JP/19/CHORAL

JP/19/CHORAL

Striking a chord with classics and pop alike

Duncan Graham
Contributor/Surabaya

Petra Chorale, East Java's internationally famous choir, has a
new musical director.

Aprilia Wisminarni Takasenserang will face her first major
test as conductor of the prestigious choir at a gala Christmas
concert in Surabaya on Dec. 2.

However, the 29-year-old mezzo-soprano is no stranger to
public events in Indonesia and overseas.

Before taking on her new appointment she worked closely with
the previous director, the charismatic Aris Sudibyo who has moved
to Papua with his soprano wife, Evelyn Kok.

Under his direction the choir won championships at festivals
in Kupang and Bandung. It also performed in Jakarta, Hong Kong,
Malaysia and Singapore, and in many Indonesian provinces.

In Surabaya the choir has developed a loyal and significant
following for its lively and joyful presentations of sacred and
secular music, particularly pop classics from composers like
Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The Phantom may have slunk into his backstage crypt at the
opera in London and New York but his melodramatic passion
continues in Surabaya.

Petra Chorale has 25 members drawn from the staff and students
of Petra University. There are two other choirs composed of
junior and senior undergraduates, and Aprilia has to direct them
all -- from those aspiring to be Indonesia's Sarah Brightman
through to melody makers who would be happy in a karaoke bar.

"Although our mission is to develop church music we also love
to blend the traditional with the modern and interpret the music
through dance," Aprilia said.

"Our repertoire includes classical choral music, Renaissance
madrigals, Afro-American spirituals, pop, contemporary and
Indonesian folk music."

The Petra choirs may have hijacked some classics but they are
not static, stand-and-deliver performers. They have a reputation
for providing lively entertainment, with spectacular costumes and
traditional instruments from across the archipelago. Their
programs often include the frivolous along with the classical.

If you quiver at the thought of encountering a quaver, fear
not. You do not need a starched shirt to attend one of their
concerts -- just an open heart and a willingness to accept
surprise.

Audience participation

Music aficionados in Surabaya still relive a snappy and
original interpretation of the banal pop song Don't Worry, Be
Happy at a French Consulate concert developed by voice coach
Richard Awuy. This turned a chamber-music room into a music hall
with diplomats dancing alongside divas.

Although the congregations of most churches are expected to
sing every Sunday, the result is not always praiseworthy. The
same goes for church choirs and invited vocal groups who often
perform brackets of hymns jazzed up with a couple of guitars to
attract a younger audience.

Protocol for these events usually requires visitors to leave
expressions of pleasure locked in the vestry. Some charismatic
churches allow applause. Others expect Pastor Grim to briefly
shift from sin-spotting to nod his or her recognition of the
performance on behalf of the silent parishioners.

These worthies occasionally wonder whether the Deity could be
better praised with singers staying in tune and sharing the same
song sheet.

Under Aris' tutelage Petra Chorale offered its services to
churches across East Java who believed their choirs could lift
voices along with hearts and minds. In the university's formal
language this reads: "To intensively support church services and
to promote good choir ministry." This policy will continue with
Aprilia.

"I'll also be concentrating on building the organizational
structure and management," she said. "We need to find more
orchestral talent. Most student musicians have learned the
piano, while we need strings and woodwinds. I'm out to spot new
abilities."

The choir doesn't back an orchestra but uses individual
musicians to set the mood. Members need to be multitalented, as
the choirs' repertoire requires them to sing in Indonesian,
regional languages, English, Italian, French and occasionally
Latin.

The singers are unpaid volunteers, but presentation and
promotion are anything but amateur. Petra runs a Church Music
Appreciation and Development Program but this cannot confer
degrees. Many on the campus have long been urging the university
authorities to create a full-blown music department.

Aris was an architecture graduate from Petra but had to study
in Singapore to get his music credentials. Aprilia came from
Semarang in Central Java, where her parents were both singers.
She studied civil engineering at Petra, but her real interest was
chords, not concrete.

She graduated in 2000 but since then has preferred to employ
her soaring musical talents rather than build high-rises.

In the absence of a music department, graduating in other
professions seems to be the pattern. Aprilia's colleague, tenor
Adi Margono, who leads the Petra Chorale, learned hotel
management.

In her new position another skill will be in great demand from
the young director: maintaining harmony on and off the stage
among more than 100 artistic people married to their
interpretation of music.

When Aris and his wife quit Petra earlier this year after
eight years developing music at the university there were reports
of many choristers being emotionally distressed at the split
between campus and couple.

"We have to all work together, it's like being in a family,"
said Aprilia. We are so close, it's important to maintain that
feeling. We have to be united and continue to produce fine new
musicians."

(The Dec. 2 Christmas concert Credo will be performed at the
Petra auditorium. For details and tickets phone (031) 298 3120.)

(Pic captions: Aprilia by herself and with Adi Margono. In
costume, and the choir.)