Klemme Finds Harmony Despite Hectic Schedule

Many people commute to work, but Paul Klemme seems to take commuting to extremes.

Klemme, conductor of the Spokane Symphony Chorale, lives in Portland and has a full-time job as organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salem, Ore. Yet he appears in Spokane every Monday night for a rehearsal of the Spokane Symphony Chorale, a 150-voice choir that sings regularly with the Spokane Symphony.

How does he do it?

“Monday is my day off from my church position in Salem,” Klemme says. “I’m able to get on the airplane on Monday afternoon, fly to Spokane for the Chorale’s rehearsal in the evening on Monday, and fly back very early Tuesday morning, arriving just in time for a staff meeting at church.”

The Symphony Chorale has been rehearsing for a Friday concert with the Spokane Symphony. The groups and two soloists, soprano Terri Richter and baritone Timothy LeFebvre, will combine to perform Gabriel Faure’s Requiem. The piece will open a program that will close with that most famous of all symphonies, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Though Klemme has been in charge of rehearsals, Fabio Mechetti, the symphony’s music director, will conduct Friday’s performance. Does yielding the baton to Mechetti feel strange to Klemme?

“No, it doesn’t, actually,” Klemme says. “I’ve done this many, many times and I’ve watched other choral conductors do it many times. Sure, there are times I would like to conduct the concert itself. But to train the chorale for the symphony is the job I was hired for.”

Klemme grew up in Herndon, a small town in central Missouri. His mother was the organist in a church where his father was pastor. “I started piano lessons at an early age,” he says, “but from very early on, I began being interested in the organ and began to see myself as a church musician.”

After taking a degree in organ performance from Central Methodist University in Missouri and degrees in organ and chorale conducting from the University of Michigan, Klemme moved west. He got his doctorate in choral conducting at the University of Washington and took a job at Washington State University in 1988.

While still on the WSU faculty, Klemme was appointed last season to succeed Randi Ellefson as conductor of the Spokane Symphony Chorale.

“I got married in 1995; my wife is a high school music director in Portland,” Klemme says. “So as a couple, we tried our best to find where we would be able to continue our careers together. That turned out to mean that I was the one to move.”

Klemme resigned his tenured position at WSU and found a full-time church job in Salem, where he also teaches part time conducting the Men’s Chorus at Willamette University.

“At age 40 I found what I need to be doing and what I’m happy doing,” the conductor says. “With my full-time job at St. Paul’s, I’m able to do the kind of work I envisioned for myself when I began my academic training. I always saw myself as a church musician because of my love for the organ and my desire to work with people. I also like to teach; in this kind of position and at Willamette the teaching element is there.”

Klemme adds, “The opportunity to work with the Spokane Symphony Chorale allows me to work outside the church on a different plane with singers who might be more highly trained than those in my church choir. So this is ‘best of all worlds’ for me. I feel like I am very happy, but at the same time, very busy.”

Klemme will discuss the music on Friday’s program at 7 p.m. in the Opera House auditorium as part of the Gladys Brooks Pre-Concert Talks series.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Concert The Spokane Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Chorale will perform Friday at 8 p.m. at the Opera House. Tickets are $13.50 to $28.50, available at the symphony ticket office (624-1200), G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.