|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
News
Music still a passion for school chief : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisMusic still a passion for school chief
| O'Donnell leads school district and an award-winning chorale group
| by Lyle R. Rolfe
| 10/15/2009
|
When Oswego School District Superintendent Dr. Daniel O'Donnell began his educational career more than 30 years ago, it was to teach music.
And today, even though he is a superintendent with a doctorate degree, his musical talent is far from waning. In fact it might even be stronger because he stays very active in music, but in his private life, not on the job.
This past summer, O'Donnell took two weeks off from his new job here to join his wife, Sharon, and friends for a musical tour in Europe, a trip he takes every other year with the Mark Twain Chorale to entertain others at no cost.
O'Donnell began his educational career in 1976 as a vocal and instrumental music instructor in Kansas, and moved from there to Missouri.
Sharon, his wife of 33 years, whom he met in their college choir at Truman State University, is a retired music educator who taught vocal and instrumental music in Missouri for 29 years before retiring.
O'Donnell said he enjoys singing and fills in as a bass voice when needed, but feels most at home conducting in front of the choir.
The formation of the singing group began in Memphis, Mo. O'Donnell had been a high school music teacher there and returned later as school superintendent. At that time, his wife was a high school music teacher.
O'Donnell said the town's musicians formed the Memphis Community United Evening on Broadway performance group. This was a touring dinner theatre that performed solos, small ensembles, and full choral arrangements of Broadway and jazz numbers.
"Memphis is heavily into the musical arts, with a choral group, municipal band, a theatre group that presents a Broadway musical each year, and other events. While we were there, we participated in all their plays and musical programs," he said.
Through these programs, they raised enough money to build a 220-seat theater with a 40 foot proscenium and stage for this small community of 2,000 people.
O'Donnell said the formation of the Mark Twain Chorale began in 1997 after the International Advent Sing Festival in Vienna, Austria, invited a Broadway choir group member's church to perform in Vienna.
"Their choir was not large enough so she asked if we could combine them and go to the festival. So from this The Mark Twain Chorale originated as a combination of the St. Paul's United Church of Christ church choir of Kahokia, and the Memphis Community Players Evening on Broadway performance group.
He said 24 musically talented singers ranging from high school freshmen to people age 80 and above agreed to make the trip.
"We did it because we love music and enjoy singing together," he said.
The name was chosen to represent the most famous author from the tri-state area. Since most Europeans know little about Missouri, the name Mark Twain also helps guests at the international events associate a homeland for the singers based on the history of the author.
O'Donnell admitted there was some hesitation among the members who wondered what they were getting into.
"We were nervous on the plane because none of us had ever performed internationally and didn't know what to expect. I told them two things. We were going to sing and perform very well because we were representing our country and our community and did not want to embarrass either one. Second, was to have fun. We were going to enjoy it or it would not be worth the time and effort we put into it," he said.
And they did have fun and laughed a lot. He compared it to taking an extended family on vacation and doing things all of them like. Since then, every two years they travel to one or more countries in Europe to perform for 10-14 days, at their own expense and at no charge to the audiences.
They spend a year rehearsing and putting a program together and take their show on the road the following year.
The first trip included invitations to two competitions, and their second year they were invited to Salzburg, Austria, to participate in the International Mozart Festival in the choral division.
"We competed and won a first place gold medal," he said.
They have performed in huge landmark cathedrals as well as outside in town squares at village festivals.
They had 25 singers and 13 family members this year but the number of singers varies each time depending on the season and how many people are able to pay the cost. He said a solid core group of 10 to 12 make every trip, and others join when they have time, when they can afford it, or just because they like where we're going.
Although O'Donnell prefers to be in front conducting, he has filled in with the bass singers when needed.
Group tours
every other year
After the first tour in 1997, they took a year off and returned to Austria in 1999 to an international music festival held in Salzburg. Four days were spent in Tuscany where the musicians participated in the Montecantini's International Choir Festival.
Their third trip included Rome, Florence, Venice, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
"We were all over the central part of Italy," he said.
They spent three days in Rome, five days in Florence, and then went to a small village of about 500 people where they sang in a fifth century monastery commissioned by Charlemagne and his troops. It was an open monastery with no glass in the windows. The village also had a cathedral where they sang he added.
"Many of our members are farmers so they're always interested in seeing farms in other countries. This was good wine country. This is where Brunello wine is made, so we talked to the farmers and learned how grapes are grown and how wine is made," he said.
O'Donnell said the group members discuss where they want to go for each tour and pick two or three countries. Then he and a couple other group members meet with their tour agent to arrange their itinerary for the trip.
The singers include people from urban, rural, and suburban areas so they try to pick a venue of all three.
"Each trip is three things in one. It's a tour for the singing group, it's tourism for those of us who have not been there before, and it's also a learning experience," he said.
Their audiences have ranged from about 2,500 people in larger cities to a group of about 25 in a small 100-seat church in a village of 900 people in the foot hills of the Matterhorn in Switzerland. "It's whoever shows up," he said.
This year they performed six concerts in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The highlight of the tour was a performance at the Zvolen Summer Arts Festival and a final concert at the Saint Anna Church in Budapest which was built in the mid 1700s.
O'Donnell said they visited Prague as tourists before moving on to perform. They spent two days in Vienna and Bratislava and Slovakia, where they stayed in a small town in the high country for six days for some of their performances.
"The audiences on this tour loved American music in Europe and loved doing it, but don't know how to do the swing and syncopation, so when we did it, they went crazy," he said.
"We had four standing ovations, had to do all of our encores and had to replay some pieces, but finally had to quit because we were worn out," he said
The tour finished in Budapest, Hungary, he said.
Their repertoire of music is a variety of American tunes.
"We do a lot of Broadway, a lot of jazz, modern classical, American music, American spiritual and gospel arrangements. Many of them feature solos and I have three ladies that do my solos," he said.
"We try to cover every genre, but haven't done country-western or barbershop yet," he said. "Barbershop singing is much different than choral, but because some of our members also sing barbershop, we may toss in one or two pieces in the future."
O'Donnell mentioned that he is looking for arrangements for the old Sons of the Pioneers tunes because they would lend themselves to nice choral arrangements.
"If it's quality we'll do it, no matter what the genre is," he said
O'Donnell said they usually have a keyboard for accompaniment. And this year, a high school senior brought her flute along and provided accompaniment for a couple of pieces, he added.
He said they have performed in some of the world's largest and most famous cathedrals.
They include St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, and the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, which is the largest Catholic Church in Germany.
"We wanted to sing in St. Peter's at the Vatican, but there's a two-year waiting list, so we had to settle for St. Marks, one of the side chapels," he said.
They have performed in the chapel at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which he said really is a large Catholic Church that seats 2,000 people and the Rota House in Vienna. They have also performed for the main mass in Florence, Italy, at the Basilica of Santa Croce where Michelangelo is buried.
Almost everything they sing is in English and a German audience member thanked them for doing so.
"When I asked why he was thanking us, he said most choirs butcher the German language trying to sing in it," O'Donnell said.
This year's tour was their seventh. Past tours, have included Vienna, Austria in 1997, Salzburg, Austria in 1999, Italy in 2001, Ireland in 2003, Germany and Switzerland in 2005, and Normandy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2007.
"We've been asked back to some places, but we like to go somewhere new each time," he said.
His move to Oswego does not present a problem for getting together to practice. While working in the St. Louis area, he was three to four hours from Memphis about the same as from Oswego, he said. Others also travel some distance, he said noting that members are from northeast Missouri, southeast Iowa and west central Illinois.
About a year before embarking on a new tour, they begin meeting back in Missouri once a month for three hours for rehearsals. During the last three months before the trip, they meet twice a month.
"We're not professionals, but some of the singers are very good. Several members were voice majors in college and some, (including him and his wife) are retired music teachers," O'Donnell said. "But, most are just people who love to sing and they are getting better every year because I work with them just like they were my students."
He continued, "They give up time, they travel, and they pay money to do it. But they love what they do and they love singing with the group. There are several husband-wife couples in the group."
Concert in Oswego?
O'Donnell said he may bring the choir to Oswego to perform as a possible enticement for new members.
"During our off-years, we often perform in the area. We could rent the school auditorium and maybe find a church to sing in. We could get about 40 singers together for this. All it would take would be one rehearsal to brush up on some of our older pieces that everyone had done," he said.
When he and Sharon lived in St. Louis, they also sang with the 100-voice St. Louis Choral Society where Sharon was lead alto soloist.
They also sang in their church choir and are now looking for an Oswego church with a choir that they can join. And, he has his eye on a couple of larger choral groups in the area that he and Sharon may audition with in the near future.
Sharon, having been a high school band teacher, plays a variety of brass instruments and is an accomplished chord guitar player he said.
O'Donnell also is a percussionist and played drums in a small jazz trio while back in Missouri.
"I may look for a group to play with here. All you need is a piano and jazz player to hook up with and you're set to jam," he said.
He knows that during one of his frequent school visits, he'll enter a music class and give in to the urge to pick up a set of sticks and join the percussionists.
"It will happen," he said.
With a little coaxing, O'Donnell, who is already Oswego's Music Man, could become Oswego's "Professor" Harold Hill and this (Fox) River City could end up with its own local choir group, ready to perform at festivities of all types.
PrairieFest is only a few months off, and knowing what Professor Hill did with his boys, organizing a local choir would be a piece of cake for Dr. O'Donnell.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
