Thursday marks the long-awaited return of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s IN UNISON Chorus, which will take the stage alongside the SLSO and guest artist Oleta Adams for A Gospel Christmas.
The December 9 performance will be the first for the chorus, which focuses primarily on the performance and preservation of the music of African-American and African cultures, since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020 SLSO season.
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“This concert is bittersweet for a lot of reasons, but mostly because, I think for the first time in the history of the chorus and the ensemble, we didn’t have a Gospel Christmas concert last year,” says IN UNISON Chorus Director Kevin McBeth. “After 20-plus years of offering this concert in December, to have that music silenced was really a loss. It was almost like a death for the chorus, not being able to make that connection with our St. Louis audience who loves us so much.”
McBeth, who has led the chorus since 2011, says A Gospel Christmas has become a tradition for many St. Louis families, who return year after year to hear holiday favorites performed by the orchestra, guest artists, and IN UNISON singers. Each year, McBeth greets guests in the lobby after the show, and the response, he says, is always overwhelmingly positive.
“Gospel Christmas has always been kind of a destination event in the month of December,” he says. “We’ve built this great audience. It’s kind of the place to be this time of year for people who know about Gospel Christmas. People are dressed for a great evening out, and the hall is decorated beautifully with this enormous Christmas tree and all the great decorations in the foyer, and the hall looks wonderful. It’s going to be an incredible evening. Lots of emotion and lots of soaring hearts, and of course great music from the chorus and the orchestra and from Oleta.”
But, of course, there’s more work to be done once the holiday season comes to a close. And despite its long history at Powell Hall, McBeth says IN UNISON still remains something of a secret.
The IN UNISON Program has been an essential piece of the St. Louis arts community since 1992, when it began as a partnership between the SLSO and five historically Black churches. Since then, the program has grown to include dozens of area churches, robust education and community outreach programs, and the IN UNISON chorus. While the first iterations of the chorus were made up entirely of members of the IN UNISON partner churches, the group has since expanded its reach outside of the congregations.
“Things have changed over the years, as we know. Church life has changed,” says McBeth. “Many of them are connected still to the IN UNISON churches, but it reaches much further than that. We have people from all over the city, from all walks of life, from all professions. Doctors and teachers and lawyers and all of those things in between, as well as students. It’s a much broader reach than I think they initially imagined when the chorus was formed.”
And now, as they make their return to Powell Hall, the chorus’ schedule is expanding as well. Traditionally, IN UNISON performs three concerts each season, A Gospel Christmas in December, Lift Every Voice: A Black History Month Celebration in February, and a community concert in the spring. This season, a new event has been added to that list. On January 17, the IN UNISON Chorus will be joined by the SLSO and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus for a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Concert, programmed by McBeth alongside Music Director Stéphane Denève and St. Louis Symphony Chorus Director Amy Kaiser.
While the event, which will feature songs such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “Dry Your Tears, Afrika” from the film Amistad, does require a ticket reservation, it is completely free.
“I think even people who normally come to the symphony, when you say, ‘This is a free concert,’ they’re a little skeptical about how that can be,” says McBeth. “You have to reserve a spot, but it is a free concert, and one not to be missed. It’s going to be a great evening.”
The remaining engagements on IN UNISON Chorus’ schedule, Lift Every Voice and Mahler and Joachim, will also be SLSO season highlights. Vocalist and actress Capathia Jenkins will return to St. Louis to help celebrate some of the great women of music at the February concert. In May, a new commission will put IN UNISON entirely in the spotlight.
Nathalie Joachim’s Family was commissioned by the SLSO and will have its world premiere at Powell Hall on May 6. The piece was informed by interviews with members of the 120-person IN UNISON Chorus.
“She has crafted a piece that I think is truly unique,” McBeth says. “She began her composition process by interviewing and talking to members of the IN UNISON chorus, and the text of the piece is based on these interviews. I’ve not seen it yet, but we can hardly wait to get our hands on our first copies. She is finishing things up, and in early 2022, we’ll begin to rehearse for the premiere.”
The piece is one of several world premieres this season and part of SLSO’s ongoing mission to champion new works and works by living composers.
“It’s a great privilege and a wonderful honor,” says McBeth. “So many people perform the music of composers that are no longer living. And so to be able to start at the ground level with a brand-new piece and have the composer with us to give us some insight on what she’s done and have all of that connection as a part of it is a great privilege. Sometimes I think we forget how amazing that opportunity is.”
For those who wish to be a part of that amazing opportunity, the IN UNISON Chorus is always looking for new singers, and auditions are usually held a few times a year. McBeth says that, while the group is primarily made up of African-American singers, it is a “a wonderful melting pot of people who’ve come together and enjoy the music that they sing,” and all are welcome.
“Everybody on stage has the same goal of honoring the music,” says McBeth. “I think that that’s the first step for everybody, to honor all those little black dots that the composer has put on the page. But honoring it enough that they’re able to then communicate that to an audience, that’s our goal for everybody who’s on that stage. And we continue to lift it up that way. It’s a great job to have.”
