Fifty-four members of the UB Choir sang their way into world history with a performance at the United Nations as part of the inauguration ceremony for the new U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon earlier this month.
The UB Choir, along with the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers - all of whom fall under the baton of UB professor Harold Rosenbaum - as well as the Rome Sinfonietta Orchestra received standing ovations leading to two encores at the concert's end.
Furthermore, the Feb. 2 performance marked the first performance of world famous Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, who had never before conducted in the U.S.
Morricone is legendary for his compositions featured in over 400 films such as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Mission," "The Untouchables" and "Bugsy." He will receive on honorary Academy Award later this month for his achievements.
Rosenbaum prepared his singers to perform selections from the scores of some of Morricone's celebrated masterpieces.
"He's a legend - most of us know his music," Rosenbaum said. "(The choir) just wanted to sing with Ennio Morricone conducting."
One of the pieces that the UB Choir sang was Voices from Silence, a piece Morricone composed after the attacks of September 11.
"It's really a profound piece. It gives voices to the oppressed," Rosenbaum said. "The music gives a voice to the voiceless."
The following evening, all the singers performed at the landmark Radio City Music Hall with an audience of over 5,000.
"It was like a rock concert. I never saw anything like it," Rosenbaum said. "Every time we turned around for a bow, I would see literally hundreds of cameras go off."
Teresa Tam, senior French and Asian studies major, assisted in coordinating the choir's ninth trip to New York City in the past ten years. Tam recounted that her experience on this trip as emotional.
"Hearing the orchestrations for the first time during the rehearsals added to (my) feelings," Tam said.
In the spring, Rosenbaum looks forward to taking women from the UB Chorus and Choir down to New York City to perform Gustav Holst's The Planets with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.
"It's a great learning experience," Rosenbaum said, adding that students on the trips were always well behaved. "We always have people volunteering to organize."
Less than five percent of the singers involved with these concerts are not music majors, but people looking for the outlet music provides. Tam sees the choir as an opportunity to be "more well-rounded and cultured."
"The music department at UB offers many opportunities for people to participate in the arts, whether attending a performance or being a part of an ensemble," Tam said. "Students should take a chance and see if their involvement in music could spark new interests."
Rosenbaum is proud of the efforts that his students put forth both musically and organizationally.
"They've done some remarkable things. I can't even express in words how proud I am of them," he said. "When I first started teaching here... I was really moved. They don't have to be here - they just love to sing."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
