A new performance of The Little Match Girl in Baltimore breathes entirely new life into the Hans Christian Andersen story. Baltimore Choral Arts Society (BCAS) director Anthony Blake Clark combines David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning composition The Little Match Girl Passion with Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion oratorio, which inspired Lang’s piece, to create a whole new production, weaving the story of a young girl living on the streets with the story of Christ’s death. Interspersing both pieces provides context, as pivotal moments of the Bach piece are interspersed throughout the predominately a cappella performance.

But the production, which will be held at Falvey Hall in the Brown Center on February 10, takes this innovation one step further. BCAS partnered with MICA students and faculty to enhance the musical performance with artistic elements that engage nearly all five senses. Billed as an immersive, multi-sensory performance, the show features video projects behind the chorus (comprised of about 30 vocalists).

Each video depicts illustrations and photographs of homelessness and other themes in the story, as well as lyrics to the pieces—some interpreted more broadly rather than straight subtitles. St. Matthew Passion is sung in German and even Lang’s piece in English can be difficult to decipher at times, as the lyrics are often sung abstractly, sometimes extremely long and drawn out, other times extremely staccato. The images and words not only make the story easier to follow but are visually intriguing, essentially act as a multimedia set.

A beautiful moment comes when the chorus begins to strike matches and hold the tiny flames up in the air. The sound of friction and sparks, the image of burning flames and smoke, and the scent of sulphur aids in placing the viewer into the world of the little match girl. And she herself is onstage as well, subtly acting the storyline silently—trying to sell matches on the street—to provide a visual while not detracting from the chorus and moving images overhead. MICA’s interactive arts students had partnered with other groups in the past, including the Towson University theater department and an annual collaboration with Peabody Institute, but The Little Match Girl marks their first collaboration with BCAS.

MICA and BCAS are just down the street from each other so, when Clark wanted to try something new stylistically, he approached James Rouvelle, chair of the Interactive Arts Department at MICA, who got onboard right away.

“I was really interested in it partly because I have a background in musical performance,” Rouvelle says. “I think it was a good experience for everyone involved.”

The cross-pollination concert took months of work from both parties. Clark came to the media performance class at MICA several times during the process. And while it’s unusual for an instructor to participate in the creative process alongside the students, Rouvelle wanted to show his students what a professional experience felt like.

“I encouraged the students to take a risk. We’ve been hired to do something,” he says. “They took a lot of risks. Our hearts are starting to beat faster and faster, the closer we get to the show.”

The music in and of itself is enthralling, chilling at times. At one point, the chorus walks offstage and into the aisles, lining the length of the auditorium to sing a moving piece that fills the space with gorgeous textures in surround-sound. Another time, Canadian composer Stephen Chatman’s “How Sweet and Fair” features a clarinet amid the audience, representing a solo voice in the story. The piece revolves around a flower, symbolizing the fact that we all fade away, and sonically serves as a palate cleanser.

There are a few other surprises that will engage the audience’s five senses, but we don’t want to spoil the show by revealing everything here.

Choosing to work with The Little Match Girl story—both Lang’s and Bach’s pieces—and to make it engaging and provide as much context was very intentional on the part of Clark. The story highlights homeless, poverty, and human suffering, themes he felt important to bring to the forefront through art, issues that still plague our country and certainly Baltimore City. Stories of neglecting the poor and desolate are in the Bible, Hans Christian Andersen’s story, and Lang’s piece, all completely relevant today.

“We have so much work to do in Baltimore particularly. Even the simple act of empathy can help,” Clark says. “I think we put blinders on because things are overwhelming to us. But art has this ability to open us up and break down barriers, so we can become more aware of each other’s lives.”

After 35 years as music director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, you announced last January that you would be retiring this summer. How has it felt to prepare for your farewell show on March 11?
It’s a surreal experience. I don’t think it’s ever really hit home that this is my final year, but it’s certainly not far from the back of my mind that this is the last time we’re putting everything together. I’m in the sort of plausible deniability stage. It is, on the other hand, just like any other concert, so we have our deadlines. Once you start getting into the work itself, making sure you’re prepared to do as beautiful a concert as you can, everything else sort of falls by the wayside and you just start making music. I’m savoring every rehearsal and the chance to do this again with folks who have become my dearest friends.

You said that you felt this was just the right time—that fresh blood might be a good thing for the 51-year-old choral ensemble.
I think any arts organization can benefit from an injection of new energy, new ideas, and new perspective. None of us who run the organizations here in town—you know, Julia [Marciari-Alexander] at The Walters Art Museum, or Chris [Bedford] at The Baltimore Museum of Art, or Marin [Alsop] at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra—we don’t own these organizations; we’re stewards of them. We take care of them for the time that is allotted to us, and my time has been very generous and very long. I’ve been really blessed for that and it’s been a great honor to help take care of it, nurture it, cultivate it, but now it’s somebody else’s time and turn. It’s a great job, and whoever gets it next will be walking into a really great organization with terrific people and a terrific mission to contribute to the cultural vitality of our city and region.

How have you seen Choral Arts evolve over your tenure?
The Choral Arts Society is certainly much more connected and vigorous than it was in 1982. In my first season, we did three concerts. A couple of years ago, we did 48. It’s the sheer volume of what we’re doing and the breadth of the repertoire—not just classic choral arts music but folk and jazz and popular music. We’ve got a reach that we never had before and it’s been really exciting to be a part of that.

And it’s not just that the Choral Arts Society is growing, but we’re growing along with so many other organizations. The arts scene in general in Baltimore and throughout the state has grown exponentially since I started. The number of offerings in not just music but theater, dance, literary arts, and visual arts are much more plentiful than they ever were. The DIY scene here is huge. We have so much going on creatively—in a city that is well under a million people. There’s an excitement and vitality to the arts scene in Baltimore that’s been really exciting to be a part of, and I hope Choral Arts has been a significant part of its expansion and growth.

Be it large or small-scale shows, how has it felt to stand up there and conduct?
What’s great about it now, in particular, is that I feel an even deeper bond with the people with whom I’m working. I don’t see this at all as a situation in which I’m coming in and leading something; I think of this as a situation I’m coming into and being a part of this great collection of talented, expressive, and communicative artists. There are people I’ve now known for three and a half decades, and we know each other. We’ve done this many, many times together, and each time we take the stage, it’s this great community of people who care about doing music really beautifully. Because when it’s done beautifully, it makes an important contribution to people’s lives.

Have your fellow musicians allowed you to slip in some of your favorite pieces for this final show?
You can almost count every one of them as one of my favorite pieces. These are all pieces that we’ve enjoyed over the years. It’s nice having them all together on one program.

Even after the final show, you’ll still be here in Baltimore at WYPR, where you’ve worked for the past 14 years, the last two as host of Midday. Was it ever difficult to juggle those two jobs or were they symbiotic?
They are symbiotic in that it’s the same side of the brain. When I open up a score, I take a look at it and say, ‘What makes this piece tick?’ And when I’m interviewing a guest, it’s, ‘What makes this person tick?’ They’re very similar pursuits, but the actual execution of both jobs is difficult because they are both very demanding. As I mentioned, the Choral Arts Society is way busier than it ever used to be, and it really deserves somebody who can devote a good bit of their attention to the important work that they do.

For whoever takes over your position, and for the future of Choral Arts in general, any well wishes or hopes for them, besides, obviously, the best?
I’m looking forward to being a resource to the new person in whatever way I can. But the best advice I could give anybody for any job—let alone the new director of the Choral Arts Society—is enjoy it. If you’re really having fun, if you’re really doing every rehearsal and every show, and you’re conscious of how gratifying and exciting and wonderful and enlightening it can be, and you really take the time to have the presence of mind to enjoy each and every moment . . . Because music is a temporal thing. When you’re on stage, it is a moment that is fleeting. The phrase comes and then it’s gone, and then you’re onto the next phrase.