Jun. 04, 2007

The Washington Men's Camerata explored the depths of human emotions during its touching "Songs of War and Peace" program Saturday evening at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. From the regal-sounding "Men of Harlech" and the tenderly flowing "Song for Peace" to the earthy incantation and chant of Veljo Tormis's "Varjele, Jumala, Soasta," the 78-member ensemble, under Music Director Frank Albinder, presented pieces that stretched across the male vocal spectrum, yielding performances with prominently chiseled dynamics and carefully honed phrases. Such attention to detail and diction allowed the group to portray Lee Hoiby's "Last Letter Home" with devastating poignancy. The music's text was drawn from the final writing of Army Pfc. Jesse Givens, who in 2003 drowned in the Euphrates River in Iraq after the bank beneath his tank gave way. The Camerata shared the stage with the 19 teenage singers of the Baltimore-based Changed Voice Choir of the Maryland State Boychoir. Together, they sang with warmth and feeling in Faure's "Cantique de Jean Racine," with sensitivity in Stephen Chatman's "In Flanders Fields" and with rousing hope in "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." The Changed Voice Choir took a turn in the spotlight, singing hymns, spirituals and Mendelssohn's "Beati Mortui" with clarity, sonority and strength under Director Stephen Holmes. In Raymond Dvorak's witty "Sophomoric Philosophy," the young men exuded schoolboy charm. They gave Paul Overstreet's "When You Say Nothing at All" a collegiate-level a cappella performance, which featured sweet-voiced Stephan Griffin as soloist.