By Nancy Plum

Not many performing ensembles have the capability to reinvent themselves. Voices Chorale NJ was founded in the late 1980s as a fully professional vocal ensemble, later adding a “Chorale” to include volunteer singers. The chorus has been through some reconfiguration in the past four decades, both in response to economic challenges and to expand their activities, but one thing that has remained consistent is the dedication of its singers. Voices Chorale NJ currently offers an annual concert series as well as educational programs for the community, all overseen by Artistic Director David A. McConnell. The Chorale presented its closing concert of the season this past weekend, featuring vocal soloists and the Berks Sinfonietta in a performance of a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tour de force and a relatively obscure work by a Brazilian contemporary of the Viennese master.

Mozart’s setting of the Requiem stands out as a pinnacle of late 18th-century symphonic choral composition, and even in the pre-technology 1700s, it was clear that the influence of the prodigious composer was felt far and wide. On the other side of the world, sacred music in Brazil at that time was heavily influenced by the mass settings of European composers, especially Mozart. On Saturday afternoon at Princeton’s Trinity Church, Voices Chorale NJ paired Mozart’s poignant Requiem with a setting of the same text by a very under-represented Latin American composer. Born in Rio de Janeiro 11 years after Mozart, José Maurício Nunes García sustained a dual career as musician and priest, composing more than 240 surviving works with another possible 170 which have been lost. Nunes García conducted the Brazilian premiere of Mozart’s Requiem, so the coupling of these two pieces was musicologically appropriate and imaginative. Dating from 1816, Nunes García’s own Requiem is rarely heard on either side of the Atlantic.

Part of the liturgy since the earliest times of the church, the “Requiem” was standardized in the 16th century to include specific prayers. Composers throughout history have adapted these passages, setting verses in different order, omitting some altogether or interpolating other texts “in honor of the dead.” In Saturday afternoon’s performance, Nunes García’s Requiem began in with a dark color and dramatic vocal lines. Parallels to Mozart’s version were immediate, including motivic steals and similar harmonic progressions. The Voices Chorale singers had the rich music well under control, especially coming to life in the fourth movement “Dies Irae.”

In keeping with the Chorale’s long-time focus on musicians of the future, Artistic Director McConnell shared the podium with the ensemble’s Assistant Conductor Makiah Robinson and Training Conductor Lucas Heredia. McConnell led the chorus with experienced assurance and clarity, while Heredia brought drama to the fire-and-brimstone text of “Dies Irae.” Robinson led multiple movements of the Nunes García work, eliciting a well-blended sound from the Chorale and ending this Requiem decisively.

Soloists for this piece were drawn either from the ensemble or its roster of choral scholars, as well as from the professional field. Standout performances were heard from soprano Kymberly Gardner, who delivered the solo “Ingemisco” movement with sensitivity and a clear sound; and soprano Makiah Robinson, showing her skills as singer as well as conductor.

In conducting the Mozart Requiem, McConnell began in a reflective tempo, keeping the phrases moving without over-romanticizing the music. The quick movements were almost too fast at times, but the chorus had been well prepared and diction was well articulated. Throughout both masses, the Voices Chorale members held up well through what was a great deal of singing, with a very professional approach to the task at hand. The solo quartet for the Requiem was well prepared, with soprano Alexandra Thomas and alto Lauren DeLucia showing themselves to be solid and experienced concert artists. Tenor Aaron Lynch sang with a youthful and light voice, while baritone Lucas Heredia well maneuvered some very low registers. McConnell led the “Recordare” solo quartet movement in a graceful tempo and found drama between the men’s and women’s choral parts in the fearsome yet majestic “Rex tremendae.” Accompanying the chorus was a chamber orchestra suitable to the voices and space of the church, with the strings especially maintaining stylistically light bowing.

Saturday afternoon’s event showed the depth of the Voices Chorale NJ organization, with choral scholars and up-and-coming conductors taking the stage alongside chorus and orchestra, and a clearly dedicated group of singers at the ensemble’s core. Like all long-standing ensembles, Voices Chorale has likely had its ups and downs in its 35-year history but has emerged with a very solid commitment to high-quality choral performance and music education.