VERO BEACH — When Vero Beach High School choral director Greg Harris announced to the members of his chorus that they would be singing their Christmas concert with a world-class opera singer, there was only one note that rang out in the room: a collective gasp.
That was from his students who already knew her.
The rest, he showed videos of Deborah Voigt online.
“Their jaws were on the floor,” Harris recalls. ”They said, ‘She’s singing with us?’ I said, ‘No, you’re singing with her. We’re going to rise to that level.’”
Since then, the students have shown “a work ethic at the professional level. Oh my gosh, yes,” says Harris. “They’re making extra time to make sure that they’re top-notch. They have a great understanding of the performance that’s in front of them.”
Furthermore, they have to come back from Thanksgiving break and pick up where they left off.
“They realize the challenge. They’ll have memory dumps and brain blips to fix when they come back. But they’re setting themselves up for success.”
Harris read off Voigt’s performance schedule in world-class venues, and told his students, “We’re going to make this seamless for her.”
Voigt flies in next Friday morning and drives directly to the high school. She’ll rehearse with the chorus and orchestra, then will return to the high school Saturday morning to rehearse her solos – Jose Daniel Flores of Community Church will be her accompanist.
The concert is that evening.
“The idea that she wants to honor us to do this private concert and want to include the students is absolutely incredible,” said Harris. “I hope they have an eye-opening experience.”
While Voigt frequently narrates the goings-on backstage at the Met, in her acclaimed role as host of the MetLive productions, it was Harris who had a camera-crew worthy start to his school day.
After nudging a boy awake to watch a video of “Phantom of the Opera,” the bell ending first period sounded, only to be followed by a piercing second tone, a blaring alarm.
“Clear out! Move!” bellowed a staffer herding the students out into a blustery drizzle. Annoyed-looking students smirked as they headed back inside after the all-clear was given, but then a girl slipped on the wet floor, twisting her knee and crying with pain.
Harris helped her to her feet and gave her his arm support.
“Walk like we’re prom dates,” he said escorting the cringing girl to his office.
Unfazed, kids gathered around a grand piano as the high school accompanist, Karen Wiggins, started the rehearsal while Harris called the school nurse.
“Me-ma, me-ma, me-ma-me-e,” sang the chorus, warming up. Harris returned to take his place at the center of the group.
“Close in,” he said, brushing off the cut-up who hung his head over Harris’s shoulder.
“Everybody sing out. All girls need to sound like one girl! Ready, go!”
Singing with one voice, not as individuals, is counterintuitive to high school kids, Harris says.
“It takes a certain amount of sacrificing themselves, putting themselves out there, especially in high school where being accepted is so important,” says Harris. “But the music and the singing are a common bond that they all share. Now, when someone new comes into the group, they just welcome them. They are in it for each other, not just for themselves.”
One such newcomer is Gerald Williams, a 19-year-old senior who wants desperately to go into the music business. He leaned into his tenor part, eyebrows raised with emotion, as Harris reined in others’ fidgeting, and narrowed the focus until the teenagers’ faces showed only pure and earnest effort.
The music that emerged was radiant and clear. With passion – and comprehension – the kids launched into the sacred verses of Handel’s Messiah, singing ancient words like “thee” and “thine,” and centuries-old terms they could not possibly relate to – wassail , anyone?
“I just really hope that she teaches the students about the entire musical experience from beginning to end,” says Harris, who absorbed a love of performance from his high school chorus teacher, a former Broadway actress. “The kids know she’s coming that day, rehearsing with them and performing the next night. Just how she conducts herself alone is educational.”
Kayman Davis, a VBHS junior whom Harris describes as “up and coming” in the school’s drama department, has been singing since third grade. He hopes to major in music and has applied to Florida State University. His blue-tinted sunglasses pushing back his curly dark hair, Davis sang a clear-throated tenor, watching intently for Harris’ direction.
The idea of singing with Deborah Voigt is “amazing,” he says.
“I’m giddy just thinking about it,” he says.
Soprano Valerie dos Santos sings in the Atlantic Children’s Chorale at Community Church. Like Kayman, she has a sister who sang with Harris before her. She’s hoping to double major in animal science and music at Brigham Young University.
She says Voigt is “so good, it’s crazy. She has, like, an amazing vibrato. It’s just so good. I am so excited.”
Gerald Williams is hoping to major in music at the University of Hawaii or Alaska Pacific University, after which he wants to “take the music industry by storm.”
Like dos Santos, he too loves opera.
“My ears are not biased to any music,” he says.
“If it catches my attention and is sweet like a cask of ale, it resonates with me,” said Williams, using a phrase he learned from the Wassail song.
It is the first time in recent memory that the high school choral department has taken part in a Vero Beach Opera production, though its acclaimed orchestra under the direction of Matt Stott has performed several times.
According to Joan Ortega-Cowan, president of Vero Beach Opera, it was Voigt who brought the orchestra to the attention of VBO after hearing of its excellence through her friends in Vero.
Voigt suggested the opera consider inviting them to perform. This will be the third time the orchestra has done so.
“Every year, they learn an overture to an opera,” says Ortega-Cowan, herself a former high school teacher.
She proposed the joint Christmas concert a year and a half ago over breakfast with Voigt in New York.
The kids “are excited out of their minds,” she says. “It’s such an opportunity. And she’s such a down-to-earth person. I’m sure they’ll have interaction, and she has a great connection with the audience.”
Ortega-Cowan has pointed out to Voigt that the orchestra is planning a trip to Washington while Voigt is serving as artist-in-residence at the Washington National Opera.
“She thought that was wonderful.”
No word on whether they’ll manage a rendezvous, but the opera has already donated to the student effort to raise money for the trip.
The Christmas concert with Deborah Voigt and the VBHS chorus and orchestra is Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Seating is reserved with tickets starting at $30.
Call the VBHS box office at 772-564-5537.
Proceeds benefit the Deborah Voigt-Vero Beach Opera Foundation, which supports a protégé mentoring program as well as awards for the Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition to be staged in Vero.
