Music Will Take You Places!
Posted by Robbin on Oct 4th 2017
Although he started as a simple member of a glee club, Music took Robert Shaw places, including to the Silver Screen. We want to tell you about a new award-winning documentary about his career.
Jon and I have been privileged to create music with many great musicians, and at the same time continue to make our home in the mountains of Montana. In the late 1970’s, we sang under Robert Shaw on two occasions when he visited Montana for “working vacations."
This past month one of our choirs, Dolce Canto, sponsored the Montana premiere of the award-winning documentary about his life & legacy, "Robert Shaw – Man of Many Voices." Shaw’s career path was highly unusual. Without any formal music background, his career seemed bound by fate and passion to move forward. A chance meeting with Fred Waring led to his move to NYC, and later he was hand-picked by mentors Arturo Toscanini and George Szell, despite his challenging personality quirks. He believed in the power of music to hold humanity together and his Robert Shaw Chorale was the first racially-integrated touring chorus in the US. Later, under Shaw’s direction & leadership, The Atlanta Symphony & Chorale won numerous awards for classical and pops recordings.
In my household growing up, it just wasn’t Christmas until a Robert Shaw album was put on the record player.
If you get a chance, find a showing and go – here is the website for the movie
“The arts may indeed be not the luxury of the few but the last best hope of humanity – to inhabit with joy this planet.” – Robert Shaw