Wide-eyed high schoolers mingled with world-class talent recently at New York's Carnegie Hall. Since 1991, professional choruses have attended a week of master workshops, rehearsing a major choral work to be performed for the public at the famed music hall.
从1991年以来，纽约卡内基音乐厅威尔音乐学院经常邀请一些专业合唱团开办为期一周的大师班，通常会排练一部重要的合唱作品，然后在著名的卡内基音乐厅对公众演出。
This year was a bit different. In order to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Carnegie Hall Professional Choral Workshop imported two top-notch high school choruses from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, to mix with the pros. Together, they all performed the monumental "Requiem" by 19th century Romantic composer Hector Berlioz.
今年，卡内基音乐厅合唱大师班为庆祝成立20周年，特别邀请了美国两个一流的高中合唱团和专业合唱团一起演出。他们排演了19世纪浪漫派作曲家柏辽兹著名的弥撒曲。
Proud parents, loved ones and classic music lovers filled Carnegie Hall's gold-and-ivory auditorium to listen to the performance by the two high school choruses - along with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
不久前的一个星期天，富丽堂皇的卡内基音乐厅挤满了骄傲的父母和古典音乐爱好者。两个著名的高中合唱团和亚特兰大交响乐团的室内合唱团以及圣鲁克乐队，联袂为观众们带来柏辽兹的《安魂曲》。
The nearly 200 voices represented a slightly scaled-down version of the choir Berlioz envisioned for the "Requiem," which he composed for 210 voices, 190 instrumentalists, and four offstage brass and timpani orchestras.
他说，合唱团的大约200名团员比柏辽兹创作《安魂曲》时设计的规模要小一点。当初柏辽兹设想的是210名合唱团成员，190名器乐演奏员，以及不少于四支在舞台下的铜管乐和定音鼓乐队。
"He lived in a heightened sense of reality at all times,” says choral conductor Norman Mackenzie, who shepherded the choruses through the massive work. “He was nothing if not a poster child for the Romantic Period. He wanted everything to be bigger, scarier, more dramatic. And so Berlioz's "Requiem" is a Mount Everest of challenges."
麦肯锡说：“柏辽兹一辈子都生活在高度敏感的现实世界中。他是浪漫主义时期的典型代表。他希望所有作品气派更大、更惊悚、更富戏剧性等等。因此，《安魂曲》是各种挑战中的珠穆朗玛峰。”
The nearly 30 hours of rehearsal leading up to the performance were a bit of risk for Mackenzie and conductor Robert Spano, whose Orchestra of St. Luke’s accompanied the singers. Mackenzie says both agreed that the Berlioz "Requiem" would be an epic challenge even for mature choristers.
这次的演出总共只排练了将近50小时，对麦肯锡和为合唱团伴奏的圣鲁克乐队指挥罗伯特·斯帕诺来说，这比较悬。麦肯锡表示，他和斯帕诺都认为，柏辽兹的《安魂曲》哪怕对专业合唱团来说都是重大的挑战。
"But it’s a bigger issue with kids because their voices aren’t fully formed yet. But we finally decided it was such an enormous challenge, and was so exciting, and could possibly be so magical if it worked, that we just had to do it."
他说：“对孩子们来说，更大的问题是他们还没有变好声。斯帕诺和我为这个问题探讨了很长时间。不过最终我们决定，这是一个巨大的挑战，让人激动万分，如果我们能够做到，这将是一个奇迹。当然，演出的地方必须是卡内基音乐厅。”
Halfway through rehearsal week, it was the young people's inner experience as much as their singing that most inspired Mackenzie. "People’s lives are being changed. There is no doubt about it,” he says. “Great art can do that.”
不过，在排练过半的时候，孩子们的内心感受以及他们的演唱对麦肯锡带来了很大的启发。麦肯锡说：“人们的生活正在发生改变，这是毫无疑问的。伟大的艺术品可以帮助做到这一切。”
He was especially gratified to share art’s epiphanies with young people, “who perhaps had never experienced that before. You see the excitement and the revelation on their faces."
“当我们看到这些以前从来没有过这种经历的年轻人有机会参与演出，当我们看到他们脸上兴奋的表情，那是最让人激动的事情了。”
Berlioz was inspired to write his mass for the dead after a visit to the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Basilica. Sixteen-year-old Mikayla Lati is with the Concorde Vocal Ensemble of the York County Senior Honors Choir of Pennsylvania. She says singing the "Requiem" aroused feelings and ideas about life she has discovered during her Catholic upbringing.
16岁的米凯拉·拉提是来自宾夕法尼亚州的一个资深合唱团员。她说，她在天主教家庭中长大，演唱《安魂曲》唤醒了她在成长过程中的一些感觉和想法。
"From the high points to the lows points, the louds and the softs, someday you were born and you are going to die and and everything in between, I just see God in there.”
“从人生得意到人生低谷再到人生挫折时，每个人出生、老死、以及介于生死之间的生活，我看到上帝一直和我们在一起。”
The shared language of music excited Hunter Coultarp, who sings with the Capital Pride of Leesville Road High School in North Carolina. "Having young people be able to communicate through music is wonderful,” he says. “You don’t lose faith in a generation if we are all working for a common purpose through music."
亨特·库尔塔是北卡罗来纳州一个高中合唱团里低声部的团员。他非常激动能够用音乐这种共同语言来和别人交流。他说：“能够通过音乐来和跟我的同龄人交流真是太棒了。如果我们能够通过音乐来实现一个共同的目标，我们就不会对这代人失去信心。”
It relieved professional chorister Christopher Nemec to see the young people bring dedication and skill to the chorus, an art form many have feared may be dying out. "They bring in a lot of energy. And that’s what I get from them. and they are very, very well rehearsed.”
专业合唱团员马乔里·约翰斯顿和克里斯托弗·涅梅茨非常开心看到这些年轻人热爱合唱，而且掌握了合唱技巧。他们一直担心，合唱这种演唱形式可能正在消亡。涅梅茨说：“他们带来了很多活力。他们对合唱充满激情，他们排练得非常好。他们马上就融进来了。”
A colleague, Marjorie Johnston adds, "It’s encouraging to think that if we can just keep them engaged, choral music will be in good shape for years to come."
约翰斯顿说：“如果我们能够保持这些孩子们对合唱的热爱，那么合唱在今后许多年里都会生机勃勃。每次想到这个，我就备受鼓舞。”
For Randy Yoder, a choral teacher with the Pennsylvania chorus, being at Carnegie Hall and hearing his young charges perform was the thrill of a lifetime. He also believes that the workshop bodes well for his students and the future of choral music. "We preach about excellence all the time, and you can’t get much more excellent than this. I love it."
对宾州合唱队的指导教师兰迪·约德来说，能够带领合唱团来到卡内基音乐厅，并欣赏年轻团员们的合唱表演，这是他一生中最难忘的时刻。约德表示，对他的学生和合唱音乐的明天来说，大师班都是一个好的预兆。约德说：“我们一直在说要精益求精，我们再也找不到比这更好的事情了。我太喜欢这个活动了。”
Judging by the thunderous applause the choristers and musicians received at the poignant conclusion of the "Requiem," the audience did too. |