Great Hearted Teachers Triumph at the Symphony

From left to right: Andrew Dell (Trivium), Tom Bookhout, Chorus Master (Glendale), Jeanne Bookhout (Glendale), Karli Anderson (Anthem), Julie Hale (North Phoenix), and Samuel Conner (Cicero).

The Phoenix Symphony recently performed William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and Dr. Thomas Bookhout, The Phoenix Symphony Chorus Master, was excited to have Great Hearts teachers participate as members of The Phoenix Symphony Chorus, the performing partner of Arizona’s only full-time professional orchestra, for this performance.

Dr. Bookhout also serves as the Glendale Prep music teacher and choir director. The participating teachers included Jeanne Bookhout, also a teacher from Glendale Prep; Andrew Dell, a music and drama teacher at Trivium Prep; Karli Anderson, who teaches at Great Hearts Anthem; Julie Hale, who teaches at Archway North Phoenix; and Samuel Conner, a teacher at Cicero Prep.

“I have been the Chorus Master with The Phoenix Symphony for 10 years now. When I began working at Great Hearts Anthem in the 2020-21 school year, the Symphony was shut down due to the COVID pandemic. As the Symphony emerged from that, I extended an invitation to fellow Great Hearts teachers to audition for The Phoenix Symphony Chorus,” said Dr. Bookhout.

Jeanne Bookhout, Dr. Bookhout’s wife who teaches music and math at Glendale Prep, has also been with The Phoenix Symphony for 10 years. “I have served as an Alto representative and a Social Chairperson. I absolutely love this amazing group of people,” she said. “We have a very diverse group of people from all walks of life and in all stages of life, from college students to people in their late 70’s. We get to do something together that would be impossible to do on our own.  We love to spend time singing both in practices and concerts.” Bookhout said this was the second time that she has performed Belshazzar’s Feast. “I performed it with the West Virginia Symphony Chorus almost 30 years ago under Tom’s direction. It is a very difficult piece, but it was exhilarating to perform.  I hope we do it again!”

“This is my first year performing with the Phoenix Symphony Chorus,” said Great Hearts Anthem choir director Karli Anderson. “Throughout the year, we have performed quite a few concerts with the symphony, including a John Williams concert, Handel’s Messiah, and a variety of other pieces. But Belshazzar’s Feast was my favorite performance by far. The piece is incredibly challenging, both musically and artistically. For full context, we have been working more or less every week since August. At times, if seemed like we would almost be slain by the difficulty. Finally performing it was a culmination of a year’s worth of work, and it really felt like an absolute triumph!”

“I am currently a music teacher at Archway North Phoenix, and this is my fifth year of teaching,” said Julie Hale. “I was originally a clarinet player, and this was my first year singing in a chorus. Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast was one of the most challenging music I performed in my performing career, and this was a good opportunity for me to expand my skills as a singer and get the opportunity to be a performer again. As a music teacher and when concert time approaches, I always encourage our students to persevere and show courage to pursue beauty, and I needed the same virtues that I encourage my students to have every day. I needed the perseverance for this music when I began learning it since August, and needed courage because voice is not my major area of expertise. It was amazing to see everyone’s hard work come to fruition, and it was a rewarding experience.”

Dr. Bookhout feels their participation in The Phoenix Symphony Chorus is a perfect expression of their desire to find and experience beauty in fine music in their lives as well as their work. “Their dedication and commitment to excellence is continually evident in their hard work and their sacrifice of many hours each week to prepare and perform some of our world’s greatest music,” he said. “They have told me that what they experience and learn in our chorus helps them in their work as music teachers and choir directors at their individual Great Hearts school.”

This last performance of William Walton’s monumental Belshazzar’s Feast was particularly meaningful according to Dr. Bookhout. “This work is one of the finest and most difficult compositions in the choral repertoire and we have been working on it since last Fall. Most of our skills were stretched beyond anything we have every performed before. It was a thrill to see it through to competition in this weekend’s widely successful concerts.”

He said there is room for more teachers to join The Phoenix Symphony Chorus in the coming season, when they will perform Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, and Mahler’s Symphony #2, among many other works.

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