The women of the Vox Vocal Ensemble (George Steel, conductor) sang with enchanting sweetness.
The Riverside Choir, directed by Helen Cha-Pyo, its regular conductor, sang Dvorak pieces in Jiri Kylian's gentle "Evening Songs," in which movements seem to arise from and return to stillness.
The stage perspectives shift as sensationally as the murder suspects: we watch the finale of "Robbin' Hood" from the points of view of both the audience and the actors; Act II opens from the orchestra pit, where the conductor sings a song; and one scene is played on a flybridge high above the stage.
Among his own influences, Mr. Flummerfelt cites Robert Shaw, the apostle of rhythm and discipline who honed his skills preparing choruses for Arturo Toscanini, and Elaine Brown, an energetic and intuitive conductor whose Singing City Choir, founded in response to race riots in Philadelphia during the 1960's, was almost as much a social cause as an artistic enterprise.
Formerly a supporter of Smetana's, Pivoda was aggrieved when the conductor recruited singing talent from abroad rather than from Pivoda's school.
Be sure to remember to keep your eyes either on the conductor (while singing), or the instructor, but not all the time.
He has given lessons to two conducting fellows, and this week he led master classes for both the conductors and singing fellows in parts of Mozart's "Don Giovanni".
The conductor I sing with asks, after we pass his audition, only that we study the music and attend rehearsals.
In Greyfriars Kirk, another star group, the Collegium Vocale Gent with conductor Philippe Herreweghe, sang the little-known Lagrime di San Pietro by Lassus.
Mr. Villars, who was playing the lead, Florestan, left during the final scene, after the conductor Gregor Bühl sang several phrases of the tenor's part, loudly and ostensibly to adjust Mr. Villars's tempo.
