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Last spring, 28 members of the Chorale were given a rare
opportunity for national exposure on television. Composer John
Debney, who wrote the score for “The Passion of the Christ”, was
asked to perform music from the movie on “The Tonight Show”. He
asked the orchestrator, Mike Watts, if
he knew of a good choir in the local area to perform. Mike suggested
Biola, and upon the agreement of the Chorale, the whirlwind event
began, with only 48 hours to make it all come together. The portion
of music John Debney chose needed to be rearranged for the show’s
time constraints and was given to the singers by fax just five
minutes before going into approximately five hours of rehearsal,
during which changes to the score were coming via cell phone. Lisbeth
Scott, soloist from the sound track and for the show, rehearsed
with the ensemble and helped with Aramaic pronunciation, teaching
it to director Shawna Stewart by cell phone on the way to the rehearsal.
On March 11th, NBC sent a charter bus to transport the students
to the studio, where they spent the day in rehearsal, then dress rehearsal on the set, and
finally the performance. Ms. Stewart reported that, “It
was an enormous success with John Debney saying that he would like
to do this with us again in the future!”
Mr. Debney made good on his intent for future collaboration, as Biola
was approached again to perform the music of “The Passion” on
November 17th for The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Magazine Film
and TV Music Conference. 10 singers were selected from the previous
performance to sing the same music, along with four additional shorter
pieces from the sound track. Again, Mike Watts and John and Lola
Debney expressed their thanks for the Chorale’s excellent work. When
leaving, Mr. Watts said that he hoped more things would be coming
down the pipeline for Biola in the near future. |
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 Conservatory CD's
are available through the Conservatory Office by calling (562) 903-4892. The recordings reflect
the diversity of talent and creativity within the Conservatory. |
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