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Longtime chorus hits a good run
By PIERRE RUHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/13/2005

In another sign of Atlanta's classical coming of age, the Michael O'Neal Singers is getting more professionalized — and thus more entrenched in the community.

This afternoon and Monday evening, the 130-voice choir performs Mendelssohn's Old Testament oratorio "Elijah." The singers have grown into one of the region's finer volunteer community choruses, supported by four paid staffers.

Joey Ivansco/AJC Choral director Michael O'Neal says 'the magnitude' of Mendelssohn's 'Elijah' 'gets you.'

Founded 12 years ago, it finally has a full-time executive director to oversee the $250,000-a-year operation.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, the O'Neal Singers last month hired David Wilkes, a clarinetist who trained as an arts administrator. After some internal restructuring, Wilkes occupies a new position, incorporating the work formerly handled by Jeannie Lewis, O'Neal's longtime assistant who moved to Charleston, S.C.

Wilkes shares authority with founder and artistic director O'Neal, who remains music director at Roswell United Methodist Church.

For "Elijah," O'Neal says the oratorio's popularity is surpassed only by Handel's "Messiah." Part of "Elijah's" appeal is for the audience, with stirring music of power and pathos. The other part is from the choristers' perspective: The music is glorious to sing — and not too difficult.

"It's not especially complex for the chorus," O'Neal says, "but it's the magnitude of the music that gets you."

The choral director, who sang as a tenor in Robert Shaw's Atlanta Symphony Chorus starting in the 1970s, learned his craft directly from the master.

"Shaw used to call it 'a long song' — that's a lovely way to think about what's about two and a half hours of music."

The O'Neal Singers will perform "Elijah" in an arrangement for organ and tympani. Soloists include bass John LaForge, as the thundering prophet, tenor Benjamin Pruitt, alto Karen Sikorski and soprano Deborah Benardot, cantor of the Temple.

$12-$15. 3 p.m. today at Roswell United Methodist Church and 8 p.m. Monday at the Temple on Peachtree Street. For directions, tickets and info: 770-594-7974, www.mosingers.com.

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The Michael O'Neal Singers: P.O. Box 1008, Roswell, GA 30077
Office 770-594-7974, Fax 770-650-5933, e-mail: Staff@mosingers.com
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