Tall and straight as his baton, Don Horisberger lifts his arms, ready to release the ripe blend of 120 voices.
Horisberger is rehearsing the Waukegan Concert Chorus for its annual yuletide presentation at the Waukegan High School Auditorium.
There are many volunteer community singing groups all over the country, but this one has performed at Carnegie Hall. Hear it once and you will know why it was invited.
The chorus ranges in age from a high school student to members in their 70s, an eclectic mix of doctors, salesmen, lawyers, homemakers, a construction worker, teachers, chemists, secretaries and a pilot. Most are from Lake County. A few come from Wisconsin. They run the gamut from trained voices to those with almost no training. But they all swap large chunks of time and effort for the opportunity to perform great works of music with a master choral director.
Ellen Otis of Waukegan, historian for the group, which was founded in 1977, is one of the 26 original members. She calls Horisberger “a true perfectionist. He expects a lot from the chorus, and he gets it. We’re all these different people, with different jobs, not professional musicians. But when we come together, we are one idea.
“He often stops us when we think we’re going great,” Otis said. “He makes us work on intonation, makes sure we sing our ahs and oohs together. He even had us use little mirrors so we could see what our mouths were doing. He describes vowels as one, two or three-finger vowels–meaning your mouth should be open the width of three fingers.
“We gave our first Christmas concert in 1979. It lasted half an hour,” Otis recalled. “We’ve grown a lot since then, and so has Don.”
Early recognition of the chorus included an appearance at the Illinois State Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Wheaton. Next came participation in a concert at Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center in New York featuring other artistically acclaimed choruses from around the nation.
The 1989 solo performance of the Waukegan Concert Chorus at Carnegie Hall was Horisberger’s New York conducting debut and a source of pride for every member.
Horisberger, 44, of Lake Bluff was born in Ohio. He received a degree from Capital University Conservatory of Music in Columbus and a master’s from Northwestern University, where he studied choral conducting with the renowned Margaret Hillis, followed by a Fulbright-Hayes scholarship for study in Germany. Upon his return to Chicago, he entered Northwestern’s doctoral program on a scholarship, again studying choral conducting with Hillis. He was awarded a doctor of music degree in 1985.
In early 1979, the small, original core of singers led by Circuit Judge John Hughes and wife Ann of Waukegan convinced Horisberger of their willingness to learn, and persuaded him to replace a director who hadn’t worked out. They knew Horisberger from his work as conductor of their church choir at First Presbyterian of Waukegan, and knew they were getting a taskmaster.
Horisberger makes no apologies for being strict. “On occasion there’ve been anger and tears,” he admitted. “But I hold music as the highest ideal, and the lives we can touch through music is the end goal.”
Each member must reaudition every year.
“They can bring a prepared number they’ve worked on,” Horisberger said, “then I spring something on them–a two-line exercise with pitfalls–intervals–maybe a change in melodic direction. I listen to range and vocal color, pitch-matching, rhythm-matching. Several members are taking private voice lessons because they want to be the best they can be.”
The chorus performs a capella and with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra, or sometimes with chamber ensembles. Smaller vocal ensembles have been formed within the group to perform music of different periods and styles, such as English madrigals and Gregorian chants.
Ann Hughes said, “For a long time we’ve dreamed of singing in one of the great European cathedrals. Don studied in Germany, and we sing many things in German–Oh, yes, we have to learn the right diction and intonation for foreign languages, too–it’s just a dream, but who knows?”
When Pam Seremak moved to Waukegan in 1979, she heard about the chorus from the Newcomers Club and wanted to sing in it. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I can come to practice with a workday headache and think, `I can’t do this.’ Then before rehearsal is over, I feel great.
“Don has different ways of getting us to sing with feeling. He’s full of funny, folksy little sayings. Or he’ll compare a certain sound he wants to Swiss chocolate. Sometimes he just announces, `I want you to make me cry.’ He tells us a sad story, gets us all choked up, then asks us to sing. He says emotion is a gift we can give the audience, and musical feeling touches souls and makes a difference. He’s right.”
Madison Bolt of Lake Villa is the principal tenor, one of the four paid section leaders in the chorus. Bolt, a professional conductor and soloist, also performs with the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
“One of those `sayings’ Don is famous for is: `Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.’ Then Dr. Horisberger looks over the chorus and says, `Now if you’re annoyed . . . ‘ That earned him a T-shirt with a pig on it,” Bolt recalled.
“Don owes his training to Margaret Hillis,” Bolt said. “She was Robert Shaw’s (founder of the Robert Shaw Chorale) assistant in New York in the ’40s and ’50s. (Then Chicago Symphony conductor) Fritz Reiner asked her to form the Chicago Symphony Chorus, one worthy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It was she who put on earth the concept of perfection of professional choral symphonies. She’s a stickler for every detail, good vocal technician, solid musicianship,” Bolt said.
“Don’s the same. He leaves no stone unturned, sometimes to the point of vexation. But just like in the Bible, the way to heaven is hard and narrow, and when Don leads you to the heights, the view is dazzling. I can’t say enough about what he’s done for the chorus.
“His basic philosophy is that his talent is a God-given trust. He doesn’t make music for his own pleasure. He feels that his own and other people’s best efforts are only a starting point.”
Sue Thomson of Zion is Horisberger’s administrative assistant. She has sung alto with the chorus for 15 years as well as with the smaller group of chamber singers.
Thomson laughed, describing how Horisberger tells the alto section, ” `You will not sing flat.’ Our section has fewer trained voices. We get yelled at a lot. And Don has a thing about `scooping’–that’s when you slide up to pitch like pop singers do. We can’t get away with that. Or anything else.
“During our three-hour weekly practice, he often sits on a tall stool on a platform so everybody can see him. He watches to see if we’re watching him.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie and cooperation in the chorus,” Thomson said. “We’ve often been told, `You people don’t ever breathe!’ Well, that seamless sound is no accident. We sneak breaths in unobvious places while others are singing.”
The chorus rehearses every Tuesday night and one Saturday a month at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Waukegan. To show their appreciation for the church’s generosity, the chorus sings a special Sunday service for the congregation each August.
The chorus is under the jurisdiction of two bodies, the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra & Concert Chorus Board and the Waukegan Park District Board, which handles the group’s advertising and mailings. Ticket sales cover less than a third of the concert costs and salaries for Horisberger and the four section leaders. Fundraisers, grants and contributions have to make up the deficit.
Debbie Rakestraw of Waukegan, a second soprano with the chorus, is the administrative manager of the orchestra and chorus board. “We have artistic autonomy, and we’re hopeful about new grants and sources of income. Let’s say we’re keeping our head above water,” she said.
Horisberger believes some things are meant to be. “Some people are born to be musicians,” he said. “I come from a rural farming community, but I always knew music was my calling. I love the human component–the special element of text–the marriage of music and poetry. The audience must hear the words to complete the experience of it.”
Besides directing the chorus, Horisberger, who is single, is the organist and choirmaster for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest. He also is an assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, having prepared it for performances with the Chicago Symphony and Ravinia Festival Orchestras.
Additionally, he has chaired the American Choral Directors Association Central Division for Community Choruses and has served on the National Forum of Advisers for Mid-America Productions, a concert producer in New York.
“Don Horisberger is a superb musician. I haven’t heard the Waukegan Chorus, but Don has rehearsed the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and from what I know of his work, I’m sure his chorus is excellent,” said Hillis, his mentor.
Beth Naegele, professor of music at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and music director at the church where the chorus rehearses, often crosses paths with Horisberger and his singers. “I think for a Rust Belt town and a group of volunteer singers, he does a fantastic job with them. He has a way of motivating people and getting a tone out of them that is very professional.”
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This year’s Christmas concert takes its title from one of the selections, “Christmas Garland” by Conrad Susa. Other favorites include John Rutter’s “Gloria” and Daniel Pinkham’s “Magnificat.” Traditional carols also are part of the program. The concert will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Waukegan High School Auditorium. Single tickets are $12, $10 for seniors, students and military personnel and $6 for children.
To purchase tickets, call the orchestra and chorus office at 708-360-4742.
Anyone interested in auditioning for the chorus may call Sue Thomson at 708-746-8918.
