Music Credits: . "Kyrie” from Mozart's Requiem, performed by Malcolm J. Merriweather and The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, performed live, 2016.

. "Laudate Dominum” from Quartre Motets composed by Marcel Dupre, performed by Malcolm J. Merriweather and The Dessoff Choirs, performed live, 2017.

. "Easter” from Five Mystical Songs composed by Vaughn Williams" performed live by Malcolm J. Merriweather.

"Hymne National" perfomed by Voices of Haiti, performed live, 2017.

"Oh Freedom", traditional, performed by Malcolm J. Merriweather and The Dessoff Choirs.

*Music up*

Malcom Merriweather:I love the aspect of collaboration when I’m working with an ensemble. There is this continuum of energy and flow of ideas and music when I’m on the podium, conducting. And there’s nothing like that experience of starting a group with an unfamiliar piece of music, and bringing them through the process of a performance.

*Music up*

Jo Reed: That’s singer, educator, conductor and music director of the Dessoff Choirs, Malcolm Merriweather, and this is Art Works the weekly podcast from the National Endowment for the Arts. I’m Josephine Reed.

It’s hard to know what is more impressive about Malcolm J. Merriweather—his multi-faceted talent or his boundless energy and deep focus. Malcolm is only in his early 30s, but a person twice his age would be thrilled with his accomplishments. He has two masters’ degrees from Eastman School of music and a doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. He has a brilliant career as a singer, he is director of Choral studies at Brooklyn College, artist-in-residence at Union Theological Seminary, artistic director of Voices of Haiti, a sixty-voice children’s choir, and he is conductor and artistic director of the renowned Dessoff Choirs. I’m going to speak to Malcolm about all aspects of his career, but I’m going to begin with the Dessoff Choirs, which has been called one of the great amateur choruses of our time. Begun in 1924, the choirs are composed of world class avocational singers who are known for their performances of choral work from pre-Baroque to the 21^st century—mixing classical choral pieces with contemporary work. In 2016, Malcolm J. Merriweather became the group’s ninth music director…adding that jewel to his diverse career. And it’s quite the task since the Dessoff Choirs consists of three groups of singers.

Malcolm Merriweather: We have a chamber group of about 20 singers, a core group of 60 members, and a symphonic choir of up to 200 members. And we utilize these various choirs for different projects: symphonic projects, chamber music projects, and-- but the core choir rehearses weekly, throughout our season.

Jo Reed: And who are the people who make up the choir?

Malcolm Merriweather: They are doctors, they are lawyers, they’re teachers. Many are retired. We have college students. It’s a really... a diverse group, and our members come from various backgrounds.

Jo Reed: Besides a good voice, what do you look for when you’re choosing choir members?

Malcolm Merriweather: Well, of course, a good voice is primary, but in an audition, I’m not so much interested in perfection; I’m interested in how a singer thinks. So, in any given audition, there would be vocalese, and also sight-reading, and pitch-matching, and pitch memory exercises. So I’m interested in how singers function and try to figure out errors, and how their ears collaborate with their other musicianship skills to go through this audition process.

Jo Reed: What is the job of the conductor, in this particular instance, when you’re conducting a choir?

Malcolm Merriweather: The-- it’s multidimensional. Of course, my primary responsibility is leading weekly rehearsals and leading the group in concerts, but a lot of planning goes into preparing for those rehearsals. I, of course, select the music for a given season, I audition the membership, and I get to do fun interviews like this <laughs>, to talk about the choir and its mission. But it’s really multifaceted. I really serve as the face of the organization, and the artistic voice. My goal is to inspire each of our singers towards a common goal and a common mission in a given piece of music. We have the wishes of a composer written down, and it’s my job to make that music come off the page, and come alive.

*Music up*

Jo Reed: What do think the key is to live performance?

Malcolm Merriweather: The key to live performance, I think, is being in the moment, but also being a step ahead, and anticipating. I teach at Brooklyn College, and one of the skills that I’m always encouraging our students to hone is to anticipate, whether it be a page turn, whether it be a rest, whether it be a rhythm. Because if you’re experiencing the music as it’s happening, you’re already too late. So, in live performance, I always try to be a couple of steps ahead, as the director of the choir, and encourage them to be a step ahead of where they need to be.

Jo Reed: You’ve said that you really want to connect with the audience, and the days of the audience sitting in rows, looking at whoever is performing on a stage, are rapidly coming to an end.

Malcolm Merriweather: Absolutely. In my role as music director of the Dessoff Choirs, I’ve really tried to challenge those norms by placing the choir in positions throughout our performance venue, around the audience, in a quadrophonic fashion, just to really break down that barrier of audience and performer. I think that’s really critical to keep our audiences engaged, and the feedback has been really outstanding.

Jo Reed: How did you come to Dessoff?

Malcolm Merriweather: It’s interesting. Before I became music director, I was a frequent soloist, as a baritone soloist. So I wasn’t a stranger to the group, and when the position became vacant, I jumped at the opportunity to apply, and, lucky for me, I was successful. <laughs>

Jo Reed: <laughs> Now, you’re a singer, a conductor, and an educator.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, that’s correct.

Jo Reed: Tell me when you began to sing.

Malcolm Merriweather: Well, my mother always tells the story that I was singing as a baby. My formal singing began as a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Buffalo, New York, in their Men and Boys Choir, where I participated in two to three weekly services at the cathedral, and numerous rehearsals. It’s a very serious and rigorous program. And I stayed with that choir through my voice change, until I was a senior in high school.

Jo Reed: What do you remember best from that time?

Malcolm Merriweather: I can remember just being completely mesmerized and entranced by the colors of the pipe organ, and the combination of the organ with the voices. And I’ll never forget my first performance with a baroque orchestra, and seeing the baroque violone and the bassoon, and hearing these instruments, and watching and observing these musicians play. And it just-- it struck a chord within me.

Jo Reed: And I would also think it would give you a sense of what that life might be like, and the kind of discipline and rigor that you need to bring to any performing art.

Malcolm Merriweather: Absolutely. I can just remember observing the time and the concentration of the orchestra members, of my director, of the organist, and it has certainly been a thread throughout my career to look back on those experiences and think back to what these directors and performers gave to me, as a young child.

Jo Reed: And did you know right away that this is what you wanted to do?

Malcolm Merriweather: No, not exactly. I knew that I loved music. I knew that I loved performing. But it wasn’t until it came time to apply for colleges, and I began auditioning at different schools and received, you know, really positive feedback, that I thought to myself, “Oh, this could be my career. This is what I could do for a living.” And after that point, I really never looked back.

*Music up*

Jo Reed: When did you add conducting to your arsenal?

Malcolm Merriweather: I began conducting at Syracuse University, and it’s something that... I’ve always been curious, and I’ve always never been afraid to take opportunities. And it was an opportunity that really fell into my lap. I was singing in an a cappella group, and we needed a music director, and I was elected the music director, and I really enjoyed that leadership aspect and that collaborative role, working with ensembles after taking a conducting class and got a master’s degree in conducting. And I think everything in my undergraduate education prepared me to be a conductor, from ear training, from studying piano, and eventually studying organ, and of course my private voice lessons. All of these aspects are important when leading a group, to prepare the music and prepare each of the vocal parts, to understand the role of the instruments in relation to the vocal lines and harmony and rhythm. And it’s complex, but it’s wonderful.

Jo Reed: <laughs> Now, tell me what you get from conducting that you don’t get from singing, and vice versa. I imagine they complement each other beautifully, but I imagine each gives you something that the other, perhaps, doesn’t.

Malcolm Merriweather: Oh, absolutely. I love the aspect of collaboration when I’m working with an ensemble. There is this continuum of energy and flow of ideas and music when I’m on the podium, conducting. And there’s nothing like that experience of starting a group with an unfamiliar piece of music, and bringing them through the process of a performance. And the performance is only, really, ten percent, for me. Usually, the rehearsal process leading up to the concert is the best part. And the concert is really sort of the icing on the cake. And as a singer, sometimes it can be pretty solitary. I mean, if I’m preparing for a solo gig, I’m practicing at home by myself, and then that collaborative aspect comes in at the end. You’re right, they’re certainly opposite, but they’re definitely complementary.

Jo Reed: Now, what do you like to sing? What is your voice best suited for? I understand that’s two completely different questions, but what do you like to sing, and what is your voice best suited for?

Malcolm Merriweather: I love to sing concert music: oratorios, requiems... <laughs> and the great choral orchestral works that have choirs. And I guess that’s not a surprise. And my voice is-- I’m a high baritone, so it’s best suited for the music of Vaughan Williams and Brahms, and really some Handel oratorios. Things like that, are sort of what I sink my teeth into.

Jo Reed: Now, I saw you with Dessoff, singing “Oh Freedom!”, and you sang the first verse, and then you conducted the choir.

*Excerpt of Merriweather singing “Oh Freedom!”*

Jo Reed: How unusual is that?

Malcolm Merriweather: It is... it is-- some people might say it is unusual, during our time, for the conductor to sort of step out and perform. But when you look back to the 19^th century, to composers like Beethoven, who would often play piano concertos and also conduct, and Liszt, and Brahms, it was not that foreign for conductors to showcase their skills as a performer. So, I have made a choice to showcase my duality as a singer and a conductor, and I think it brings an interesting texture to concerts, for audience members to hear solo voice, and also then to hear a choir, and see my role change in a matter of minutes when that occurs.

*Excerpt of “Oh Freedom!”*

Jo Reed: I thought it was actually quite wonderful, and I was thinking about, “When have I seen that?” And again, I-- maybe with a pianist. But I think-- like Daniel Barenboim.

Malcolm Merriweather: Oh, of course. Yes. It’s not so common with singers as conductors. Yeah. So it’s-- it may be my niche.

Jo Reed: Yeah. I liked it. It was great.

Malcolm Merriweather: Thank you.

Jo Reed: What is unique about the voice, as an instrument?

Malcolm Merriweather: I think that the voice is the most expressive voice-- excuse me. I think that the voice is the most expressive instrument, because each color, each vowel, each consonant is... has life through air, and through breath. Now, each human voice is also inherently different, so there are so many colors on the spectrum when I think about the voices in the Dessoff Choir. And I’ve gotten to know all of those voices very well, and their strengths and the capabilities, their strongs, their softs, the different articulation, the range, and it never amazes me what we are able to accomplish.

Jo Reed: Well, you’re also the artistic director of Voices of Haiti.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, I am.

Jo Reed: Tell me about that program.

Malcolm Merriweather: I founded Voices of Haiti at the request of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, in 2016-- January 2016. And it is a program that serves 60 children in Port-au-Prince, who are disadvantaged. Many come from one of the largest slums in Port-au-Prince. And the program is designed to bring some dignity and hope to their lives, as they face extreme social, political, and many other challenges in their lives. So they meet on Saturday mornings. They receive breakfast, and they have vocaleses. I’ve designed a program where they’re learning how to read music, and we have solfège study, and also—

Jo Reed: Back up. What is that?

Malcolm Merriweather: Solfège-- it’s a way of reading music: <sings> do re mi fa so la ti do ti la so fa mi re do. You may recognize it from--

Jo Reed: That, I do. Yes.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes.

<both laugh>

Malcolm Merriweather: So... the program is comprehensive. They also receive lunch. Nutrition is really important for this program.

Jo Reed: Oh, I would think. Yeah.

Malcolm Merriweather: They have come a long way in two years, and it’s one of the great joys of my life to travel to Port-au-Prince about once per month-- sometimes more-- to work with them. And when I’m not there, there are two local musicians who are working with them, and they send me recordings of the rehearsals, and I critique the rehearsals and give feedback, and send those notes back to them. It’s definitely what I call a passion project, because it is impacting the greater world through the gift of music.

Jo Reed: Their singing is so beautiful.

Malcolm Merriweather: Thank you.

*Music up*

Malcolm Merriweather: And I feel-- sometimes I feel-- many times, all the time, I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world, to be able to go and work with them, because it is a-- it’s a great joy.

Jo Reed: And you got to go to Rome and actually sing for the Pope, but then meet him.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, that’s true. We brought all 60 children across the Atlantic to perform with Andrea Bocelli at his summer festival in Lajatico, and we were able to go to the Vatican, and we were received by the Pope, and we performed “Ave Maria” for him, and also two traditional Haitian folk songs. And after our performance, he greeted every child, and he also greeted me, and that was a great and supreme honor.

Jo Reed: That must’ve been such an extraordinary experience for those kids.

Malcolm Merriweather: Absolutely. Many of the children-- I should say, all of the children-- are deeply religious. Many are Catholic, and there are some that are Protestant, and there are some who practice voodoo. So it is-- it’s a really diverse group of religious practices.

Jo Reed: And they also perform in Haiti, of course, and so--

Malcolm Merriweather: Oh, of course.

Jo Reed: So their parents get to see them as well as their friends and other relatives.

Malcolm Merriweather: Absolutely. We have designed a program that is based on season so we have done Christmas presentations, we’ve done Mother’s Day presentations, we always have a presentation at the end of the year-- at the end of the school year in June, and parents and family members, they flock to these performances. I mean it’s-- the support from the community is overwhelming.

Jo Reed: And what’s your hopes for Voices of Haiti?

Malcolm Merriweather: My hope is that these children can always find a sense of expression through their music. Because I think, in poverty-stricken environments, like Port au Prince and some of the slums that they live in -- they’re focused on survival. They’re focused on water, and finding food and clothes, and where the next meal is going to come from. So this program strives to really provide a sense of hope and solace amidst really, really difficult circumstances.

Jo Reed: Yeah. It’s like you need bread, but you need roses, too, like the old Union song.

Malcolm Merriweather: Exactly. Mm-hmm.

Jo Reed: Back to the United States for a moment.

Malcolm Merriweather: Of course.

Jo Reed: What about your goals for Dessoff? Where would you like to see the choirs in a decade?

Malcolm Merriweather: That’s a really great question because like I said we’re 93 years old and we’re approaching our centenary in just under a decade, and my goals as a music director is certainly to build upon the rich history of working with contemporary composers and we’re really embarking on that next season. We’re focusing on the bicentennial of Walt Whitman and there’s a lot of choral music that has utilized Whitman’s poetry and Dessoff is actually commissioning five major composers to write new choral works to contribute to that bank of Walt Whitman choral music. And this is an opportunity to really add and build upon the history of performing contemporary new works.

Jo Reed: That’s so interesting. You know, Alex Ross wrote an article in the New Yorker maybe few years ago about why concerts stopped consisting of contemporary classical work

Malcolm Merriweather: Mhm!

Jo Reed: And he pointed to Beethoven. This is a gross simplification, but Ross said that Beethoven was so venerated, he shaped what we think about classical music and cast such a long and deep shadow that it obscured the work of contemporary composers.

Malcolm Merriweather: Well, yeah, I think that’s a very good point that we are performing-- most institutions-- music institutions are performing music by dead white men and-- while there is music being created all around us, and it is certainly a goal of mine to explore this music while the composers are still with us and there’s such a just bevy of composers that are based in the New York area, the tristate area. So I hope to take advantage of that opportunity with Dessoff, and also continue to provide a place in the New York choral scene for singers who might not necessarily wish to sing the big choral orchestral works and the canon of Verdi “Requiem” and Bach’s B Minor Mass and who are looking for more of a mid-size choir experience.

Jo Reed: You’ve said that you’re trying to keep your foot in the world of traditional music but at the same time work toward being edgier.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes. And with that-- with the more traditional music is reimagining that music and performing it in sort of-- I mentioned this early-- a multidimensional fashion so that we can break down that barrier between our audiences and not just standing on stage and singing it but perhaps joining together with a high-school choir and-- to create an intergenerational opportunity and share that music with the future of choral music.

*Music up*

Jo Reed: What do you think draws people to chorus?

Malcolm Merriweather: I think that our-- especially our singers in Dessoff they-- we rehearse on Monday evenings from seven to ten. Many come after a long workday and it is a way to express themselves. It is a way to relax perhaps, even though sometimes it’s not that relaxing because I-- we are really working hard to prepare Bach motets in seven weeks is no small feat, but I think that each and every member comes to that rehearsal and makes a commitment to a season because of an underlying passion; it comes from an experience of growing up and singing in a church choir or singing in a high-school choir or being in a musical or having their grandmother sing to them as a child. And it’s always interesting to speak with our choir members about their experience with each individual piece.

Jo Reed: Of music that you’re preparing.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, our season is diverse in its repertoire so there’s a lot of different viewpoints and I think every singer offers a different view of appreciation, and they’re not afraid to let me know if they don’t appreciate something. I think many singers when we started “Little Match Girl Passion” it’s a minimalist piece and there’s lots of recurring figures and rhythmic cells that are tricky and cumbersome and they didn’t necessarily like it at the beginning of the process, but by the end, by the concert, by the dress rehearsal it all made sense.

Jo Reed: You’re also director of choirs at Brooklyn College.

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, that’s correct.

Jo Reed: What do you think is important to impart to those students?

Malcolm Merriweather: That’s a really good question. There are so many things <laughs> but I think at the top of my list is being a well-rounded musician, not only being a consummate singer but having skills as a keyboard player, being able to perhaps conduct a little bit because to have a career as a professional musician I believe that a modern professional musician needs to be multifaceted to really make it. So at Brooklyn College we are not just singing and not just doing opera or grand opera; we’re doing contemporary opera. We are doing chamber music, we are doing choral orchestral works, and we are also working with career-development specialists because it’s-- there’s so much that needs to be done and for an undergraduate four years goes by in the blink of an eye. So I always encourage my students to take advantage of every opportunity, whether it be a master class and whether it be an opportunity to go to a performance and not just vocal performances. Our students regularly attend wind ensemble performances at the school and performances by orchestra and also to expand outside the idiom of classical music and get comfortable with jazz.

Jo Reed: Do you like jazz?

Malcolm Merriweather: Oh, I love jazz.

Jo Reed: Who do you like?

Malcolm Merriweather: Well, one of my favorite jazz composers is my colleague at Brooklyn College, Arturo O’Farrill, who is the director of the Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra.

Jo Reed: Here at the NEA we give out our Jazz Master awards every year. And It’s a lifetime achievement award in jazz and of the 2018 NEA Jazz Masters is Todd Barkan actually produced Arturo’s album The Offense of the Drum which won a Grammy Award.

Malcolm Merriweather: Oh, okay. Well, I’m not surprised.

Jo Reed: How long after you got out of school was it before you could support yourself through music?

Malcolm Merriweather: I guess the second I graduated <laughs> when I—

Jo Reed: You never had to have a day job?

Malcolm Merriweather: No, I’ve always been interested in teaching and-- but teaching through performance and when I graduated from the Eastman School of Music I earned a position with the New York Choral Society and I moved to New York and began singing professionally and eventually doing some teaching at some community music schools. And then I did go back to school to get my doctorate, but by that time I was working at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the associate choirmaster. And so to answer your question I- I’ve really just been in music.

Jo Reed: Good for you. That’s so rare.

Malcolm Merriweather: It is.

Jo Reed: It’s so hard to make a living in the arts.

Malcolm Merriweather: It really is, it really is and I always tell my students it’s possible but I’m not just a singer, I’m not just a conductor, and I take pride in all of the professions that I work in within music.

Jo Reed: What do you listen to?

Malcolm Merriweather: What do I listen to? Oh. I spend a lot of time on the train. I live in Harlem and I teach at Brooklyn College so I have about an hour-and-a-half commute so I listen to a lot. I love Mahler so I listen to Mahler symphonies. I love lieder; I listen to a lot of lieder. I am-- just became a subscriber to Spotify and I do listen to pop music. I just put on a playlist that they’ve sort of prescribed and sort of listen to that as well. But on any given day it could be Brahms, it could be Beethoven piano sonatas, Bach; it’s sort of up in the air.

Jo Reed: Just flip a coin, and you’re fine on the subway listening to it. Do you have noise-canceling headphones?

Malcolm Merriweather: Yes, and it’s-- it is-- it’s definitely needed on the subway so-- it’s a long commute so I’m happy to have music.

Jo Reed: I lived in Brooklyn and I went to Columbia

Malcolm Merriweather: Wow. So you understand that commute.

Jo Reed: - so boy do I know that commute like the back of my hand. And I think that’s a good place to leave it Malcolm, on the mighty “A” train. I want to thank you so much for giving me your time

Malcolm Merriweather: And thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure to speak with you.

*Music up*

Jo Reed: That is singer, educator, conductor, artistic director of Voices of Haiti and music director of the Dessoff Choirs, Malcolm J. Merriweather. Find out more about his wonderful work at dessoff.org or at voicesofhaiti.org.

You’ve been listening to Art Works produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. You can subscribe to Art Works where ever you get your podcasts—so please do and leave us a rating on Apple—it does help people to find us.

For the National Endowment for the Arts, I'm Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening.

*Music fades out*

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