Soprano Cabell returns to close out '24 Tucson Song Fest
Nicole Cabell is making her second Tucson Desert Song Festival appearance, this time with True Concord Voices & Orchestra to perform Poulenc's "Gloria." Soprano Cabell will perform "Gloria" at the 24 Tucson Song Fest, which she has been performing since the early days of her career. Cabell, who won the 2005 BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff, said she feels comfortable with the music and enjoys hearing the orchestra behind her and choir voices singing the text based on the Gloria of the ordinary mass. Her son, Kristian, who has been studying piano since he was 5 and sang for four years with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus touring ensemble, will sing the boy soprano role in the second movement of "The Boykin." The 14-song cycle was composed in 2020 during a period of racial strife in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.
Published : a month ago by cathalena e. burch, Cathalena E. Burch in Entertainment
“The Boykin is new for me,” Cabell said during a phone call from her Rochester, New York, home last weekend, recalling how she heard it for the first time in a virtual concert during the pandemic. "I thought this is the most gorgeous music."
"Gloria" has been a staple of Cabell's repertoire since the early days of her career. Her first performance of it came a year or so after she won the 2005 BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff competition.
"It sails up into a high part of the voice. The tessitura can be challenging, but, because I’ve sung it so long, I feel really comfy with it," she said. "When I first started singing it, I just loved the music but it was a bit of a technical challenge. Fortunately, along with wrinkles and gray hair, you get more settled in your technique in the years. So for me, at this point, it feels really settled in my voice. I love singing it.”
Cabell said a highlight for her in the Poulenc is hearing the orchestra behind her and the voices of the choir singing the text based on the Gloria of the ordinary mass.
Kristian, who has been studying piano since he was 5 and sang for four years with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus touring ensemble, will sing the boy soprano role in the second movement.
"Since he was really little he could match pitch and he had a good sense of rhythm," Holtan said of his son, who also plays club basketball. "He's kind of a natural musician."
Boykin composed the 14-song cycle in 2020 when the country was dealing with racial strife in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. Classical music was especially shaken by the realization that it had not done enough to support and empower Black classical artists and composers.
“I always have gravitated towards the accessibility of this kind of (folk) melody,” she said ”They work well with my voice and they are interesting for the audience. The audience seems to respond well to those sets.”
Topics: Music