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CONCORA (and friends!) sing
Extraordinary
Choral Masterworks
Saturday, November 18 2017, 7:30pm
Saint Thomas the Apostle Church
872 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT
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Handel, Mozart, Fauré, Mendelssohn...Their music has been at the heart of the choral repertoire from the beginning.
Randall Thompson, Leonard Bernstein, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen... Theirs are newer voices whose music has been embraced as classics for our time.
On Saturday, November 18, CONCORA will offer fresh interpretations of these choral masterworks, performing them as you might never have heard them before.
Joining the all-professional ensemble for parts of the program are three of Connecticut’s finest youth choirs: the select choruses from Bristol Central, Ledyard, and Litchfield high schools.
CONCORA's Artistic Director Chris Shepard reminds us that "masterworks" include not only the "big" choral works such as masses, requiems, and passions, but smaller works that take on "masterwork" status due to their beauty and musical merit, of course, but perhaps more importantly, because of the degree to which singers and listeners like you embrace them and hold them close.
The November 18 "Extraordinary Concert" demonstrates this to a T, with a selection of masterworks large and small, each one a gem in this concert of crown jewels.
For a professional ensemble like CONCORA, the pleasure in sharing this beautiful music with you comes not just by performing these "classics" on a concert; that's easy, and of course, this repertoire is performed fairly often by choruses of all types. So what will make CONCORA's November 18 masterworks concert distinctive?
In their rehearsals, Chris and the singers are doing much more than simply polishing familiar music in order to present a display of vocal virtuosity. Instead, they are digging deep, spending time to approach these familiar classics with fresh ears and a new curiosity, developing new understandings that they are eager to present in concert.
For example, Chris asked the singers during rehearsal, what is it that makes Morten Lauridsen's music so distinctive - and so popular? What's the "hook" that makes choral music lovers glad to see it on any program?
"It's actually fairly simple: This music is all about legato," says Chris. "How one note connects to another, how the dissonances emerge from the stream of sound and disappear again as the music ebbs flows seamlessly. It's like a string of pearls."
But this is easier said than sung.
"Legato sounds easy; after all, it simply means to sing in a connected manner," Chris explained. "But not every choir can achieve a true sustained legato for an entire three- or four-minute selection. It's more difficult than it sounds and requires superior vocal technique and tremendous concentration and stamina. CONCORA's professional singers are producing a gorgeous, sustained, richly resonant choral legato, singing Lauridsen's 'O Nata Lux' in a way that many of our audience may never have experienced, even if they've heard it many times before."
Eric Whitacre's "Lux Arumque," another contemporary classic, presents very different challenges. "Where the Lauridsen calls for a rich, saturated sound, Whitacre's music calls for absolutely pure vocal production, with total control of the voice, even in the loudest passages. The singers must be able to instantly change instruments, if you will, to create a different sound than they've used thus far on the program. And the very end of the piece calls for a few sopranos to sustain a mere silver thread of sound over an entire page; it has to be audible, but just barely. Not every choir can do this, especially on a program that also calls for much richer, more colorful (and louder!) singing; few ensembles have this versatility. These singers are producing a range of vocal color that I really think is unmatched in our region."
Those richer sounds will be heard in a dazzling arrangement of "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" by William Dawson, the quite perfect Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Fauré, and three movements of the Mozart Requiem with which the program concludes.
"And this is why I hope many people will come to hear this concert," Chris said: "To leave expectations and familiarity at home, to come with fresh ears and a curious mind, to experience how even familiar music can be brand new when sung by a highly-skilled, truly versatile ensemble like CONCORA. Even the rehearsals have been exciting, as we explore new ways of singing together. I know that our audience will be thrilled with the entire experience."
On November 18, CONCORA's audience can expect a performance that is out of the ordinary - in fact, one might call it "Extraordinary."
What's on the program for November 18? Here's a sneak peek:
Joyous! Handel: “Sing Unto God” from Judas Maccabeus
Ethereal! Mendelssohn: “He Shall Give His Angels Charge over Thee” from Elijah
Ecstatic! Bernstein: “Gloria tibi” from Mass
Goosebumps! Thompson: “Ye Shall Have a Song” from Peaceable Kingdom
Dreamy! Lauridsen “O Nata Lux” from Lux Aeterna
Showstopper! Dawson: “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”
Liquid gold! Whitacre “Lux aurumque”
Perfection! Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine
Thrilling! Mozart: Dies Irae, Confutatis, and Lacrymosa from Requiem
Plus selections performed by the three high school choirs!
Tickets are on sale now ($10-$55) and will also be available at the door. Advance purchase is recommended for preferred seating. Bring some friends and take advantage of group rates for parties of eight or more adult and senior general admission tickets (advance sales only, please).
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Coming up in our next newsletter:
- Profiles of our guest high school choirs, their conductors, and some information about music they will sing for you
- A video preview from Artistic Director Chris Shepard about this concert
- Another installment in our series of articles about the "metalworks" images that grace CONCORA's 2017-2018 series artwork
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