The singers marched on stage with near-military precision, the hem of each purple choir robe at the same distance from the ground. When they opened their mouths to sing, an even wall of sound emerged: words clear, notes true. But more than that, the notes were felt. As the music moved through the rows of singers, their bodies swayed like a field of long grass in the wind.
A Midwestern Choral Group to Whom the Words Matter
By ANNE MIDGETTE [NY Times, 10 Feb 05]
The singers marched on stage with near-military precision, the hem of each purple choir robe at the same distance from the ground. When they opened their mouths to sing, an even wall of sound emerged: words clear, notes true. But more than that, the notes were felt. As the music moved through the rows of singers, their bodies swayed like a field of long grass in the wind.
The St. Olaf Choir, a group of Lutheran college students from the Midwest, has been touring since 1912, and as it showed in a half-empty Carnegie Hall on Super Bowl Sunday, it is very good.