Angel Michaels Leads Islands A Cappella to Italy

Angel Michaels (right) points out "nasty" notes to Shaw Islander Tim Nelson and Orcas Islander Pam Loew at The Village on Spring Street in Friday Harbor.

Well-traveled group takes their music to Europe next summer

Since assuming the directorship of Orcas A Cappella 10 months ago, Angel Michaels has steered the inter-islands group through concerts and rehearsals at new venues, additional repertoire, name change, and new choir library and librarians.  Next summer, she will direct members of the choir in performance and participation at the Europa Cantat, an international singing festival that takes place every three years, in Milan, Italy.

Nearly 10 years ago, Dennis Bonner founded the Orcas A Cappella singers. In addition to a deep love of choral expression, Bonner led his choir in the SongShare programs which included:

• Participation in Europa Cantat festivals in Barcelona, Spain in 2003 and in Mainz, Germany in 2006
• Hosting the Swedish youth choir, “Cor med Cor” in a 2004 tour of the San Juan Islands and Pacific NW
• Hosting Slovenian composer/conductor Damijen Mocznik and his family in a workshop and performances in the San Juans in 2007

Last year, as Bonner and his wife Candy Ver Brugghen relocated to Oregon, Angel Michaels took up the baton as Associate Director. Following the Christmas concerts in 2010, Michaels and Orcas A Cappella agreed that she and Bonner would switch places, with Michaels assuming full leadership of the choir.

Michaels, who lives on San Juan Island, earned a Master of Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at Holy Names College before moving to the San Juans. She also directs the San Juan Singers, Sound Vibrations (a women’s a cappella chorus) and the Barbershop group, Island Chordsmen Plus.

In the years since its founding, Orcas A Cappella has brought in singers from Lopez and Shaw Islands. Rehearsals have been held at the Orcas Center, the Orcas ferry landing, the Grange, the Shaw Island Community Center and the Shaw Island ferry landing – and on the ferries themselves.

So this year, with Michaels at the helm, it seemed both practical and appropriate to rehearse in the venue that worked best with the ferry schedules for all its members. That has turned out to be the Village Home in Friday Harbor.  Rehearsals now are on Sundays from 2:30 to 5:15 p.m.

It also seemed appropriate to change the non-profit singing group’s name to “Islands A Cappella;” and that changed was approved by the board and choir membership this fall.

Now the entire choir is preparing for its December concerts, the Spring season, and the trip to Europa Cantat in Italy next summer. Rehearsals are a lively affair, with Michaels giving colorful explanations to help bring out the spirit of the music:

“Don’t try to nudge madrigals; you have to trust the sprightly, graceful pulse.”

Or: “The discordant sounds in this piece don’t come out as discord, but as ambiguity that whirls around. The odd chords are the composer’s attempt to make you focus on that word. You have to make a gentle sound, and the more you can straighten the tone, the better.”

Or: “It looks nasty, but it sings kinda normal.”

Michaels’ signature says, “Plant seeds, sing songs, feed the body and soul.” She is directing the choir in choral standards “so you can have them in your personal repertoire, it’s your admission to the Choral Arts Global World. And so whenever we hear it, or sing it again, for a moment we’re transported to where we were when we heard that music for the first time.”

The trip, from July 22 to August 5, 2012, includes a four day stay in the resort town of Lecco on the banks of Lake Como, before ten days in Milan at the Cantat. While there, Islands A Cappella singers (and their companions) can participate in a variety of workshops of their choice, called “ateliers.” Or they can just play tourist.

Pam Loew, who formerly operated her own travel agency, is orchestrating the details for the group’s travel to Europa Cantat 2012 in Milan, Italy. Loew has been the liaison with ACFEA Tour Consultants for the trips to Spain and Germany, and says, “It is such a compatible group that has so much fun, and is so well orchestrated by ACFEA — and the true pleasure of the Europa Cantat, a 10-day party with three to five thousand singers from all over the world to share the experience.

“If someone were planning the trip on their own, it would never be as much fun — or as reasonable.”

The price includes airfare, travel and hotel accommodations, festival attendance and flight insurance. It fluctuates with the euro, and decreases as the tour group numbers increase.

The Islands A Cappella invites singers and non-singers alike to consider joining this tour. For further information, contact Angel Michaels at angel.michaels@gmail.com or Board Chair Chris Thomerson at christhomerson@me.com.