CONCORA's 2017-2018 season opens on Sunday, October 15 with an intimate performance of the Brahms Requiem. Read more here about the featured soloists, including local favorites Louise Fauteux, soprano, and Chai-lun Yueh, baritone. Brahms' own transcription of the Requiem will be presented by pianists Éric Trudel and Cihan Yücel. And oboist Libby van Cleve, who dazzled the audience at CONCORA's "Art and Music" concert in February, will entrance listeners with the haunting melodies of Brahms' choral elegy Nänie. Chris Shepard has selected an ensemble of CONCORA singers that promises a rich, memorable performance of this most beloved music.
CONCORA opens the 2017-2018 season on Sunday, October 15 with one of the most enduring works in the choral repertoire, the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms.
The concert begins at 4:00 PM at South Church, 90 Main Street, New Britain.
Tickets are on sale now ($10-$55). Order online or contact the CONCORA office at contact@concora.org or 860-293-0567. Purchase a season subscription by October 15 for the best prices of the season! Bring some friends and take advantage of groups rates for eight or more tickets (advance sales only, please). Tickets will also be available at the door.
Soprano Louise Fauteux enjoys a diversified career in the arts devoted to education and performance. Her versatility as a soprano has afforded her opportunities with some of today’s most celebrated institutions, including a solo role in Peer Gynt with the New York Philharmonic and actor John de Lancie, a theatrical version of the St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music directed by Jonathan Miller, and a tour of Venice with DiCapo Opera and the Fairfield Chorale. Some of her favorite operatic roles performed include Pamina (The Magic Flute), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Violetta (La Traviata), and Lucy (The Telephone). For Un Ballo in Maschera with
Connecticut Concert Opera, the Hartford Courant characterized Louise Fauteux as a “pert, boyish Oscar” with “clarion tone in her two showpiece arias and a soaring top in the great Act I ensemble.” Ms. Fauteux received her master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College and studied voice with Nan Nall, Laura Brooks Rice, and Arthur Levy. Her vocal students have received various awards and scholarships and have gone on to attend further studies through Tanglewood, Hartt School of Music, Westminster Choir College, UCONN, and Oberlin. Ms. Fauteux’s own awards and honors include a fellowship with the Carmel Bach Festival, national semifinalist for the MacAllister Awards, and a scholarship from the Connecticut Opera Guild. In recent years she has frequently appeared on WFSB television as both a soloist and a choir director, and is often soloist for local ensembles such as the New Haven Chorale, the Farmington Valley Chorale, the Connecticut Master Chorale, and the Connecticut Chamber Chorus. 2017 saw her perform “Dove Sono” with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra and give the premiere of “An Aria for the Executive Order” by Niloufar Nourbakhsh for the Women’s Composer Festival in Hartford. Ms. Fauteux teaches music for A.I. Prince Technical High School and is resident artist for the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford. She welcomes visitors to www.louisefauteux.com.
Chai-lun Yueh
Chai-lun Yueh, baritone, is an award-winning artist, an exciting and dramatic baritone with a rich and powerful voice, a music director and voice educator, the first Chinese-born classical musician to receive a nomination for a GRAMMY Award®, winner of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions of New England Region, and a finalist at the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition. His recently released CD, 24 Italian Songs and Arias, won The Prestige Music Awards of Gold in 2012 and The Global Music Awards (Award of Excellence, Male vocal, classical) in 2013. His CD “Infinite Time,” a collection of the best-known Chinese art songs from the
early- to mid-20th centuries also received the Gold Award from The Prestige Music Awards in 2013. After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music of China with the highest honor, Mr. Yueh received his Artist Diploma and Master of Music degrees from The Hartt School, University of Hartford. He continued advanced studies at The Julliard School and Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Over the last two decades, Mr. Yueh has worked closely with many distinguished artists, directors, and conductors including Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Gino Bechi, Sherrill Milnes, Nancy Milnes, Anton Guadagno, Yves Abel, and Adelaide Bishop. He has portrayed leading roles such as Tonio, Rigoletto, Giorgio Germont, Escamillo, Marcello, Sharpless, and Count Almaviva. He has been heard at The National Opera of China in Beijing; Austin Lyric Opera, Baltimore Opera, Connecticut Opera, Hawaii Opera, Opera Theater of Connecticut and many others. As baritone soloist, Mr. Yueh has performed at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Strathmore Music Hall in Washington DC, Jordan Hall in Boston, and Woolsey Hall at Yale University. Mr. Yueh has also performed in Europe including Vienna, Salzburg, Paris and Prague. He teaches at Wesleyan University and Trinity College and is Music Director of the Connecticut Women’s Chorale and Artistic Director of Kang Hua Singers of Greater Hartford. Mr. Yueh is an active recitalist and has given vocal recitals, master classes and vocal workshops in the United States (Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Phoenix, and Houston) and China (Shanghai and Beijing). Starting in the fall of 2017, Chai-lun will be the newest faculty member teaching voice at the Hartt School, and will serve as Senior Advisor for recruiting international students from China.
Éric Trudel
A native of Québec, Canada, pianist Éric Trudel graduated with top honors from the Québec Conservatory of Music. He won the prestigious Prix d’Europe competition, which enabled him to study privately with pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Marc Durand, and Louis Lortie. He has taught and performed extensively throughout Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Korea, Spain, and the United States. His New York City credits include recitals at Weil Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and the 92nd Street Y. While pursuing an active career as a pianist, he studied conducting with Raffi Armenian
and Ronald Zollman. Mr. Trudel has served as a pianist, coach and/or conductor with many organizations, including the Montreal International Piano Festival, the Banff Centre Festival for the Arts, L’Opéra de Montréal, Connecticut Grand Opera, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the OK MOZART Festival, the Pro Arte Singers, and the Stamford Chorale. His faculty appointments include the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Trois-Rivières, Montréal Opera’s Atelier Lyrique, the Université du Québec à Montréal and more recently, Yale University’s School of Music (2001-2005) and Western Connecticut State University. He currently is on faculty at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music and at Southern Connecticut State University. His long association with the CBC includes numerous television and radio performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist. On CD, he can be heard on the CBC, Star, and Naxos labels. In 2005, he was involved in the recording of the complete songs of Charles Ives for Naxos. In 2008, the national publication Classical Singer Magazine named Éric Trudel “Vocal Coach of the Year.” He has been an accompanist for the Classical Singer Convention Competition since 2006. In the opera and musical theater fields, he has recently conducted productions of Carmen, Dialogues des Carmélites, Evita, The Fantastiks, Kat’a Kabanová, Street Scene, Suor Angelica, Les Mamelles de Tirésias, and Peter Grimes. Éric Trudel recently joined the Wall Street Chamber Players, a group of first-chair musicians from the New Haven Symphony and other orchestras who have been performing in their own subscription series through Connecticut for 35 years. For three years, Mr. Trudel was music director at First Congregational Church in Watertown, where he prepared and conducted the choir and honed his organ skills. He is currently pianist and organist for Tremont and Emanu-El Temples Synagogue in Scarsdale, NY.
Cihan Yücel
Pianist Cihan Yücel has performed hundreds of solo and chamber music concerts in the United States, Europe, and his native Turkey. He received great attention and admiration at each of his performances. Born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1987, Cihan began his piano studies at the age of six with private lessons. In 1998, he entered Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory and studied piano until his graduation in 2008. In 2009 he came to the United States for his graduate and post graduate studies. Holding a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from the Hartt School, University of Hartford, Cihan is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the same institute.
Libby van Cleve
Described as “expert” by the Washington Post, “dazzling” by the San Francisco Chronicle, and “absolutely exquisite” by Paris Transatlantic, oboist Libby Van Cleve’s most extreme epithet was from the Hartford Courant, which dubbed her “the double reed queen of the new music world.” Libby Van Cleve is recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of chamber and contemporary music for the oboe. Her solo playing is featured on the New Albion, CRI, Aerial, and Centrediscs
CD labels. Her solo English horn and oboe d’amore performances are featured on the internationally acclaimed CD “Dark Waters,” featuring music by Ingram Marshall. In addition Ms. Van Cleve performs regularly with chamber music groups including the Connecticut Reed Trio and Burning Bush Baroque. Compact discs featuring her chamber playing have been released on the Tzadik, New World, OODisc, Braxton House, What Next?, CRI, and Artifacts labels. Numerous compositions have been written for her and have been commissioned by organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Commission for the Arts, Canada Council, and Minnesota Composers Forum. Ms. Van Cleve has received grants for the performance and recording of new works from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Minnesota Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, and North West Area Foundation. She has been awarded residencies at the Yellow Springs Artist Colony and the Banff Centre, and she won the prestigious Yale School of Music Alumni Association Prize. Van Cleve is the author of Oboe Unbound, a book on contemporary oboe techniques published by Rowman and Littlefield Press. She is co-author of the award-winning book/CD publication, Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington (Yale University Press). She also created an oboe performance edition of the first three of Bach’s cello suites, available through T.D. Ellis Music Publishing, ASCAP. Ms. Van Cleve received her DMA from Yale School of Music, her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and her BA, magna cum laude, from Bowdoin College. She is the oboe teacher at Connecticut College and Wesleyan University, and Director of Yale’s Oral History of American Music project. Her former teachers have included Ronald Roseman, Allan Vogel, and Basil Reeve. Ms. Van Cleve currently resides in Guilford, CT, with her husband, Jack Vees, and daughter, Nola.
CONCORA, led by Artistic Director Chris Shepard, in a sold-out performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, February 12, 2017.
In the 2017-2018 season, CONCORA celebrates masterworks of the choral art, with fresh interpretations of music that many consider the greatest examples of the genre, including the Requiems of Brahms and Mozart and Bach’s monumental Saint Matthew Passion, all under the direction of Artistic Director Chris Shepard.
Season subscriptions for all five main-stage concerts are on sale through October 15, 2017. A season subscription offers the best value and guarantees your seats throughout the season. New this season: A special thank-you just for subscribers! When you subscribe to all five concerts by October 15, we will send you a private code by which you may enjoy $5 off additional general admission tickets for any of the five season concerts, purchased at any time during the season. Visit CONCORA's website for informationon concerts, season subscriptions, and more. Tickets for all CONCORA concerts and events may be purchased at any time at our secure ticketing site, or by contacting the CONCORA office at 860-293-0567 or contact@concora.org.
CONCORA sings Extraordinary Choral Masterworks Saturday, November 18 2017, 7:30PM Saint Thomas the Apostle Church 872 Farmington Ave, West Hartford, CT
Continuing a long tradition of inclusion and outreach, CONCORA will be joined by gifted Connecticut choirs from high schools in Litchfield, Bristol, and Ledyard to present a program of
selections from choral masterworks by Bach (Saint Matthew Passion), Mozart (Requiem), and Brahms (A German Requiem), plus works by Faure, Thompson, and others. For many of the young singers, this concert will be their first opportunity to collaborate with professional musicians, and may be their first experience with this enduring repertoire and with singing in an acoustically resplendent space like Saint Thomas the Apostle Church.The concert is inspiring and enriching for listeners, too, as a listener said of last year’s Extraordinary Concert: “What a treat to sit and be bathed in glorious sound. The young voices were so fresh and clear and the ensemble sound quite breathtaking. The variety of musical offerings was a delight to the listener and perfectly suited to that grand space.” Tickets are on sale now ($10-$55); purchase a season subscription by October 15 for the best prices of the season. Bring some friends and take advantage of groups rates for eight or more tickets (advance sales only, please).
Friday, November 3, 2017, 7:30 PM St Mark the Evangelist Church
467 Quaker Lane, West Hartford, CT
CONCORA's Friends of Bach presents an engaging program of music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, performed on harpsichords, clavichords, and positive organ. Featured performers include keyboardists Edward Clark, Christa Rakich, and Stephen Gamboa-Diaz, with guest artists Emlyn Ngai, baroque violin; Andrea LeBlanc, baroque flute; Alice Robbins, baroque cello; and a special appearance by CONCORA vocalist Jermaine Woodard, Jr., baritone. All proceeds support CONCORA's performance of the Saint Matthew Passion on March 25, 2018. The program includes selections by J.S. Bach (Preludes from the Well Tempered Clavier, an aria from the Saint Matthew Passion, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5) and C.P.E. Bach (movements from a harpsichord concerto arranged for two clavichords). Tickets are just $10-$30 and are on sale now.
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We're excited about the colorful 2017-2018 "Masterworks" season brochure! If you did not receive a brochure and wish to, contact the CONCORA office to request a copy and to update your mailing address. You won't want to miss a thing!
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CONCORA’s 2017-2018 season is made possible through the generous gifts of many individual donors and with the generous support of the following foundations and institutions: the American Savings Foundation; the Greater Hartford Arts Council; the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving; the J. Walton Bissell Foundation; the William T. Sloper Trust for the Andrew J. Sloper Music Fund; the State of Connecticut, with the support of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Helen M. Saunders Charitable Foundation; the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation; the Ensworth Charitable Foundation; the City of New Britain Commission on the Arts; the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation; and the Robert C. Vance Charitable Foundation.
