May 9, 2006
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On Sunday afternoon we cast off our foolish idleness and went to church. For music; not the other stuff. The WWC was premiering a work they'd commissioned from composer-organist Katherine Dienes, a young New Zealander. Music director Donald Paul Richardson had heard one of her pieces somewhere, liked it, and tracked her down in England. He'd been thinking for some time about a work based on "A Song of Hannah" and when he proposed it to Dienes, she was astonished -- and acepted immediately. It turns out her own daughter, named Hannah, had just been born.

Here's the review:

The Washington Post 5/9/06: As all right-thinking people agree, there are few things in life as beautiful as the female voice -- and if one is good, more are even better. For proof, just turn your ears toward the Washington Women’s Chorus, which since 1996 has been bringing everything from medieval chant to ultra-modern new vocal works to the DC area.

Composer Katherine DienesThe Chorus celebrated its tenth anniversary at the National Presbyterian Church on Sunday, in a concert featuring “Hannah’s Song”, a new work by New Zealand composer Katherine Dienes. Commissioned by the Chorus, it’s based on Hebrew texts from the Book of Samuel, and embodies, in the composer’s words, “a jump for joy, a dance of glee.”

Joy and glee, of course, can be subjective. The Hannah texts are pretty severe; there’s a lot of “the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness,” and “they that strive with the Lord shall be broken in pieces.” But Dienes’ music itself was luminous, with insistent rhythms and an almost ancient, incantatory feel. Riding on a percussion section featuring marimba, hand-clapping and drums, with dark melodic lines carved out by cello and saxophone, the Chorus (under the excellent direction of Donald Paul Richardson) wove a complex and often exalting tapestry of sound. Mezzo Grace Gori and soprano Maryann East both turned in superb solos, and brought the whole work into vivid focus.

The second half of the program was devoted to lighter fare: standards and show tunes designed to showcase the Chorus and give its members a chance to solo – and everyone a chance to just have fun.