Upon assembly countertenor John Vacation within the NPR foyer, I used to be instantly tasked with carrying his superior spangly boots (he introduced two pairs) as much as our Tiny Desk area. Different arms, together with his husband’s, had been occupied with clothes and varied requirements.
The boots replicate Vacation’s glowing character — a charming mix of willpower, wit and clear-eyed optimism. These qualities helped propel him into movie star standing, not solely within the last rounds of NBC’s The Voice, the place he was championed by John Legend, but additionally in opera homes the world over.
Whereas Vacation has made a reputation for himself in classical music, he says his objective is to be a bridge between the various genres of music he sings. And on this set he offers us a reasonably wide selection, together with a chic, Bach-inflected French artwork music, a regal opera aria by Handel, a shifting conventional religious and the devastating jazz music “Unusual Fruit,” made well-known by Billie Vacation. “It’s not a really feel good music,” the countertenor warns, including that it “represents a lot in our nation’s historical past that typically we wish to skirt.”
The one option to comply with a music of such darkness is with certainly one of mild and triumph. Vacation dedicates “Elevate Each Voice and Sing” to younger, Black voters, saying, “It’s actually essential that you simply let your voices be heard, even when you suppose no one’s listening.”
And for followers of fabulous voices, it’s essential that this voice be heard — the singular, silvery and expressive voice of John Vacation.
SET LIST
- Reynaldo Hahn: “À Chloris”
- Conventional (arr. Corridor Johnson): “I’m Goin’ to Inform God All My Troubles”
- George Frideric Handel: “Ombra mai fù” (from Xerxes)
- Abel Meeropol: “Unusual Fruit”
- James Johnson/J. Rosamond Johnson: “Elevate Each Voice and Sing”
MUSICIANS
- John Vacation: countertenor, piano
- Jeanne-Minette Cilliers: piano
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Tom Huizenga
- Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
- Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Body, Alanté Serene
- Audio Engineers: Andie Huether, Josh Newell
- Manufacturing Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Tiny Desk Group: Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
- Govt Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
