BLUEFIELD—Piano virtuoso Authur Rubinstein was once approached on a New York City street near Carnegie Hall and asked, “Pardon me sir, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?”
He replied, “Practice, practice, practice.”
Although Rubinstein's comment is legend, the vocal ensemble Variations from Bluefield College has added its own truth to this myth. In just two years, the students from this auditioned music ensemble have performed at Carnegie Hall, not once, but twice.
When asked what it takes to perform twice in one of the most venerable musical venues in the United States, they proudly stated “Pray, practice, pray.”
On June 1, Variations joined Bonsack Baptist Church in Roanoke to perform under the direction of composer and conductor Mark Hayes, a Baylor University alumnus and recipient of the Dove Award for his album, I've Just Seen Jesus.
Bryant Moxley, director of Variations and chair of the BC department of music, was pleased to be invited to Carnegie Hall for the second time. “The entire group was excited about the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall,” said Moxley. “I feel as if the second invitation affirmed our first participation in Carnegie Hall.”
May 27, 2007, marked Hayes's conducting debut at Carnegie Hall. Because of his immense success, MidAmerica Productions invited Hayes to perform at its 2008 hosted event. Hayes graciously accepted the offer and felt this performance outweighed his last.
“I feel like the choir I had to work with this time was even stronger than the first,” said Hayes. “I had a greater number of adult singers with more mature voices. They were able to respond to my conducting in positive ways.”
Hayes noted that even the most diligent choirs have different customs of interpreting music, providing Hayes with the challenge of making 225 voices sing in uniform with only nine hours of practice.
Over the years, Hayes has developed a personal connection with various churches and music ministers. It was during a composer weekend held in mid-September 2007 at Bonsack Baptist that Hayes invited both Variations and the Bonsack choir to perform at Carnegie Hall.
“We were all really excited to have the opportunity to go back to Carnegie Hall,” said Bluefield College music alumnus Adam McAllister. “At the time we had planned on going to Europe to do a music ministry tour, but who could pass up the prestige of Carnegie Hall?”
Hayes selected three pieces from his own compositions, including “Te Deum,” “Magnificat” and his debut of “Spirit Suite II,” which the master choir performed. BC senior music major Tori Krein hoped that the message of the music rang loud in the audiences' souls.
“Mark Hayes writes so beautifully,” Krein said. “He understands the power of the message which is portrayed in his words and music. I know people were encouraged by our performance.”
Hayes's sacred music has an obvious spiritual intent and mission. He states that he creates beautiful music for the world. “I pray that the Holy Spirit exhibited in me speaks to the singer. It is my hope that the singer will then identify and communicate the Spirit and message to the audience,” he said.
“Before the performance Mark Hayes came backstage and had prayer with us,” Krein added. “The music we were singing connected us deeply, emotionally and spiritually. He reminded us that we were the witnesses to what we were singing and encouraged us to be a canvas of expression.”
Although the performance at Carnegie Hall was intended to be the central focus of the BC choral trip, the group shared in the vision to make their trip mission-focused by working at Graffiti Church on East 7th Street in Manhattan.
“It was like three trips in one,” said Moxley. “The first three days we spent participating in a traditional choir tour, followed by ministry at Graffiti I and II. We finished our tour at Carnegie Hall. There was such beauty and power in the way the entire choir was able to work in three very different settings.”