Interview by William Chan
University of Macau Choir (UM Choir) conductor Willson Lo Pui Kwan told The Macau Post Daily in a recent interview that the UM Choir and Macao Polytechnic University (MPU) Music Programme Choir will present a spring concert tomorrow on the UM campus in Hengqin.
The interview was held in a café on Avenida de Horta e Costa.
The UM Choir was established in 2004 with the goal of enriching the music culture on campus and promoting chorus music. Led by Lo since 2007, the choir has held concerts annually and performed at various university events and ceremonies. In 2010, the UM Choir collaborated with the Peking University Choir in a joint concert. They also participated in “Beethoven Symphony 9” in Hong Kong in 2012 alongside the Hong Kong Bach Choir and Orchestra. In 2015, the UM Choir won a Gold Medal at the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) World Choral Expo.
The MPU Music Programme Choir, led by Associate Professor Maria Vanessa Leão, comprises students from the university’s Music Programme. The choir has won awards in competitions such as the Hong Kong International Youth Choir Competition (Bronze Prize) and the Golden Lotus International Choir Competition (Gold Prize). They also performed with the Macao Orchestra (OM) at the latter’s 2013 Christmas Concert, as well as at the Macau Arts Festival 2014’s opening ceremony.
Music choice
Lo said that the first half of the concert will feature the MPU Music Programme Choir, while the UM Choir will kickstart the second half with American composer Eric Whitacre’s “Oculi Omnium” (“The Eyes of All”), followed by “Prelude to Water Melody” by a Taiwanese composer, which involves hitting and scratching the strings inside the piano. “The choir members and I have been experimenting with techniques to convey the composer’s intended meaning,” Lo said.
The UM Choir will also feature “Under The Flower Tree” by another Taiwanese composer, and an arrangement of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film music, while the concert will end with a Mass Choir performance by the two university choirs.
As part of its annual concert schedule, Lo said, the choir typically puts on two performances each year, one in November and another in April. “Usually, the November concert is focused on classical repertoire, which helps new students develop their fundamental techniques for singing in a choir,” Lo noted.
While in April, Lo noted, the choir takes on a new challenge by tackling more contemporary songs. When asked what “contemporary music” means, Lo underlined that his definition of contemporary is that they were composed in the recent past. “‘Under The Flower Tree’, Miyazaki’s music and ‘Oculi Omnium’ are all very different kinds of music composed in the past 50 years: I see them as contemporary, even though they have diverse music styles,” Lo noted.
University settings
Lo said he faces a unique challenge in leading the UM Choir, as the turnover rate of students can be high due to the nature of the university setting. This year, the choir has lost nearly half of its members as they had graduated, which can make it difficult to maintain consistency in sound and skill level.
Unlike string and wind bands, which typically require their members to have a music background and knowledge of their respective instruments, Lo said that the choir often recruits members without prior musical experience. “It is really difficult to select songs to suit all the levels of the students. You want to make it accessible to new members but also exciting for experienced ones,” Lo noted.
Despite the challenges of the university setting, Lo is grateful for the enthusiastic and dedicated young performers in the UM Choir. In fact, he said that at one time he had pushed his students to their limits during a rehearsal, sometimes rehearsing for over four hours until midnight.
This level of commitment and perseverance shows the passion and love for music shared by both Lo and his students.
Lo also recognises the physical demands of singing and the need for proper techniques and skills in order to avoid vocal strain and fatigue. He noted, at the end of the interview, that there is a “skill” in choir music that involves learning how to fake singing when needed, particularly when one’s voice or concentration is weakened over long performances. “This is important in order to maintain the integrity of the overall sound of the choir, even when individual members may need to take a break,” Lo noted.
The concert will take place tomorrow from 8 p.m. at the Student Activity Centre (E31-Plaza). Admission to the performance is free of charge, and both choirs extend a warm invitation to all members of the UM and MPU communities and beyond to share in an unforgettable evening of music.
This undated photo shows Willson Lo Pui Kwan conducting.
This undated photo shows UM Choir performing on the UM campus.
The University of Macau Choir (UM Choir) performs in Sichuan in 2021.
– All photos provided by University of Macau Choir (UM Choir)
This undated photo shows the Macao Polytechnic University Music Programme Choir posing.
