For the third year running, CheneryAuditorium will put on Lamb of God - an oratorio about the final days in the life of Jesus Christ. It mixes choral and orchestral music with passages from the Bible. Last year more than 200 performers filled the stage with members of local orchestras as well as Southwest Michigan churches.
Jen Randall directs the cast. She says though it’s a religious event, it’s really about bringing the Christian denominations together. People that not only go to separate churches, but may come from very different walks of life.
“The very first couple of rehearsals you saw people kind of still hang in pockets and not necessarily…they spoke with each other, but they didn’t really know each other. But then, over the last few years, we have people who come back who embrace that would’ve never known each other had it not been for the opportunity to rehearse shoulder to shoulder,” she says.
At first listen, the oratorio seems pretty straightforward - stories about the last days of Christ with music to go along with it. But composer Rob Gardner packed it with a few surprises.
First of all, some of the songs are in Aramaic - the ancient language that Jesus supposedly spoke.
“The English words didn’t quite create the feeling that he was looking for as some of these very tender pieces come together,” says Randall.
Also, the part of Jesus is not performed by a vocalist, but by a single cello. This year’s cellist is Carol Bullock Russell of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Randall says having a cello as the voice of Christ has an interesting effect on the music.
“It’s hard to describe. It’s just very very peaceful and very…you know it’s not distracting,” says Randall.
She says she would be too focused on how the vocalist was performing the role to enjoy the music.
“If it wouldn’t be in alignment with what I was thinking or who I was thinking Christ was, I think that it wouldn’t quite work. But the solo cello and that being Carol - she does such a beautiful job - and it just really represents that voice and you can hear it as an undertone throughout the entire piece,” says Randall.
Though Randall has directed Lamb of God in Kalamazoo for three years, she’s probably better known as the co-founder and CEO of Maestro software. Randall says she doesn’t have any classical training, but she was determined to recreate Lamb of God in Kalamazoo.
“I played a few instruments in high school and also conducted as a drum major in high school. And then in church I have directed a few choirs, although I am not a vocalist. I don’t sing. And so I know the first year in particular it was a huge act of faith. I felt that not only was it meant to be here in Kalamazoo but I was supposed to direct it.”
With the help of Portage Northern band teacher Josh Bartz and the programs concert mistress, Abigail Schubkegel-Weener, Randall says she was able to pull the show together.
Randall says there’s many reasons to come to the show - for the religious experience, for the community. She says it’s also just beautiful music.
“Even this morning I was listening to Mother Mary who sang at our dress rehearsal last night - there was a recording that was taken. And I just sat and bawled as I listened to it this morning because it so lovely," she explains.
Chenery Auditorium will put on the oratorio Lamb of God March 11th and 12th at 8 p.m.
