Members of the UNM choral program received a standing ovation in the Lincoln Center after their performance of René Clausen’s “Requiem” last weekend.
Brad Ellingboe, director of choral activities, said recognition like that is rare in New York.
“In New Mexico, everyone stands for everything all the time and I think that’s because they had been sitting a long time,” he said. “In New York, that’s a real mark of respect.”
UNM sent 180 singers to perform the piece, written specifically for the UNM choir, at New York City’s Lincoln Center Sunday. Ellingboe said they performed the world debut of the piece last year at Popejoy.
“Those people that got to be a part of this — really, it’s almost validation that the work that we’re doing here at UNM is really good on a national level,” Ellingboe said.
The group, which performed for more than 2,000 people, was composed of the University chorus and two small choirs from Cibola and Moriarty high schools.
UNM student Darci Lobdell, Ellingboe’s secretary and personal assistant, said Sunday’s performance was emotional for the UNM students.
“Usually with this production company, they take choirs from all over the place and put them all together, but we just brought all of UNM and made one giant choir,” Lobdell said. “It definitely had school pride in it as well as New Mexico pride. We were the only ones who have ever done this before.”
“Requiem” was composed specifically for UNM, voice instructor Sam Shepperson said. With no prior recording to work off of, Shepperson said it was difficult to put the piece together at first. Working with a newly composed piece did have its benefits, Shepperson said, such as leaving a positive impression on the New York audience.
“There’s a certain generic sound sometimes from a stage from New York — the people that do it are so used to doing it. For us, we were really excited to be there,” he said. “We had worked hard to do it, and I think that the audience there felt that and realized what a special piece it was, and how much it meant for us to be there to perform it.”
Performing at the Lincoln Center for the first time, Shepperson said he was thankful for the opportunity.
“You’re performing on the same stage where Pavarotti once sang, or Domingo — all of these famous people once performed or still perform, so that’s special,” he said.
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Voice instructor and soprano soloist Leslie Umphrey said that the confidence UNM’s choir had going into Sunday’s performance was something that impressed the audience.
“After the show, someone asked if we were a professional choir, and were surprised to find out that it’s our University concert choir and a few high school choirs from the Albuquerque area,” she said. “It was an overwhelmingly positive experience.”
