The Downers Grove Choral Society will present "A Choral Thanksgiving: Te Deum" at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in the First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove. Featured will be counter-tenor Joseph Schlesinger, tenor Klaus George and baritone Keven Keys.
Melissa Jerves writes about the concert pleasures in store:
Music has the power to bring families and communities together, and nobody knows that better than counter-tenor Joseph Schlesinger and his mother, Downers Grove resident Florence Schlesinger.
Joseph Schlesinger didn't begin his musical career as a singer. He started playing the trumpet at age 10.
"My mother threatened me that if I quit trumpet, I would owe her the $50 she spent to buy my instrument," he says. "Luckily, I enjoyed it more than the recorder."
But Schlesinger won't be playing the trumpet in George Friedrich Handel's Dettingen Te Deum with the Downers Grove Choral Society this weekend. He'll be singing the solo counter-tenor part, instead. Keeping it all in the family, Florence sings soprano in the chorus. She grew up with music in her home, and continued the tradition with her children.
"The appreciation of fine classical music must be cultured," Florence says.
All the Schlesinger children play instruments, and Joe is not the only professional musician in the family. Daughter Eileen is a coloratura soprano, who also has performed solo parts with the Choral Society. Joe and Eileen have performed together in Houston and Amsterdam, and Joe and his mother sang together at a recent family wedding at the Houston Cathedral.
"Family gatherings always seem to gravitate to the piano with instruments added," Florence says. "We even let (my husband) Dave join in — he has a great bass voice."
Florence has sung with the Downers Grove Choral Society since 1980, and directed choirs at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Darien for 15 years. She still serves as a cantor there. Though she and her husband spend their winters in Arizona, Florence sings with the Choral Society whenever she is in Downers Grove.
"(I) have always been amazed at the professional quality of the DGCS," she says. "I feel that we attract fine singers, which has kept the society functioning. Our directors have been top musicians."
Joe was born in Spain, and spent his early childhood in Europe, where his father, Dave Schlesinger, was a teacher and administrator in American schools overseas. After the family returned to Illinois in 1978, Joe attended Benet Academy in Lisle.
"Downers Grove represents a wonderful childhood of bike riding and playing outside," he says. "It was a great place to grow up."
Joe didn't start singing until after his undergraduate studies in finance and Asian studies at Augustana College in Rock Island, where he played principal trumpet in the symphony orchestra.
"At Augustana, the orchestra and choir schedules conflicted," he recalls. "I couldn't afford to lose my trumpet scholarship if I sang in the choir."
After finishing his degree at Augustana, he moved to Seattle.
"I spent more time mountain biking and wind surfing than anything else more serious," admits Joe, who for two years sang with the well-respected amateur choir Seattle Pro Musica. "By then, the musical bug had finally bitten. I returned to study music because I loved it. Singing is like any craft. You hone your skills through experience. I decided I could pursue music as a career after a few years of singing and testing my ability through auditions, recitals and concerts."
Joe earned his master's of music in voice at DePaul University in Chicago in 1999, and sang in the apprentice programs of Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.
Joe's performance with the Choral Society will not be the first time he sings under the direction of Artistic Director Amy Weller. While at DePaul, Joe was Weller's student.
"Dr. Weller was a very inspiring teacher," he says. "In our conducting class, her enthusiasm was contagious. If I'd taken more than one class with her, I might have ended up on the conductor's podium."
Weller has nothing but praise for Joe.
"The beauty of his vocal instrument, his incredible musicality, and his exemplary work ethic all stood out," she says. "There was no question in my mind that he was going to be able to have a musical career if he wanted one. Also, I distinctly remember that his parents were supportive of his singing."
When she came to the Choral Society as artistic director in 2011, Weller finally met Joe's mother, Florence.
"Now I understand better the nature of that support," Weller says. "It's wonderful to witness first-hand the devotion to the arts and to music, in particular, that such a family brings to the local community and to the world at large."
Joe's career blossomed when he received a Netherlands-America/Fulbright Fellowship to study Baroque music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
"Joseph's performing experiences overseas have been remarkable," Weller says, noting he has sung on stages in Amsterdam, The Hague and Brussels, performing traditional repertoire for the counter-tenor, including Baroque works by Bach, Handel, Purcell and others, as well as four world premieres of modern operas in the Netherlands.
"I thoroughly enjoy singing the cantatas and Passions by J.S. Bach," Joe says. "(However,) the contemporary music scene for the counter-tenor voice is quite exciting. I suppose modern composers' interest in using the counter-tenor voice is to add another color on their musical palette of composition."
What exactly is a counter-tenor?
"A counter-tenor is an adult male who sings the alto part," explains Joe. "The word derives from the word contra-tenore, which literally means the part that goes against the tenor line. Its derivation occurred in the development of Gregorian chant many centuries before the advent of the oratorio or opera. In Gregorian chant, the men would all sing in unison, and that vocal line became known as the tenor line."
Once harmonization began to occur in later music, the line above the tenor was called the contra-tenore and was sung by men whose voices were higher than those singing the tenor line. This higher vocal part gradually evolved for men who sang in their falsetto. As the oratorio and opera genres developed, the counter-tenor part became a common vocal line.
Joe's opportunities to perform overseas may have shaped him in a way that musicians who stay close to home do not experience.
"European audiences — German and Dutch — understand Bach's text, and expect a performer to completely portray that text as any fluent speaker would," he explains.
So far, Joe's favorite venues have been the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park, and a chapel in the Netherlands that dates back to 900. But Joe finds value in every performance, no matter the venue.
"It's always a pleasure to share music with DGCS or any other ensemble devoted to the vocal arts," he says. "Each new piece is an exploration of the meaning of the text and its historical importance. Any opportunity to perform live is an opportunity to improve your artistry."
Though Joe now lives in Cleveland, Chicago-area audiences will have the chance to enjoy the fruits of this experience.
"(Joseph) brings profound musical and textual understanding to his solo part in the Dettingen Te Deum," Weller says. "He has performed the work before, and he is very experienced, in general, with music of the Baroque era. The gorgeous quality of his voice and the way that he uses his vocal instrument to sing sensitively and expressively will greatly enhance the performance that DGCS is able to offer. We are so lucky to have him. He truly brings with him what can rightfully be called 'world class' to Downers Grove."
The First United Methodist Church is at 1032 Maple Ave. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.dgcs.org.
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