Arts Alive!: Matthew Abernathy, Master Chorale of Tampa Bay

Matthew Abernathy, artistic director of the 150-voice Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, is our guest today on the Arts Alive! podcast.

Ostensibly, the occasion is to talk about both this weekend’s “Classical Christmas” concerts and next week’s “Holiday Pops” concerts, both in tandem with The Florida Orchestra. We do, indeed, take deep dives into the musical details of those two very different programs.

Abernathy, in addition, speaks eloquently about the composition of the chorale, how programs are put together, and the organization’s frequent commissions of new works by modern composers.

Like this one:

Choral music, Abernathy explains, is often thought of as “greater than the sum of its parts. When you start amassing more people singing together, you can achieve things vocally that you really can’t do as a soloist.”

And he talks about the power of live performance: ‘Yeah, recordings are great. I can listen to the Berlin Philharmonic any time I want. But going to the orchestra, actually sitting there and feeling the vibration of the low bass rumble in your seat, you don’t get that from even the best sound systems in the world.”

Click on the arrow to listen to the interview.