Conductor Fine-Tunes Valley Master Chorale

Dressed in faded jeans and tennis shoes, conductor John Alexander carved the air with one hand and flipped the pages of a German score with the other while rehearsing his Valley Master Chorale.

In response, 170 faces formed weighty German vowels and sang, Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (“Blessed are they that mourn”).

“All night long, the sopranos and tenors have been singing flat,” Alexander said. “I’m moving the tempo a little more, so be prepared to move quickly. Please start at the letter N as in normal. Ready? And!”

Nearly three hours later, a baritone soloist joined the singers in intoning Herr, Lehre doch mich (“Lord, make me to know mine end”).

“When you finish at the end of the evening, you know that it’s time to go to bed,” said Tom Marshall, who sings second tenor with the choir.

Tough Taskmaster

Known as a tough taskmaster by his singers, Alexander, 43, began conducting the San Fernando Valley choir last year when he combined his Northridge Masterworks Chorale with the 13-year-old Valley Master Chorale.

The new group, which performs classical music and oratorio, tripled its ticket prices and switched affiliation from Pierce College to Cal State Northridge, where Alexander is director of chorale studies. Students may take the Valley Master Chorale for credit, but most singers in the ensemble are non-students.

The choir rehearses at the Northridge campus and sometimes performs with the university’s symphony orchestra, but makes its home in Reseda High School’s auditorium because of its large capacity.

To fine-tune his choir’s new mix of voices, Alexander said he began annual re-auditions of each singer, considered an unusual step by some conductors--and a fearful one by some singers. “Yes, we do kick people out,” Alexander said. “But we’re very kind with the way we kick people out.”

Identify Problems

Alexander said he uses the auditions to identify problem areas in a singer’s voice. Singers are then encouraged to attend musicianship classes, where they are able to work out inconsistencies that tend to hamper the quality of the entire group.

“Singers that are serious in proving themselves should not have any fear in the audition process,” Alexander said. “We give them answers to the problems that we’re going to bring out.”

Members of the original Valley Master Chorale felt the most fear when auditioning because of their new conductor and format, singers said.

“I never sing as well as I should or I think I can,” said Kay Roberts, who joined the chorale when it was formed. “It’s a hassle.”

Janet Dolan, also an original member, said the re-auditions motivated her to begin taking voice lessons in preparation for next year’s auditions.

‘Scary for Me’

“I think that will help me start feeling more secure,” Dolan said. “It’s scary for me, but I do approve of the auditions. I’m just not secure singing by myself.”

“It scares some people to death and I hate to scare people; that’s not my goal in life,” Alexander said. “But I’m not willing to take the choir down to the weakest level.”

Dolan’s husband, Don, said the auditions don’t bother him. “I figure you either like my voice or you don’t like my voice,” he said, adding that Alexander gave the group a 2-year grace period during which no singers will be asked to leave.

Roger Wagner, founder of the 25-year-old Los Angeles Master Chorale, said he was pleased with the vocal quality of Alexander’s singers when he conducted in Alexander’s absence.

“I think his singers sing very well together,” Wagner said. “They do a very good job and I’m pleased with their work.”

‘It’s Worth It’

Wagner said he gives a “very strict” audition when first considering singers and does not re-audition unless he spots a specific vocal problem.

“I don’t think it hurts,” Wagner said of the re-audition process. “I think it’s a good idea. It’s time-consuming, you know, but it’s worth it.”

Gayle Biava, who joined the Northridge Masterworks Chorale when it was started in 1981, said Alexander holds a grueling and exacting, yet interesting, rehearsal.

“He obviously has very high standards and you need to rise to them,” Biava said. “He works harder than anyone else. He explains the composer’s intent and how the words tie into what is happening in the music. He talks constantly about how the voices fit together. So you become a far better musician and singer for having this experience.”

The process of combining the two large ensembles was considered a delicate, risky maneuver by those involved. Each chorale had its own traditions, Alexander said, and much of the original chorale’s pops format was phased out.

Resolved Civilly

“There was a lot of turmoil because some people were against it and some people were for it,” Don Dolan said. “I thought it was resolved in a fairly civil manner.”

“There was a little resistance on both sides,” but it was a “happy wedding,” said Ada Beth Lee, founder of the original chorale.

The merger and price hike only seemed to increase attendance from an average of 500 per performance to the 1,000-ticket sellouts that the group has had at its last three concerts, Alexander said.

All that was accomplished without attempting to attract a broad audience by detouring the group from his goal of a purely classical format, he said.

In fact, Alexander gave audiences the weighty “German Requiem” by Johannes Brahms in April and the seldom-performed Rachmaninoff “Vespers” and Persichetti’s “Te Deum.” The choir, joined by Alexander’s Orange County Pacific Chorale, which he has conducted for 16 years, will perform the same pieces on a European tour this summer.

‘Trying to Make Statement’

“Our purpose is to try to build a good cultural climate in the Valley,” Alexander said. “We’re trying to make a statement.”

Alexander has a history of building ensembles from scratch and reviving those that have grown weak. After an early start as a solo violinist, he landed his first job at age 13 as choirmaster and organist of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “I had a paid adult solo quartet,” Alexander said of his early employment. “I fired two of them.”

At age 15, he accepted a position as music director at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Pompano Beach, Fla. (“I grew up very quickly.”)

Alexander went on to create choruses for the Cincinnati Symphony and Lexington Philharmonic, and infused new life into ensembles at Christ Church in Oberlin, Ohio, the University of Kentucky and Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. The conductor received music degrees from Oberlin College in Ohio and the University of Kentucky.

“I love to build,” Alexander said. “I like to see people get inspired.”

“A Salute to Irving Berlin: 100 Years!” will be performed by the Valley Master Chorale at John Burroughs High School in Burbank Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. For information, call (818) 789-1335.