'Messiah' massive undertaking

Wayne Anderson says the upcoming production of Handel’s “Messiah” is “the best one I have ever experienced.”

He is in a position to know.

Anderson directed choirs and prepared soloists for 40 years, including 23 at Clovis High School and another decade at the First Baptist Church in Portales.

With five-full blown “Messiah” productions behind him, he maintains the one taking the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday in Clovis’ Marshall Auditorium is “nothing short of amazing.”

link Courtesy photo: Louise Shoemaker

Eastern New Mexico University Choral Director Jason Paulk and collaborative pianist Kayla Paulk lead a choir rehearsal in preparation for “Messiah.”

Anderson is one of the key players in a mammoth joint effort between Eastern New Mexico University, Clovis Community College, the Clovis Community Choir, and the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra.

For Jason Paulk, director of choral activities at ENMU, the opportunity to present Handel’s complete oratorio, accompanied by a professional orchestra and showcasing four “world-class soloists,” is the culmination of a years-long effort.

“I have been trying for nearly a decade to arrange with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra to come to ENMU to perform a major work with our choirs,” he said. “It’s an expensive event to put together because of union orchestra salaries, travel for the professional orchestra from Santa Fe, professional soloists who are traveling from New York City and Oklahoma City. It all adds up to a lot of money, but a priceless opportunity for our region.”

Christy Mendoza, who oversees the Cultural Arts Series for Clovis Community College, said the event involves the largest number of performers of any production the series has ever done. Her office has done heavy promotion for what she expects to be a large regional audience.

Eighty-five singers from the ENMU choirs and 50 from director Sean Galloway’s Clovis Community Choir have poured countless rehearsal hours into the 2 1/2-hour production. While most audiences are familiar with the Christmas portion of Handel’s work, including the renowned “Hallelujah Chorus,” Paulk said the full three-part production is rarely performed.

link Louise Shoemaker: Courtesy photo

Members of the Eastern New Mexico University choirs and the Clovis Community Choir listen as ENMU Choral Director Jason Paulk goes over notes at a rehearsal for “Messiah.”

“The rest of the work is equally profound and masterful — and enjoyable to sing,” Paulk said, “and I’m very pleased that our audience, students, and community chorus have the opportunity to experience it.”

Although Paulk’s ENMU choirs have previously performed with the Santa Fe Symphony on its home turf, staging an event in eastern New Mexico is a first for Gregory Heltman, director of the SFSO. He and 26 orchestra members are scheduled to arrive by bus in Clovis mid-day Saturday for an intense afternoon and evening rehearsing with the local choirs and the visiting soloists: soprano Donna M. Cox, contralto Rebekah Ambrosini, tenor Nathan Davis, and bass-baritone Donovan Singletary.

Heltman said the SFSO performs “Messiah” annually to sell-out crowds, but it rarely travels because “the logistics of going a distance with an orchestra are demanding.”

Budgetary restraints are always an issue, too, Heltman said. Funding for this event is being shared by the SFSO, ENMU choirs, Clovis Community Choir, and the Clovis Cultural Arts Series.

For the singers involved, it is an opportunity to participate in a professional production of one of the most performed choral works in the world.

link Photo by Louise Shoemaker

Eastern New Mexico University Choral Director Jason Paulk and collaborative pianist Kayla Paulk lead a joint rehearsal of the ENMU and Clovis Community Choirs as they prepare to present “Messiah.”

“The rehearsal process has been exhausting,” said Kelsey Wickerham, an ENMU freshman from San Antonio, Texas, “but the reward is worth the endless hours of practice both in and outside of class.”

Wickerham pointed to an experience from a recent rehearsal that she says she will never forget.

“Dr. Paulk read an excerpt from a book, and in it were some insightful thoughts on the spiritual experience that creating brings to humans. The gist of it was that what we make is an extension of ourselves, making us one with our work. It gave me a revived sense of not only why I am a music major, but also of what I want to accomplish Sunday afternoon in Marshall Auditorium.”

ENMU freshman Alexandra Esquibel is from Santa Fe, and as a high school student played violin in portions of “Messiah.”

“This production is extremely special because all of my teachers from Santa Fe will be in the orchestra,” she said. “The fact that I get to create beautiful music with them makes this experience more special and dear to my heart.”

Eastern’s newest voice professor, Travis Sherwood, will be in the bass section, enjoying “an opportunity to collaborate with my own students in a choral setting.” He said, “It’s not often a voice teacher has the opportunity to sing with his students.”

Jenny McNeill, a full-time Portales mother who feeds her passion for music by participating in University Singers, brings a unique perspective to the choir. At 37 weeks pregnant with her second son, she said as she sings the words in “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” she “cannot even begin to imagine how Mary must have felt, knowing what she knew about the baby she was about to birth.”

McNeill said singing “Messiah” has made her “focus on how I felt having my first son and how amazingly grateful I was and am, as well as how wonderful it feels to be close to having another sweet baby boy.”

Kayla Paulk is the collaborative pianist for the ENMU choirs, and wife to director Jason Paulk. “No one but me knows how hard Jason has worked to make this happen,” she said, “from convincing the SFSO they needed to get on a bus to travel to Clovis, to garnering A-list soloists, to teaching choral repertoire to our choirs that should have taken six months to learn in only two months’ time.”

One other person who fully appreciates that effort is Wayne Anderson. On top of singing in the production himself, he’s also responsible for a thousand details, from setting up risers to lining up 49 dozen home-baked cookies for an after-concert reception for the participants.

He doesn’t mind because he is quick to point out, “This is the best ‘Messiah’ choir that I have ever heard.

“Dr. Paulk is bringing four of the premier soloists in America to Clovis,” he said. “Add to that mix the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, and you have an unbeatable combination of experience, talent, youth, energy, and professionalism.”

Fast facts about Handel’s “Messiah":

• Performance begins at 3 p.m. Sunday in Clovis’ Marshall Auditorium. Doors will open at 2 p.m.

• Tickets: $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, military members and students, or $45 for five.

• Where to buy tickets: They’re available through 5 p.m. today at the Clovis Community College Business Office, the Curry County Chamber of Commerce, or by calling 575-769-4031. Also at the door, if any remain.