Since Westfield High opened its doors, a few short years ago, it's dazzled the community with how quickly it's excelled in so many areas — academics, athletics, extracurricular.
So it should come as no surprise that this young school is about to tackle something that no other school in Fairfax County is doing — a cantata. Some 180 students in all five Westfield choirs will perform "Carmina Burana," Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 27-28, at 7:30 p.m. in the school auditorium. Tickets are $7 at the door.
Written by German composer and music educator Carl Orff, this choral work contains 26 movements divided into sections, "Springtime," "In the Tavern" and "The Court of Love." Orff used 13th-century poems to illustrate these themes, yet Westfield choral director Jessica Lardin describes it as a "thoroughly compelling work" that resonates with today's audiences.
"IT DISCUSSES concepts that are still relevant to us in modern society — time as a force that acts on our lives, fate, love, nature and merriment-making," she said. "The music itself has a driving, contemporary sound that uplifts the spirit."
Performing under the direction of Lardin and assistant choral director Carole Tomhave will be students in Westfield's Chamber Singers, Bel Canto Ensemble, Concert Choir, Women's Chorus and Spotlight Show Choir. This cantata is a major undertaking for high-school students, and its difficulty is increased by the fact that students will be singing in both Latin and German.
Two pianists and the school's Percussion Ensemble will accompany them. And three adult professional soloists — soprano Kathryn Aaron, baritone Mark Owens and tenor Gerald Kavinski — will sing solos.
"As I look at our program long term, I want my students to be exposed to fine, extended choral works, and that certainly includes a masterwork such as 'Carmina Burana,'" said Lardin. "Due to its challenging nature, Westfield is the first high school in Fairfax County Public Schools to perform this work."
Senior Ashley Kempsell, 17, is a soprano in the Chamber Singers, and she especially likes the beginning of the piece because "it's really shocking — wow!" Her choir sang Vivaldi's "Gloria" last year, so it had some experience with this type of music. Still, she said, "It's been both a joy and a challenge for the whole choir department to get everybody singing the same thing at the same time."
"CARMINA BURANA" is also tough to perform. "It takes an incredible amount of energy and power to pull this off, and you really need to focus," explained Kempsell. "Because the majority of it is forte — strong voice, a huge sound — your whole body needs to be into it to produce the sound you need."
It's also a long piece — an hour and 15 minutes — so that, too, requires endurance. And as if that weren't enough, said Kempsell, "Every movement is different — along with the random changes in languages. For example, one song starts off in Latin and switches, halfway through, to German."
Nonetheless, she really likes this cantata. "It's been a lot of work and we've had some long rehearsals, so it's been taxing," she said. "But I think the end product will be worth it — it's going to be fantastic."
Freshman Josh Burke, 14, a tenor in Concert Choir, agrees. "The parts sound cool because of the way the notes work together," he said. And although "standing up for hours at a time" during the eight or more hours of practice each week can be grueling, he enjoys the whole piece and is happy to be participating with the new friends he's made in choir. Burke believes the audience will like it, too, because "most of it, people haven't heard before, so it'll be new and pretty exciting to them."
An alto with the Spotlight Show Choir, senior Diane Rogers, 17, is also jazzed about the cantata. "I've done a lot of pop and Broadway in show choir, but this is the first classical, major piece of work I've done in a long time," she said. "This is just an entire, new experience because of the passion and the power behind the music."
"It's really rewarding to singers to be part of something as fantastic as this," she continued. "And it's fun to do because every piece is a little different and has a different feeling and story idea to it — and you have to [convey] it through your voice and your expression."
Rogers said it's also a nice change from the types of songs she usually sings in Show Choir, so she's happy to have the opportunity. Choral members have been rehearsing since almost the start of school in September, and Rogers said it's taught her a lot about ensembleship and singing techniques including breathing, diction, vowel sounds and enunciating in a foreign language.
"SINGING AND expressing emotion in a different language is amazing," she said. And she, too, believes the audience will enjoy the cantata: "The music is beautiful, and everyone is putting forth a huge amount of effort."
Sophomore Barry Armbruster, 15, a drama student as well as a bass with the Chamber Singers, also appreciates the challenge. "This is stressful because you have to combine this with memorizing your lines in theater and studying for class," he said. "And we're rehearsing it in class, staying after school and coming in on Saturdays."
Still, he knows the value and magnitude of the undertaking and finds it rewarding to learn so much from the music. "I'm speaking in two languages, it's so long and the music is harder than 'Gloria,'" said Armbruster. "This stretches my ability as a singer and my musicianship — intonation and following the notes in a score."
Besides, he added, "I really enjoy the music, itself. I think Carl Orff is an absolute genius. I like the way his music starts off almost violent — pulsing and powerful — and moves on to a flowing, much more beautiful sound. It fluctuates between different styles, and I like how dynamic it is."
Armbruster said one of the initial hurdles faced by the choral students was mixing the varying maturity levels of everyone's voices and blending them to achieve a uniform sound. But he's proud of the way it's all come together: "It'll be a big event — we're hoping we'll fill the house."
Choir director Lardin is also pleased. "It's hard to organize this many people and get them [to rehearsals] at the same time," she said. "They're busy kids, also involved with theater, sports, etc. I'm really proud of them. This is quite an undertaking for high-schoolers, but I have so many strong male singers this year that I wanted to showcase them."
Professionals were added because the cantata's solos are beyond a teen-ager's skill level. But since these pros are all in their 20s, said Lardin, her students can see that "they're not that far away from being able to sing like them, themselves, in five to eight years. I encourage everyone to come and enjoy this exciting and energetic work."