Chamber Singers’ ‘Magnificat’ Reset For Sept. 20
“What a crisis!” These are the words of William Mc-Corkle, artistic director of the Rockbridge Chamber Singers, as he recalls the painful decision to cancel the group’s long–anticipated performance, with orchestra and soloists, of J.S. Bach’s famous choral masterpiece, “Magnificat,” along with two of Bach’s celebratory church cantatas, which had been scheduled for last Feb. 8.
The good news is that the concert is about to be reclaimed, and will at last be given on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 3 p.m. at Lexington Presbyterian Church. It will serve as a deferred conclusion to last season’s 50th anniversary celebration of the Rockbridge Chorus.
Why the cancellation? In a word: weather. The prolonged cold weather, when the Rockbridge area (and most of the Eastern U.S.) was iced in for a several weeks, presented major obstacles to the completion of the performance.
“The ice had sabotaged the Chamber Singers’ rehearsal schedule in the last weeks of preparation, a critical time when an ensemble effort really ‘comes together,” said McCorkle. Another factor, he noted, was the continuing uncertainty that collaborating instrumentalists and soloists, coming from Washington, D.C., Winchester, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, or Roanoke, would be able to get to Lexington safely.
But perhaps the most important consideration was the inescapable fact that there would be almost no audience. The ice-over was so severe and persistent that many, indeed most, of those planning to attend would not be able or likely to come out.
“It is the extraordinary generosity of our friends and donors which makes possible concerts such as this, when we assemble an orchestra and soloists,” he said. “We expect to show our gratitude to our supporters by offering our performances, which, in their quality and success, demonstrate the worth of that support. To go ahead with a performance which a major portion of the potential audience could not attend, would have been an unacceptable and inappropriate use of such precious resources. So we made the painful, but necessary decision to call off the concert.”
That was not the end of the matter. There was always the intention to try to reschedule.
“What we didn’t quite anticipate,” said McCorkle, “was just how difficult that would be.”
The daunting task involved finding open times in the busy Lexington concert and cultural calendar, in the performance site, and in the lives and schedules of some 50 performers. The goal was to not lose the participation of anyone involved, instrumentalists and singers (choral or solo).
For well over a month, several rounds of proposals went by, considering a number of dates in the following winter/ spring weeks, and some in the fall. Most of the dates explored could not work for a significant number of people. At last, Sept. 20, 2026, emerged as the best option. The decision did result in a few unavoidable conflicts. One vocal soloist, an instrumentalist, and a few Chamber Singers, were not able to meet the rescheduled date.
The spring and summer have passed, and the ensemble of singers and players are making plans to convene soon for final ensemble rehearsals, and the performance on Sept. 20.
It has not been, simply, seven months off, at least for the Chamber Singers. The intervening months have seen “maintenance” rehearsal sessions (one or two a month) for the singers, valuable time to hold on to the repertoire, and to let it percolate and gain polish.
“That’s not a bad thing,” McCorkle said. “Allowing the music to grow over a longer period of time in the minds and voices of the musicians has increased their understanding and command of this challenging music. But let’s hope this doesn’t become a regular feature of our performing schedule!”
This last comment refers to the experience, in April 2024, when a major Lexington power outage prevented the Rockbridge Chorus from presenting a spring concert of English and French music, a concert they rescheduled for September.
Advance tickets for the Sept. 20 Bach performance are available on the Rockbridge Choral Society website at rcs. org.
