Show offers a prism of Duke music

This Saturday, two weeks before the academic year comes to a close, Duke’s seven premier music ensembles will bring their own seasons to a spectacular close. This grand finale, The Prism Concert, is more than just an aural experience. It is visual, unusual, engulfing. It is a whirlpool of sound as each group will perform one after another, accompanied by lighting and special effects.

The Duke Chorale, the Collegium Musicum, the Djembe and Jazz Ensembles, Opera Workshop, the Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Symphony will all gather in Baldwin Auditorium to perform their most traditional and unique compositions. The concert will feature a variety of styles including Gregorian chants, modern jazz, orchestral works, operatic excerpts and Djembe African drumming.

One of The Prism Concert’s most distinctive aspects is the fact that the stage is not a solid entity as it would be at a classical concert performance. The balcony, the orchestra pit and the rest of the audience spaces all join together to form a stage.

Transitions between pieces and ensembles are quick, with the lighting and focus changing rapidly.

Such an intense stream of performances makes the show difficult on the players and singers. “We usually have our performances in Duke Chapel or the Nelson Music Room,” director of the Collegium Musicum Kerry McCarthy said. “So, Baldwin Auditorium is new to us.”

Her ensemble was “told to do something about six minutes long and impressive.” The concert’s stringent rules, which apply to most of the performing groups, help create the atmosphere of the concert. There is no applause, causing the audience’s attention to switch quickly from one performer to the next, from one location in Baldwin to another. This puts additional pressure on the participants, since they have no preliminary time to prepare or adjust, and they must remain highly concentrated and organized throughout the entire one-hour concert.

It is no wonder that even “logistically,” as McCarthy emphasized, “it is very hard to get these seven or eight groups together.” The preparation of the whole concert has required great coordination not only between and within the ensembles but also with the technical crew.

Despite its sophisticated presentation, the overall idea behind the concert is simple: to showcase seven different types of music at Duke—just as white light is dispersed into its seven component colors as it passes through a prism.