After 20 years, Mt. Airy choral leader passes baton

by PAMELA ROGOW

After 20 years conducting the country’s oldest feminist choir, Jane Hulting is passing the baton. The Anna Crusis troupe she conducts performed a splendid sold-out farewell concert on May 14. And this past Monday, friends and colleagues feted her with a spontaneous musical gathering at North by Northwest restaurant.

A longtime Mt. Airy resident, Hulting has led the Anna Crusis troupe to international renown. Among a group of 60-some women’s choruses with a political edge, it is widely considered one of the best.

Hulting herself is known for strong leadership and artistic breadth. She is comfortable working with eclectic materials, songs as diverse as Cuban ballads, Latin neuvo canciones and South African a cappella harmonies. She also has brought new repertoire into the women’s choral movement, commissioning composers such as Andrea Clearfield of Center City, Lisa Westertern of Germantown and Joan Szymko of Portland.

In fact, the recent Anna Crusis Spring Concert — Hulting’s final — featured four new commissions as well as a parody of the ensemble by Judith Palmer of Bala Cynwyd. “We deserve to be made fun of,” Hulting laughs. “Politically correct and all.”

Fun or not, the choir is hard-working, meeting every Monday night except in summers, and — unlike most choirs — committing the scores to memory.

A search is on for the next artistic director/conductor. Candidates are currently being interviewed, including on-site visits to observe how people conduct. An announcement is anticipated in the next few weeks. The new conductor will be at the helm of a choir with 40 dedicated, disciplined and enthusiastic singers. This was a while in the making. “Anna” was founded in 1975 by Catherine Roma, a graduate of Germantown Friends School who went on to get a PhD at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Catherine conducted an informal group of women in song. Their primary theme was race.

Later that year, with Catherine gone, a few who had been in the group asked Jane if she would take on the role of building a real choir and acting as artistic director and conductor.

This was a time when the women’s movement was blooming — a time of consciousness raisings, the first publication of Our Bodies/Ourselves, Black Panthers, Bella Abzug and her hats, Gloria Steinem and her zip, and Erika Jong’s zipless.whatever. Bras were not really burned, but there was much conflict and change. The country was mired in Vietnam. Kent State was imminent.

In the decades since, Jane has led the choir in performance for and about social justice, equality, women’s rights and anti-apartheid in particular.

“Music makes a difference in a way that words alone cannot,” Hulting says. “The vibrations of the rhythm and melody working together galvanize energy and generate enthusiasm — for a cause, for a moment in history. It’s hard to imagine the Civil Rights Movement without hearing ‘We Shall Overcome.’

“Anna is politically attuned. We got into the war in El Salvador, singing at a lot of rallies and for events concerning the Reagan administration’s involvement in South America. Then our focus turned to AIDS and the HIV crisis. We kept getting invitations for different causes. Every year we also perform at the Women’s Detention Center. Women in prison are starved for stimulation.”

The choir is composed of 40 people, all auditioned. “There is a diversity in the choir too. Musically, but also in regard to race, age, skill level and sexual preference. Choir members range from 21 to 68 years old. This is across generations. But everyone must be able to hear [music],” says Hulting.

Reflecting on high points of her tenure, Hulting recounts a performance at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall, jointly with the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus of 300 men. Every year, Anna Crusis performs one or two full-length concerts and 15 to 25 small group gigs.

Born in Minnesota, Hulting worked in the Lutheran Campus Ministry, attended the Kansas Conservatory of Music and went on to work as a legislative assistant for the Iowa legislature. It was politics-and-music from the get-go. Along the way, Hulting taught music in kindergarten through 12th grade and picked up a graduate degree in communications from Penn’s Annenberg Center. She met her husband during the several years she lived in Powelton Village. Their son, Jonathan, is 16.

For the future, Hulting plans to continue as music director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Mt. Airy, and to sing professionally. She recently was in the chorus of Aida, performed by the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Hulting also coaches several voice students. Over the past several years, Hulting has trained herself to teach yoga. Listen to her words, and it is possible to follow the threads that lead from singing and conducting to this discipline.

“It’s Amrit yoga in particular,” Hulting explains. Over the past several years, she trained to teach yoga, working with Amrit Desai, the founder of Kripalu yoga. “This approach to yoga is even more about moving inward, training of body and mind for mindfulness. For myself, this grounding affects music and the way that I work with an ensemble. The voice is on the breath. The breath is what keeps us alive.

“Yoga and sound go together.”

For auditions with the Anna Crusis Choir, call 215-782-1919. For information and registration in Amrit yoga classes with Jane Hulting, call the Moving Arts Studio, 215-842-1040.