“Instrument and Voice Achieve One Harmony”: Rivers Jazz, Orchestra, and Choral Ensembles Unite for Commissioned Piece

There’s no shortage of performing arts students at Rivers, but it has been rare for ensembles to combine forces for a concert. On Friday, October 4, however, the Honors Big Band, orchestra, and chorus came together for the very first time with composer Felipe Salles to rehearse his new piece, “Duality,” which will receive its premiere at the 2024 Rivers & RSC Jazz Festival on November 16. 

The occasion not only marks the school’s first working sessions with the composer and the first performance of this piece; it is also a rare occasion where all three ensembles—a jazz ensemble, orchestra, and chorus— perform together, offering a valuable opportunity for these student musicians to collaborate across genres and instrumentation. 

Rivers Jazz Director Philippe Crettien, who studied composition at UMass Amherst with the composer, reached out in the spring with the idea to commission a piece that would allow orchestra, jazz band, and chorus to make music together. 

The resulting piece, “Duality,” borrows its name from an ancient poem by Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu, considered to be the founder of the Taoist philosophy of thought. The text explores the central Taoist idea of duality, which is the belief that everything has opposing sides. (Read the poem here). The poem is also a part of the Grade 9 history curriculum, and at an earlier rehearsal, history faculty member Ben Leeming visited the ensembles to share historical context on Taoism and the themes behind the poem. 

“There’s a lot to unpack within the text,” said Krissy Skare, who joined Rivers this year as the new choral director. In addition to sung passages, the piece also features two voices from the chorus who recite the poem. 

Saniya O’Brien ’28, who serves as one of the narrators in the chorus, appreciates the way the piece thoughtfully integrates the theme of the poem into the composition.

“I find there’s always two contrasting things in parts of the poem,” she said. “That contrasting aspect is really shown throughout the piece.”

Dan Shaud, chair of the Performing Arts Department and director of the orchestra, describes the style of the piece as “an amalgam of contemporary classical, jazz harmonies, Latin grooves, and extended harmonies you would expect in contemporary jazz.” 

“He’s a very skilled composer and he was able to write just the right level of difficulty,” said Shaud. “Being a living composer, he was able to adapt for us,” he said. 

Students also spoke about the ease of working with Salles in rehearsal, even across genres.

“He’s a very clear conductor,” said Jake Winneg ’25, the principal violinist in the orchestra. “It’s always cool working with composers—[Salles] knew exactly what the piece should sound like, so we could learn directly from him.”

“At first, it was tricky to figure out the rhythms,” said Esme Asaad ’26, a cellist with the chamber ensemble. “However, when we played it all together everything made more sense. It’s very different from a classical piece, but I really came to appreciate it when we were all playing it together.”

“Duality” also featured two jazz soloists performing improvised solos: Ben Schouten ’26, trombone, and Charlie Tandon ’28, piano. 

For Schouten, who plays in the Honors Big Band and the smaller Select 1 Combo, the rehearsal process was a challenging but rewarding learning experience. “We worked a lot balancing the three parts, because Big Band is a lot louder than orchestra and chorus, which is something we’re not used to,” he said. 

Tandon spoke about the process of preparing for an improvised solo. “Mr. Crettien is always talking about the arc of a solo—you build it up and bring it back down,” he said. Tandon also used Salles’ feedback on the other instruments in the rehearsal to shape the context of his solo. “He helped me experiment with more rhythms in contrast to the orchestra,” he said.

For the chorus, it was an opportunity to sing with instrumentalists, some for the first time ever, and to learn skills they would not typically be exposed to in regular rehearsals. “I think they’re going to learn some independence between the individual parts, because there are some challenging harmonies,” said Skare. “I also hope they’re going to understand the road map of a jazz composition—there’s a lot of pausing with jazz solos, to be able to count and be able to feel what more somatic groups of four measures feel like.”

The collaboration is a special opportunity to see a real-time collaboration of Rivers ensembles and a world premiere. 

Tandon encourages would-be concert-goers: “If you see something at the jazz fest, see this piece! It’s a great way for the other groups to learn more about jazz and for us to learn more about what other groups do.”

Hear the premiere of “Duality” at the 2024 Rivers & RSC Jazz Festival on Saturday, November 16, 2024. (Visit here for tickets.)

“Duality” will also be performed for the school community at an all-school assembly on December 2.