Islander Bill Wood’s long love affair with Emily Dickinson — which budded decades ago after he heard a tune in his head after reading Dickinson’s poem, “Exultation” — will bloom again in two upcoming performances by the Vashon Island Chorale.
The Chorale, appearing on April 23 and 27 in the Katherine L. White Choral Festival at Vashon Center for the Arts, has included in its poetry-themed repertoire for the fest a suite of songs by Wood, known as his “Emily Suite.”
Bill and Emily go way back, said Jeanne Dougherty, a Chorale member who also happens to be married to Bill — a retired Hollywood screenwriter who moved to Vashon decades ago, re-establishing himself a Voice of Vashon stalwart and the host of community radio station’s longest-running show, “The Jazz Guy.”
Bill started to write his Emily songs in the early 1970s, Jeanne said — accompanying himself on ukulele — and then, over a course of decades, helped shape and guide the songs into different iterations, transcriptions and productions.
Gary Cannon, the Chorale’s artistic director, further described the long and winding path that led to his work on the suite of songs.
“Jeanne tells me that they made a demo recording of them and that Bill would play the record for unsuspecting dinner guests in Los Angeles,” Cannon said. “He had always felt an affinity to Dickinson’s poetry, and wrote these miniature songs — as befitting her miniature poems, as an act of simple joy.”
Fast forward a few years, when Bill expanded the songs into a theatrical presentation based on Emily Dickinson’s life. The music director of that production, Glenn Mehrbach, harmonized a few moments of the songs, transcribed Bill’s ukulele accompaniments for piano and cello, and added a few more songs too. A full-fledged production — in which Jeanne and another current Chorale singer, Catherine MacNeal, both participated — was produced in Los Angeles in 1988.
Fast forward another 18 years — when that production was revived in a concert version on Vashon in 2010, with Jeanne and another Chorale singer, Andrienne Selvy Mildon in the cast. Produced by Vashon Allied Arts, the show was so well received it was brought back for a second weekend.
And now, another 15 years later, Bill and Emily are ready for another closeup, as the 74-member Chorale brings the songs to life again.
Cannon said that after Jeanne and Bill had proposed the idea, he had been thrilled to adapt the work for the Chorale.
“I spent several weeks studying the scores and figuring out how to adjust them,” he said. “I stayed very close to the originals — that is, Bill’s melodies and Glenn’s harmonic realization — even transcribing from the recording any changes that the performers made to the manuscripts. I simply added some harmonies and counterpoint for the voices. So now we have this concert suite of Bill and Glenn’s eleven songs, together with four readings of Dickinson’s other poetry.
Cannon said he hopes his work will lead to still more iterations of the “Emily Suite.”
“I created a modern edition, in the hopes that this suite or its constituent parts might be performed by other groups in the future,” he said.
Jeanne, in an email, marveled at the long arc of her husband’s obsession with Emily Dickinson.
“It’s hard to believe that Bill’s original creative impulse that began in 1970 is still evolving,” said Jeanne.
And what does Bill, now 93, have to say about all this? In keeping with Dickinson’s brevity, perhaps, he gave a pithy and poetic answer: “I hardly know what to say, other than to say that I am almost inconceivably happy.”
The Katherine L. White Choral Fest — a five-day celebration of song — will run from April 23-27 at Vashon Center for the Arts. In addition to two performances by the Vashon Island Chorale at 7:30 Wednesday, April 23 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 27, the Fest includes performances by Choir of the West; Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble; Mirinesse Women’s Choir; Chorale Arts Northwest and Bryd Ensemble. Get complete information and tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Vashon Island Chorale will perform on 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 27, as part of the Katherine L. White Choral Festival at Vashon Center for the Arts. (Wade Yip photo)
