| |
Concert & Sings Schedule
*****
Spring Concert:
G.F. Handel's, Joshua
Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 8 p.m.
The Larchmont Avenue Church
60 Forest Park Avenue
Larchmont, NY 10538
Although one of Handel’s lesser-known oratorios, Joshua encompasses choruses of surpassing beauty and inspiration.
Rachmaninoff, Vespers (All-Night Vigil)
Rachmaninoff's Vespers or All-Night Vigil was one of the great composer's two favorite works (The Bells was the other), and he even requested that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral. Composed and first performed in 1915, the Vespers consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox all-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest achievement and "the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church."
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
G.F. Handel: Israel In Egypt
Cantor Benjie-Ellen Schiller, soprano
Cantor Shira Adler, soprano
MaryAnn McCormick, mezzo-soprano
Cantor Morris Glazman, tenor
Cantor Erik Contzius, bass-baritone
Giuseppe Spoletini, bass-baritone Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 3pm
at Temple Israel of New Rochelle
1000 Pinebrook Blvd. New Rochelle, NY 10804
The Westchester Chorale’s performance of G.F. Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt, a work famously called “the greatest choral epic in the repertory.” Given in anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, this will be a not-to-be-missed concert, fully in keeping with the Chorale’s reputation for unparalleled innovation in programming and distinction in performance.
One Londoner who unfortunately did miss the 1739 premiere of Israel in Egypt pleaded with Handel through the pages of the Daily Post to provide new opportunities to hear this “Work of so great a Genius.” Plan now to be among the lucky ones in the audience on May 4th, when Music Director Daniel Paget, the Chorale, and a first-rate Baroque orchestra offer this very rare chance to experience Israel in Egypt in concert as a three-part work, just as the composer intended. For this performance, Maestro Paget will restore sections of Handel’s long-neglected original first part, the Lamentations of the Israelites on the Death of Joseph, which, followed by the vivid depictions of the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus, and culminating in the joyous triumph of Moses’ Song, will make this an Israel in Egypt to long remember and cherish.
But that’s just the beginning! Taking a cue from the work’s subject, the Chorale has assembled a once-in-a-lifetime cast of soloists that includes four of the New York region’s most accomplished cantors: Cantor Benjie-Ellen Schiller, soprano, of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains; Cantor Shira Adler, soprano, of Temple Beth Shalom in Mahopac; Cantor Mo Glazman, tenor, of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains; and Cantor Erik Contzius, bass-baritone, of Temple Israel of New Rochelle. Masters of a famously expressive vocal tradition, they are all wonderfully stylish Baroque singers with a profound understanding of the work’s sublime biblical texts—a truly unique combination. They will be joined by the magnificent MaryAnn McCormick, mezzo-soprano of the Metropolitan Opera, who sang so movingly last spring at our performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor.
The timing of The Westchester Chorale’s performance of Israel in Egypt could not be more appropriate: it will be given on Sunday afternoon, May 4th, at 3:00, just at the conclusion of the Passover holiday. The occasion is actually doubly special, for we have been invited to present the concert at Temple Israel of New Rochelle, 1000 Pinebrook Blvd., in celebration of that wonderful congregation’s 100th anniversary. We are honored to play a featured part in this great event.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
“Of Sinners and Saints”
With Orchestra
Mark Bleeke, Tenor Soloist
Theora Cultice, Pianist
Daniel Paget, Conductor
Sunday, December 9, 2007 at 3pm
at Sommer Center for the Performing Arts,
Concordia College
171 White Plains Road, Bronxville, NY 10708
Benjamin Britten: Saint Nicolas
Randall Thompson: Americana
Ludwig van Beethoven: Elegischer Gesang (Elegy), Op. 118
Antonin Dvorak: Heartache, Op. 43, No. 1
Edward MacDowell: Barcarole, Op. 44
Hector Berlioz: La Mort d'Ophelie (The Death of Ophelia), Op. 18 No. 2
Charles-Valentin Alkan: Marcia Funebre, Sulla Morte d'un Pappagallo (Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot)
Jean Berger: They All Dance the Samba
***
The program, described by Music Director Daniel Paget:
Our featured work, Benjamin Britten’s Saint Nicolas, brings to life the 4th-century patron of children and sailors, revealing the simple man within the blinding glory of the Saint. In this colorful story of the original Santa Claus, legends and miraculous adventures—tales of shipwreck, rescue, persecution and redemption—combine with the heartfelt words of Nicolas himself, to be sung by acclaimed tenor soloist Mark Bleeke. Brilliantly scored for chorus and orchestra, E.M. Forster called it a”triumph outside the rules of art which only a great artist can achieve”.
Randall Thompson’s Americana (1932) draws its text from H.L.Mencken’s American Mercury magazine. Alternately funny, sad, shocking and touching, it evokes a bygone era through the words of a cheeky advice columnist, a fulminating anti-modernist preacher, a stern temperance leaflet, a horrified death-house reporter and a cheerful literary advertisement.
A necklace of unusual choral gems follows: Beethoven’s exquisite Elegischer Gesang, for chorus and strings, eulogizes a saintly young mother who died in childbirth, while Hector Berlioz’s La Mort d’Ophélie, based on Hamlet and scored for women’s voices, tenderly describes the death of the sweet Ophelia. Antonín Dvorák’s Heartache, a charming dance piece, Edward MacDowell’s sensuous Barcarole, Charles-Valentin Alkan’s hilarious Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot and Jean Berger’s delightful They All Dance the Samba, complete this program of rarely-heard works that lift and broaden the spirit.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor
Rachel Watkins, soprano
Rebecca Salazar, mezzo-soprano
MaryAnn McCormick, alto
Gregory Mercer, tenor
David Shapero, bass
Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 3pm
at Sommer Center for the Performing Arts,
Concordia College
171 White Plains Road, Bronxville, NY 10708 
The Westchester Chorale is honored to have been selected by the Board of Advisors of The Westchester Community Foundation in March 2007 to receive a grant of the Rudyard M. and Emanuella Reimss Memorial Fund, in support of the Chorale's performance of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor on Sunday, April 29, 2007.
THE WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (WCF) is a non-profit community endowment for the benefit of Westchester County. Its mission is to develop and manage philanthropic resources, and to distribute them in a way that is responsive to donor interests and community needs. The Foundation actively promotes charitable giving on behalf of the area's non-profit organizations. WCF is a division of The New York Community Trust, the largest community foundation in the country with assets of approximately $1.8 billion.
Though today we recognize the Mass in B Minor as the crowning achievement of Bach’s career, it lay in obscurity for many years after the composer’s death in 1750: in fact, the work was not given its first complete public performance until over a century later. In it, Bach incorporated every style of music he knew, whether sacred or secular in origin, including dance music, operatic song, and the great polyphonic choral tradition of the Renaissance—all in the service of a spiritual expression that transcends the boundaries of sectarian religions—even of religion itself.
A work that repays every new hearing with increased appreciation of its amazing richness, opportunities to hear the Mass in B Minor “live in concert” are still limited, due to the practical challenges presented by its size and complexity. In 1818, its first publisher, Georg Nägeli, called it “the greatest musical art-work of all times and all peoples” and, especially when you are in its presence, it is not hard to believe that he was right on the mark. -Daniel Paget
******************************************************************************
12/10/06
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb; Ives: Gen. William Booth Enters Into Heaven, Crossing the Bar, Serenity; Pinkham: Christmas Cantata; Gabieli: In ecclesiis;
Praetorius: In dulci jubilo ; Vaughan Williams: O Clap Your Hands, Wassail Song;
Gustave Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter; Randall Thompson: Alleluia
The virtuosic New Amsterdam Brass, formed in 1979, is highly regarded for its innovative performances of treasures of the brass repertory from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Their programs have ranged from rarely performed works by French regency composer Jean-Joseph Mouret to well-known favorites by Rossini, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, Shostakovich and Duke Ellington. New Amsterdam Brass performs in instrumental combinations ranging from brass trios to a 13 piece ensemble with percussion. For the Westchester Chorale's December 10th concert, New Amsterdam Brass will provide an octet of trumpet and trombone players. Musicians of New Amsterdam Brass have performed extensively with many of the outstanding orchestras and instrumental ensembles in the New York metropolitan area, including the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera and Ballet Orchestras and the New York Pops.
*************************************************************************
May 6, 2006
"
HANDEL - Psalm 110, Dixit Dominus
VIVALDI - Gloria
GASPARINI - Adoramus te, Christe
Plus Keyboard works of HANDEL and DOMENICO SCARLATTI
Special Guest Artist: Kenneth Cooper, harpsichord
Roseanne Ackerly, soprano
Désirée Halac, mezzo soprano
Baroque Orchestra
Daniel Paget, conductor
Greenville Community Church,
270 Ardsley Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
Three hundred years ago, a brash 20-year-old German musician set out to test his mettle in Italy, the center of the music world. He quickly shocked Roman audiences with one of the most astonishing Latin choral works ever written, his virtuosic setting of Psalm 110, Dixit Dominus, for soloists, chorus and strings. Handel’s challenge extended to the musical establishment of Venice as well, where he must have come into competition with the leading Italian musician of the time, Antonio Vivaldi. Though very different in style from Handel’s work, Vivaldi’s famous Gloria still remains among the most popular of choral works.
Handel also dueled directly with Domenic Scarlatti, perhaps the greatest harpsichordist who ever lived. At the bidding of Cardinal Ottoboni, these two faced off at the harpsichord and organ in an epic battle which our fabulous guest artist Kenneth Cooper, a world-renowned harpsichordist himself, will single-handedly recreate.
Special Guest Artist:
 Harpsichordist, pianist, musicologist and conductor KENNETH COOPER is one of the world’s leading specialists in the music of the 18th century and one of America’s most exciting and versatile performers. Renowned for his improvisations and his expertise in ornamentation, long-lost 18th century arts, he has revived countless musical works, lending them extraordinary authenticity as well as great vitality. On the faculties of Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, Dr. Cooper directs the Berkshire Bach Ensemble.
Featured on Live From Lincoln Center, he has been heard as soloist and guest conductor with the American Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra and Mostly Mozart Festival. His many recordings and soundtracks include Bach’s Gamba-Harpsichord Sonatas with Yo Yo Ma (CBS), Scarlatti’s Sonatas for Harpsichord (Vanguard), the Bach Brandenburg Concerti and Goldberg Variations (Berkshire Bach Society), the complete Bach Flute and Keyboard Sonatas (Bridge), and the Six Bach Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano with Ani Kavafian (Helicon), as well as such soundtracks as Before Sunrise and Valmont, and the documentary Van Gogh Revisited. His spectacular versions of ragtime and other American delights may be heard on Silks and Rags (EMI), on which he collaborated with the Westchester Chorale’s Music Director, Daniel Paget.
On Sunday, December 4, 2005, we presented our Winter Concert in the sanctuary of the Greenville Community Church. This performance,entitled "The Dramatic Genius of Rossini", featured his Petite Messe solennelle, as well as Prayer, from the opera Moise, and selections from his witty and enchanting Sins of Old Age, including La Nuit de Noel ("Christmas Eve") and Toast pour le nouvel an ("Toast for the New Year").
Our concerts are not intended or suitable for children of pre-school age. Please note that, in the interests of our audience and performers alike, we regretfully cannot admit children under the age of five.
|
|
