Their Powers Combined...

While the Holden Choirs and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) are known for grand productions on their own, their combined performance for Arts First weekend will be enormous by any standard.

The presentation of Mahler’s famed “Symphony No. 2” will mark the first time since 2003 that HRO and the Holden Choirs (the Harvard Glee Club, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and the Radcliffe Choral Society) have worked together.

“We’re legendarily the sort of ‘big bang’ of Arts First, and this year especially so, since HRO is performing with us,” says Antonia W.H. Fraker ’09, who manages the Radcliffe Choral Society. “We’re being sort of advertised as the crescendo of the Arts First thing, which is part of the reason why we’re doing something so grand and epic as the Mahler.”

At over 90 minutes in length, “Symphony No. 2” is an ambitious undertaking.

“This is a work that is unprecedented in its scale,” says senior Glee Club President Matthew E. Growdon ’07.

“[‘Symphony No. 2] is such an iconic piece that I think people who may not even typically enjoy classical music will find this to be a breathtaking performance.”

Beyond the exceptional amount of time required to practice this orchestral masterwork, the four groups have also had to jump over logistical hurdles in their preparation.

“It’s almost kind of an unwritten fire-hazard to get everyone on stage,” says Christine L. Barron ’09, the current president of HRO. The roughly 300 members of the combined groups, as well as many large instruments, including eight tympanis, must all fit on stage at the same time.

“You’re shuffling around, I think, five percent of the Harvard population on 700 square feet of space,” estimates Collegium manager Gena M. Haugen ’09. “It’s extremely crowded, but we’ve done it before.”

Despite the grueling work involved in preparing this piece, Holden Choirs’ associate conductor, Dr. Kevin C. Leong (a graduate of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) believes that this experience will be rewarding to all involved.

“When I first performed in a concert of the Mahler 2, I really felt like my life had been changed,” Leong recalls. “It’s such a big work. It’s such an emotional work.”

He also hopes that experience will be replicated for this year’s performers: “I know that this is going to be the case for all of our students singing and all of our students playing in the orchestra.”