The Classical South Orchestra gathered more than 80 participants in the first rehearsal of their new mixed choir, and the debut concert will be in June, project coordinator Rui Baeta said today.
The creation of a choir of classical music, whose first essay took place on Monday, aims to broaden the range of productions presented by the Orquestra Clássica do Sul (OCS), in parallel with the musical experiences it allows to provide participants.
“The interest of the people was notorious, in the first essay we had more than 80 people, it’s an extraordinary number, but at the logistics level, for a first project, it’s a bit big and I think the choir will consist of about 60 people” , said Rui Baeta, baritone, lyric singer and singing teacher, who is the vocal coordinator and coach in this project.
The members of the choir are from different locations in the Algarve, some of them from abroad. The candidates include people with musical training and others with no experience in this area.
“We did not want to close the door to anyone, everyone will have the opportunity to show their abilities. Although it is a participatory choir or amateur, it will have to sing a repertoire of high technical and artistic exigency, associated with an orchestra that is a professional structure “said Rui Baeta.
For the conductor of the OCS, Rui Pinheiro, this is the realising of “an idea that has already been matured for some time“, and that in addition to providing a more varied offer in terms of new productions, aims at creating as well as “give people the opportunity to share some of the musical experience.”
“In addition to the social process, the goal is to produce music at the highest level, with rigour and demand. This is a project to continue and hopefully, five or ten years from now we can be at an even higher level, with three, four or ten repertoires per year, “said the teacher.
The OCS Choir, for its connection to the orchestra, becomes the “only structure of the genre in the south of the country.” The first performances are scheduled for June 7 in Faro, for a premiere at the Teatro das Figuras, and for June 8 in Tavira.
