Alva Review-Courier -

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — This fall, Jason Thoms didn't want to see the coronavirus take one more thing from his enjoyment or his livelihood.

School performances and professional gigs were drying up during the pandemic for the professional singer and music professor in New York City, so he packed up and moved to Bismarck.

"I lived just outside of New York City for the last 13 years," Thoms said. "The coronavirus has decimated all of the (professional work). One reason why I moved to North Dakota, because New York is too expensive to live on just working one job."

Out of misfortune came opportunity.

Thoms started teaching this fall semester at Bismarck State College as the new assistant professor of music and director of choral activities. In New York, he was a professor of music and director of choral activities at Concordia College-New York, a four year liberal arts college north of New York City. He also worked as the music director and conductor of a small community choir in Connecticut.

As Thoms settled in at his new home this fall, he realized one of the casualties from the COVID-19 pandemic back in Connecticut was the annual performance by the Danbury Community Concert Chorus of the Christmas classic "Messiah," composed by George Frideric Handel. Thoms was the music director and conductor for the choir.

"This is our 64th year (of performing Messiah) and I didn't want them to break that tradition," Thoms said. "I was the director of them the last couple of years, so we had all done the Messiah."

Before moving west, Thoms began to explore the new concept of virtual choir and performance while sheltering-in-place last spring. By using computer video conferencing, like Zoom, as a performance tool, he has helped numerous school and community choirs across the country produce their own performance videos in place of actual concerts, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

"We have to be creative in these weird times," Thoms said.

Since September, Thoms has been conducting rehearsals of the famous "Messiah" oratorio via the internet from Bismarck with more than 50 singers, musicians and soloists from Connecticut and across the country to create a virtual performance of the composition written in 1741.

But unlike a normal rehearsal where everyone gathers at a church or auditorium, Thoms conducted weekly practice sessions viewing the individual choir members in their own homes, but collectively in small squares, like a checker board, on the computer monitor.

To complicate the sessions more, the choir members couldn't sing together during the sessions because not all internet servers are created equal and caused audio lag times, making it impossible for them to sing as an ensemble.

To solve the problem, Thoms had each of the 36 choir members, four professional soloists including Thoms, a bass, a 10-member orchestra and two accompanists record individual videos of their vocals to be uploaded and sent to Thoms for editing.

"Just like any choir, everyone sounds a little different. I had to maybe play a little bit of a therapist this fall," he said. "All of these folks are used to sitting in a choir next to each other and singing. Their own individual voice -- they don't hear it quite as much. And I was getting emails from them saying, 'I sound terrible.' And I said this is just like any other choir situation; you sing your voice, you record your voice and then when I put it all together, it's pretty good."

Another opportunity created by the pandemic fell Thoms' way as he discovered another professional soloist, Anna Ward, who was temporarily living in Bismarck for the year. She agreed to be part of the performance. The two have worked together in the past.

Ward, a Bismarck native and St. Mary's Central High School graduate, has sung professionally as a soprano in Boston for the past 10 years. With COVID-19 ravaging the East Coast, forcing schools to close and singing gigs to dry up, Ward, her husband and two children have rented a house in Bismarck to be close to her family.

"It's fun that we are in the same town," Ward said. "This is a rare treat. COVID has really hit our industry hard."

The pair recorded their parts at the Church of Corpus Christi in Bismarck and were accompanied by Beverly Everett, music director and conductor of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, on the organ.

"I've seen how much ingenuity he (Thoms) has brought to this experience," Ward said. "It didn't surprise me that he is taking this upon himself to make sure that the community gets the music it needs and deserves."

Now and until the performance's release date, Thoms is busy at his desk with two computer monitors editing, mixing and blending the voices and instruments to a fine tune. Thoms expects the performance video to be about 45 minutes. It will have graphics and closed captioning. The performance will be released on Dec. 20 on the Danbury Music Centre website.

"We have a relationship and they are a great group of people. Building relationships and singing together, that's what makes a community choir," he said. "Singing is about words when it comes down to it. Ultimately singing is about sharing some story with people."