ach, ich und meine SÜnden,” which reflects on the consequences of sin. Playing the part of the crowd demanding crucifixion, the choir spelled out the words with bite (aided by unsettling effects produced by the winds), nimbly moving to sighing amazement at the punishment demanded in the choral con stromenti, where reproachful strings accented their sorrow.
The No. 23 chorale, with a theme of the suffering of the innocent, brought yet more intensity, with the chorus lost in mournful expression, and balm somehow produced in the eloquence of the orchestra. The No. 27 chorus, about redemption through suffering, was sung with intimacy: tragic and uplifting at the same time. Rarely can pain be made to feel so sharp and yet so grief-transcendent.
Choirmaster Murray Somerville obviously understands the power of the human voice. He drew the best out of an outstanding group of choristers; he also provided a colorful organ part. Christopher Hogwood brought the whole performance together with a sense of seamlessness, revealing the details while ensuring the logic of the whole.
East High School students visited River Campus on April 26, 2016 to study biology in both virtual and real laboratory settings. Facilitated by the partnership between the Warner School of Education and East High School, the event was part of the biology department’s community outreach efforts to foster local high school students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
The 9th-grade living environment class — taught by alumnus Cebrahil Guler-Carrasquillo ’14 — participated in an evolutionary biology lab to study how fruit flies (Drosophila) adapt to cooler climates. David Goldfarb, Ph.D., a biology professor who organized the visit, said the goals were to “fascinate, motivate, empower, and support the teacher’s curriculum.”
The students started in the VISTA Collaboratory where they went on a virtual specimen-collecting expedition to Iceland, France, and Uganda. Center for Integrated Research Computing staff helped the students navigate the globe using a flight simulator in Google Earth. The curved, high-resolution screen in the lab created such a realistic experience that one student reported feeling airsick during takeoff from the Greater Rochester International Airport.
Students experience a simulated flight during their virtual fly-collecting expedition in the VISTA Collaboratory
“The simulated experience of traveling the globe, made possible through the VISTA Collaboratory, provided an exciting and engaging way to contextualize their learning,” Guler-Carrasquillo said. “They were able to explore the world, feeling the distance between the locations we visit, and actually see the environments that the Drosophila they would work with came from.”
Students discuss the distance and environmental differences between their expedition locations in the VISTA Collaboratory
After collecting virtual specimens, the students studied real fly specimens in a Hutchison Hall lab, assisted by faculty and staff from the Department of Biology. They assessed the cold tolerance of six fly species and discovered that flies that had adapted to cooler climates recovered from cold faster than flies from warmer climates.
Guler-Carrasquillo concluded, “Through this experience, my students were able to develop a stronger understanding of how the conditions of an environment impact the organisms that live within.”
Following the three-hour lab, the students experienced campus life with lunch at Wilson Commons and a tour led by Meridian Society guides.
“We want to normalize college in the minds of these kids,” Goldfarb said. “We want them to develop a sense of belonging on campus. We want them to view University of Rochester faculty, staff, and students as caring and supportive.”
David Goldfarb, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Chair of the Community Outreach Committee, Department of Biology