Haydn's The Creation: Concert December 1st

It’s time once again for a concert by the Hobart and William Smith Community Chorus.  We will be honoring the 200th anniversary of Franz Joseph Haydn’s death with a production of The Creation, his wonderful oratorio.  It has been one of my favorite pieces since childhood (more organic and transcendent than the other one by that George Frideric dude, IMHO).

To do it justice, the director Deanna Joseph, with the support of the HWS Music Department and Bob Cowles, not to mention cash contributions from the choir itself, have pulled together a production including, besides the HWSCC, the Colleges Chorale, a full orchestra, organ, and hotshot paid soloists.  Many of the individuals are drawn from the truly impressive ranks of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, where Deanna is completing her PhD.  As I said in the poster, it will be “a Magnificent Collaboration of 125 Choral and Orchestral Musicians”.

It has been wonderful finally getting to sing in a piece that has lifted me without fail over many decades.  Please come and enjoy it.  And thanks, F.J.

I will be appearing (a little song , a little dance) in the title role (i.e. Jury member, aka chorus) of G&S’s first big Savoy Opera.  Curtain is at 8:00 PM this Friday and Saturday at the Smith Opera House in Geneva.  (Interesting note:  my first job out of college was in the very same theatre as a union carbon-arc projectionist in a previous life.)

Of Saints and Psalms

featuring choral works by
Mendelssohn and Britten

The Hobart and William Smith
Colleges Community Chorus
with Strings, Organ and Percussion
Deanna Joseph, conductor

The St. Peter’s Community
Junior Choir and Senior Choir
Wendra Trowbridge, director

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 – 7:30 PM
St. Peter’s Church
151 Genesee Street
Geneva, NY

PROGRAM

Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Op. 65 I. Andante – II. Andante con moto – III. Allegro Maestoso
Jeffrey Kempskie, organ

Hear my Prayer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Words by William Bartholomew (1793–1867)
Angela Libertella Calabrese, soprano
Jeffrey Kempskie, organ

Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
I. Choral – II. Choral – III. Aria – IV. Choral
Christa Wertman, soprano

The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Chorus
Deanna Joseph, conductor

Saint Nicolas Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
Op. 42 Words by Eric Crozier (1914–1994)
I. Introduction

II. The Birth of Nicolas
III. Nicolas devotes himself to God
IV. He journeys to Palestine
V. He comes to Myra and is chosen Bishop
VI. Nicolas from Prison
VII. Nicolas and the Pickled Boys
VIII. His piety and marvelous works
IX. The Death of Nicolas

The Pickled Boys Richard Lawson, Ah’Kell Whitfield, Teddy Townson
Boy Saint Nicolas Teddy Townson
Saint Nicolas Scott Perkins

St. Peter’s Community Junior and Senior Choirs
The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Chorus
The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Festival Orchestra
Deanna Joseph and Wendra Trowbridge, conductors