Bingham Vick bids a musical farewell to the Greenville Chorale

In this Sonatas & Soundscapes interview that aired Tuesday, September 16^th, host Bradley Fuller hears from Bingham Vick about his longtime role as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Greenville Chorale. Vick shares highlights from his 44-year career, favorite memories, and previews the farewell concert he will conduct September 20^th at the Peace Center Concert Hall.

TRANSCRIPT

FULLER: Bing, great to have you today.

VICK: Thank you very much, Bradley. It's nice to be here.

FULLER: And congratulations on your 44th anniversary, is it, with the Greenville Chorale?

VICK: 44 years. It's gone by very quickly. I started back in 1981 and this concert will be the culmination of 44 years.

FULLER: Was the decision to retire one that came easily to you, or was it pretty hard fought?

VICK: Well, it was it was a little bit of both. 44 years is a long time. I still have good health. I want to travel and do some other things. And it just seemed like the right time to make the move.

FULLER: Have you heard from any community members, chorale members? When you first made this announcement a few years ago, what were those responses?

VICK: Well, they were they were not happy. I mean we've had a good relationship. The chorale is a very dedicated group. We have a lot of members who have been singing for 20, 30, 40 years with me. So they knew all my jokes and you know they were sorry to see me go. But we have a wonderful new man coming in—Anthony Bernarducci, who is the choral director at Clemson, and he's going to do great. And he's a lot younger and will bring some new ideas, so that's all good.

FULLER: I'm glad to hear that, and I know you were directing for about two-thirds of the Chorale’s very existence, so I can understand some apprehension there.

VICK: Yeah. The chorale has had a very rich history and I've been fortunate to be a part of that for the last 44 years.

FULLER: Would you say your approach as a choral conductor has changed in that time—certain emphases you've had—or would you say fundamentally it's been the same?

VICK: I think fundamentally it's been the same. I've always tried to select repertoire that was the great classical works, if you will, and do them to the best of our ability. We have some very talented singers and we've done, I think, very high quality performances over the years. We sing with about 150 on stage, which is about as many as we can get on the Peace Center Stage with a full orchestra.

And I've had the luxury in the last 15-20 years of being very selective when auditions come around. So, it started as a sort of come one, come all ensemble back in 1961. And in recent years we just don't have space for all those who are really talented and want to sing. So I think the talent level has gotten much stronger and therefore the quality of performances has been continually better and better.

FULLER: Beyond that talent level induced by this “good problem,” you could say, of more people wanting to be in it than there are spaces, have you noticed changes in singers over the years and ways that they rehearse? Or ways you have to communicate with them to maybe impart a certain musical idea?

VICK: I think for every choral conductor, especially, there are a lot of different kinds of people in the ensemble. We have some collegiate teachers, we have voice faculty from Furman, from Bob Jones, from Anderson. We have good church choir singers, we have music educators. We also have ministers and physicians and good people who have sung in their life and want to continue to sing. And we constantly have some younger people coming into the group.

So it's a matter of reading the people, seeing what works, maybe finding a different way to say the same thing, maybe fussing a little bit at times as well as showing appreciation. But all in all it's a matter of communication and getting the right sound with the right instruction.

FULLER: I imagine you could fill a lot of pages about your four-and-a-half decades’ experience. Are there any seasons, any moments—perhaps particular concerts—that would really, you think, get a special page or a highlight reel if you had to pick certain moments in your career there?

VICK: I've thought about that a lot in the last year or so. We've had so many highlights. We've done the Bach B Minor Mass several times. We've done Messiah 10 times. We've done Verdi Requiem a number of times. We've done Carmina Burana a number of times.

One performance that stands out for me and I think for the ensemble—we did the Berlioz Requiem in 2001, combining all of the choirs at Furman including the Furman Singers, the full Furman Orchestra, the full Greenville Symphony, the full Greenville Chorale.

So we had over 300 singers, we had an orchestra that’s twice the size of most symphony orchestras, and we brought in additional instruments for the four brass bands that are to be stationed in the corners of the hall.

And we did this in the basketball arena, so it was a huge space and we could separate the brass bands. It was quite an undertaking and just a very thrilling kind of sound. Glorious and sacred and just an incredible experience, I think, for both the singers and the audience because that work is not done very often because it demands so much space and so many instruments and voices. So that was unique, and I think that would be one highlight.

As I said, we’ve done Bach B minor Mass several times and most recently I did it with the Herring chamber Ensemble (which is 24 professional voices within the chorale) with a chamber orchestra in a church setting at Westminster Presbyterian in Greenville. So that was really thrilling to do that kind of music in the setting that would have been what Bach heard and experienced.

And there have been others. People often ask me what's my favorite work, and my usual answer is: whatever I'm doing right now. That's my favorite. So as I look forward to this concert, I tried to pick, basically, my favorite—some of my favorite music. In recent years we've done the Brahms Requiem, we've done Messiah, we’ve done other pieces. And on this concert we're doing some of my favorites. And it's going to be a great concert, I think.

We're opening the concert with the Bernstein Chichester Psalms—just the first movement, which is “Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord.” Brass, strings, big chorus. Very, very vibrant and exciting. Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem we've done several times, and it's a favorite work of mine. We've got great soloists, and it speaks about the horrors of war, the destruction, and the plea for peace—Dona nobis pacem.

LUX: The Dawn from On High was commissioned for the Chorale by Gordon and Sarah Herring in 2017. Dan Forrest is just a phenomenal composer. He’s known worldwide and this was a major work. He's very creative with his orchestration. The theme of the work is light—lux—and light overcoming darkness, if you will. Truth overcoming non-truth. It's a great message and a beautiful, beautiful work.

The Mahler Resurrection Symphony is my favorite Mahler symphony, and we're doing just the last, about, seven minutes of it which is the choral portion with two soloists. Betsy Bishop who was a local Greenville girl—grew up went and to Furman—has been performing at the Metropolitan Opera for a long time. She lives in New York now. She's coming down to do the mezzo solo. And Kathryn Knauer who is also a former Furman student and on the voice faculty at Furman and a beautiful soprano is doing the soprano part. So it's a great work, and a great work to end the concert. And to end the career I think.

It's just going to be a great evening. The music is exciting. It's meaningful, and the texts are meaningful for today's world. And I'll be very happy I think.

FULLER: Bing, if you weren't at the end of this 4 1/2 decade tenure with the Chorale and instead were at the beginning—say, in Anthony Bernarducci’s shoes—what advice would you give to your younger self?

VICK: Wow. I haven't thought about that. That's a good question. I think Dr. Bernarducci is an experienced, talented, insightful, very personable conductor. And I would say, you know, just be yourself. Continue to pick great music. Hard music. Work them hard. The Chorale and the Chamber Ensemble are fine musicians and they put in two and a half hours every Monday night. And they like to be challenged. They like to do beautiful things. They like to do popular music, and we do that from time to time.

He's going to bring his own viewpoint to repertoire, and I'm sure he'll bring some new things. But that's what I tried to do over the years, was continue with the masterworks as the core and commission new works.

Choirs rehearse for weeks and weeks and if it's if it's not an enjoyable experience then it takes something away from the performance.

I work them hard but I want it to be—I don't know if “fun” is the right word—but at least enjoyable getting from the beginning to the performance.

FULLER: When this concert is concluded, do you have anything you're planning for retirement looking forward to, or [are you] just planning to take it easy?
VICK: I've always loved to travel. When I was conducting Furman Singers we were able to go to Europe 19 times and perform in some of the great cathedrals. And my wife and I have discovered—or discovered—cruising, and we enjoyed that. She passed away in 2023.

So, after the concert, a week or so later, a good friend and I are going on a cruise: Barcelona to Athens. And we're looking at a trip to Australia in January. So, not having the commitment of every Monday night rehearsal and concerts, it will free up life to be a little more open to travel.

And I have a few writing projects in my mind that I'm turning over. But it's time for a new conductor. And I think while I've got good health and people respond to me I'm ready to go.

FULLER: Well, Bing, congratulations again on this stellar career. Thank you for your musical leadership, thanks for sharing today, and all best for this concert and for your retirement.

VICK: Great, thank you very much, Bradley.

More information about the performance can be found on the Greenville Chorale website.

The Greenville Chorale is a supporter of South Carolina Public Radio.

Thanks to Dan Forrest, Jonathan Shuler, and the Greenville Chorale for permission to use excerpts from LUX: The Dawn from on High, included in the interview audio.