Colorado Symphony 2017/18 Season Presenting Sponsor:
HOLIDAY • 2017/18 HANDEL'S MESSIAH COLORADO SYMPHONY BRETT MITCHELL, conductor LAYLA CLAIRE, soprano JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO, mezzo-soprano JOHN TESSIER, tenor TIMOTHY JONES, bass-baritone COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS, DUAIN WOLFE, director Saturday's Concert is Gratefully Dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Alan Wigod
Friday, December 8, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 9, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. Boettcher Concert Hall
HANDEL Messiah PART I Overture Comfort ye, my people Ev’ry valley shall be exalted And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed Thus saith the Lord But who may abide the day of his coming? And he shall purify Behold! A virgin shall conceive O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion For behold, darkness shall cover the earth The people that walked in darkness For unto us a child is born Pastoral symphony There were shepherds abiding in the field And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them And the angel said unto them
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PROGRAM 1
HOLIDAY • 2017/18
And suddenly there was with the angel Glory to God Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened He shall feed his flock Come unto Him His yoke is easy — INTERMISSION — PART II Behold the Lamb of God He was despised Surely, he hath borne our griefs And with his stripes we are healed All we, like sheep, have gone astray All they that see him laugh him to scorn He trusted in God Thy rebuke hath broken his heart Behold, and see if there be any sorrow He was cut off out of the land of the living But thou didst not leave his soul in hell Let all the angels of God worship him How beautiful are the feet Why do the nations so furiously rage together? Let us break their bonds asunder He that dwelleth in heaven Thou shalt break them Hallelujah PART III I know that my redeemer liveth Since by man came death Behold, I tell you a mystery The trumpet shall sound Worthy is the Lamb
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HOLIDAY MESSIAH TEXT PART I Overture “Sinfonia” RECITATIVE – Tenor Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ARIA – Tenor Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain. CHORUS And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. RECITATIVE – Bass Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: Yet once a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. ARIA - Bass But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refineros fire. CHORUS And He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
ARIA – Alto O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain: O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold you God! Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. RECITATIVE - Bass For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ARIA - Bass The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. CHORUS For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Pifa “Pastoral Symphony” RECITATIVE – Soprano There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. RECITATIVE – Soprano And lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
RECITATIVE – Alto Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. SOUNDINGS
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PROGRAM 3
HOLIDAY MESSIAH TEXT RECITATIVE – Soprano And the angel said unto the, Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. RECITATIVE – Soprano And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: CHORUS Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill towards men. ARIA – Soprano Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is the righteous Saviour, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. RECITATIVE – Alto Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. ARIA – Alto He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
PART II CHORUS Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. ARIA – Alto He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. CHORUS Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. CHORUS And with His stripes we are healed. CHORUS All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. RECITATIVE – Tenor All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying CHORUS He trusted in God that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him.
ARIA Come unto Him, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
RECITATIVE – Tenor Thy rebuke hath broken His heart; He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him.
CHORUS His yoke is easy and His burthen is light.
ARIA – Tenor Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.
— INTERMISSION —
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HOLIDAY MESSIAH TEXT RECITATIVE – Tenor He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of Thy people was He stricken. ARIA – Tenor But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. CHORUS Let all the angels of God worship Him ARIA – Soprano How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. ARIA – Bass Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and who do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed. CHORUS Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us. RECITATIVE – Tenor He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. ARIA – Tenor Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
PART III ARIA – Soprano I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body yet, in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep. CHORUS Since by man came death, By man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. RECITATIVE – Bass Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. ARIA – Bass The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incoruptible, and we shall be changed. CHORUS Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.
CHORUS Hallelujah: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!
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PROGRAM 5
HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES BRETT MITCHELL, conductor Hailed for delivering compelling performances of innovative, eclectic programs, Brett Mitchell begins his tenure as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony with the 2017-18 season. Prior to this four-year appointment, he served as Music Director Designate during the 2016-17 season. Mr. Mitchell’s recently announced inaugural season as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony features such guest artists as Renée Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a significant commitment to a broad range of American music, from Copland, Bernstein, and Gershwin to Kevin Puts, Mason Bates, and Missy Mazzoli. Other highlights include Mahler’s First Symphony, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloé, and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Mr. Mitchell will also lead Handel’s Messiah, Wagner/Maazel’s The Ring without Words, and a two-part celebration of the music of John Williams, featuring a program of Mr. Williams’s concert works and a live-to-film performance of his score for Jurassic Park. Mr. Mitchell is also currently in his fourth and final season as a member of The Cleveland Orchestra’s conducting staff. He joined the orchestra as Assistant Conductor in 2013, and was promoted to Associate Conductor in 2015, becoming the first person to hold that title in over three decades and only the fifth in the orchestra’s hundred-year history. In this role, he leads the orchestra in several dozen concerts each season at Severance Hall, Blossom Music Center, and on tour. From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Mitchell also served as the Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, performing full subscription seasons at Severance Hall, and leading the orchestra on a four-city tour of China in 2015, marking the ensemble’s second international tour and its first to Asia. In addition to these titled positions, Mr. Mitchell is in consistent demand as a guest conductor. Recent and upcoming guest engagements include the orchestras of Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Oregon, Rochester, Saint Paul, San Antonio, and Washington (National Symphony Orchestra), among others. His Summer 2017 festival appearances include the Blossom Music Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Texas Music Festival in Houston. He has collaborated with such soloists as Rudolf Buchbinder, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Leila Josefowicz, and Alisa Weilerstein. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Mitchell led over one hundred performances as Assistant Conductor of the Houston Symphony, to which he frequently returns as a guest conductor. He also held Assistant Conductor posts with the Orchestre National de France, where he worked under Kurt Masur from 2006 to 2009, and the Castleton Festival, where he worked under Lorin Maazel in 2009 and 2010. In 2015, Mr. Mitchell completed a highly successful five-year appointment as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, where an increased focus on locally relevant programming and community collaborations resulted in record attendance throughout his tenure. As an opera conductor, Mr. Mitchell has served as music director of nearly a dozen productions, principally at his former post as Music Director of the Moores Opera Center in Houston, where he led eight productions from 2010 to 2013. His repertoire spans the core works of Mozart (The PROGRAM 6
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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute), Verdi (Rigoletto and Falstaff), and Stravinsky (The Rake’s Progress) to contemporary works by Adamo (Little Women), Aldridge (Elmer Gantry), Catán (Il Postino and Salsipuedes), and Hagen (Amelia). As a ballet conductor, Mr. Mitchell most recently led a production of The Nutcracker with the Pennsylvania Ballet in collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra during the 2016-17 season. Born in Seattle in 1979, Mr. Mitchell holds degrees in conducting from the University of Texas at Austin and composition from Western Washington University, which selected him in as its Young Alumnus of the Year in 2014. He also studied at the National Conducting Institute, and was selected by Kurt Masur as a recipient of the inaugural American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation Scholarship. Mr. Mitchell was also one of five recipients of the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellowship from 2007 to 2010. brettmitchellconductor.com
LAYLA CLAIRE, soprano Praised for her colourful, flexible voice and graceful stage presence, Canadian Layla Claire was a member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, making her debut there under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and returning for several guest appearances including the creation of the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island under William Christie and as Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress led by James Levine. An expressive and diverse concert singer, Layla Claire has twice collaborated with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under both James Levine and Michael Tilson Thomas, and again in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Bernard Haitink. With Yannick Nézet-Séguin, she has performed both Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Symphony No. 9 at Festival de Lanaudière, as well as Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with L’Orchestre Métropolitain. At Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival she performed Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with Louis Langrée, and both Dvořák’s Requiem and Haydn’s Seasons at Grant Park Music Festival under Carlos Kalmar. This season, the soprano joins both the San Francisco Symphony and the Colorado Symphony for Handel’s Messiah. Highlights of recent opera seasons include a Salzburger Festspiele debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, a role she also has sung for Opéra de Montréal and Opernhaus Zürich, and Mozart’s La finta giardiniera at the the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Her artistic versatility has been showcased in a highly acclaimed Washington National Opera debut as Blanche de la Force in Francesca Zambello’s new production of Dialogues des Carmélites, and she was praised as the Governess in Willy Decker’s new production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Opernhaus Zürich.
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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES
FAY FOX
JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano is noted for her commanding stage presence and profound artistry with a warm, velvety timbre that has garnered critical acclaim. Winner of a 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant and 2014 George London Award, Ms. Cano joined The Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera in 2008 and became the First Prize winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions in 2009. Ms. Cano has given over 100 performances at The Metropolitan Opera, with roles including Bersi, Emilia, Hansel, Mercedes, Wellgunde, and Waltraute. Other operatic appearances included Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Boston Lyric and Arizona Operas, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen with Boston Lyric Opera, Diana in La Calisto with Cincinnati Opera, and Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with the Tucson Symphony. She has recently worked with an impressive array of conductors, such as James Levine, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Manfred Honeck, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, Osmo Vänskä, and Sir Andrew Davis. Last season, she made her European debut performing John Adam’s El Niño on tour with Mr. Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra in London and Paris, and with Markus Stenz and The Radio Filharmonisch Orkest at The Royal Concertgebouw. In season 2017-18, Ms. Cano bows as Orfeo in Orfeo and Euridice with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and as The Sharp Eared Fox in the concert version of Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland, Vienna, and Luxembourg. Orchestral engagements include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein’s Jeremiah with the Atlanta, Phoenix and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras, Mozart’s Requiem with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, as well as Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
ROZARI LYNCH
JOHN TESSIER, tenor Juno Award-winning tenor, John Tessier, has worked with many of the most notable conductors of our day including David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Plácido Domingo, John Nelson, Franz Welser-Möst, Emmanuelle Haïm, Charles Dutoit, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Yannick NézetSéguin, and Bernard Labadie. In the 2017-18 season, Mr. Tessier returns for a fourth consecutive year to the stage of the Wiener Staatsoper and also joins the Edmonton and Calgary operas. Concert performances include Messiah in Chicago and Denver, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Calgary and Ottawa, and a Mozart Festival in Indianapolis. A broad discography spans repertoire from Bach to Bernstein and highlights include John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (Slatkin/ Nashville Symphony), Haydn’s The Creation (Glover/Music of the Baroque), Mozart Requiem (Labadie/Les Violons du Roy; Runnicles/Atlanta Symphony), and Stephen Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn (Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra).
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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES TIMOTHY JONES, bass-baritone American bass-baritone, Timothy Jones, enjoys a reputation as a charismatic presence on operatic and concert stages throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. The Boston Globe hailed his voice as “stentorian and honeyed” and the Chicago Tribune called his “complete connection with the text extraordinary.” The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review praised him for his theatricality, noting that he “relished the dramatic possibilities of the songs, text and music.” Mr. Jones has soloed with the Cleveland Orchestra singing Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. He has also performed with Boston Baroque, Baltimore Symphony, St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Portland Symphony, Saginaw Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Utah Symphony, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and the Virginia Symphony. His repertoire includes the Bach’s St. John Passion, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Verdi’s Requiem, and A Sea Symphony by Vaughn Williams. He has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions by composers Derek Beryl, Robert Avalon, James Balentine, Laura Carmichael, John Vasconcelos Costa, Kevin Puts, Marcus Maroney, Pierre Jalbert, Karim Al-Zand, Anthony Brandt, Kieren MacMillian, David Passmore, David Cutler, Jeffrey Goldberg, David Heuser, Doug Opel, and Jeffrey Nytch. Mr. Jones is an alumnus of Centenary College and the University of Michigan. He is currently a professor of voice at the University of Houston Moores School of Music.
DUAIN WOLFE, director, Colorado Symphony Chorus Recently awarded two Grammys® for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Recording, Duain Wolfe is founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Wolfe’s 31st season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for over two decades. Wolfe, who is in his 21st season with the Chicago Symphony Chorus has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and the late Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 Grammy® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is also founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years; the Chorale celebrated its 40th anniversary last season. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s additional accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo!Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 13 years. SOUNDINGS
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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS The 2017/18 Colorado Symphony Concert Season marks the 34th year of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then the Music Director of the Symphony, the chorus has grown, over the past three decades, into a nationallyrespected ensemble. This outstanding chorus of 180 volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances, and radio and television broadcasts, to repeat critical acclaim. The Chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony. For over two decades, the Chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing many great masterworks under the baton of notable conductors Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and David Zinman. Among the recordings the Colorado Symphony Chorus has made is a NAXOS release of Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 4. The Chorus is also featured on a recent Hyperion release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis. In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the Chorus on a 3-country, 2-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl, and Prague, and in 2016 the Chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg, and Munich. The Colorado Symphony continues to be grateful for the excellence and dedication of this remarkable, allvolunteer ensemble! For an audition appointment, call 303.308.2483. .
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HOLIDAY BIOGRAPHIES COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS Duain Wolfe, founding director and conductor Mary Louise Burke, associate conductor Travis Branam, Taylor Martin, assistant conductors Brian Dukeshier, Hsiao-Ling Lin, Danni Snyder, pianists Eric Israelson, Barbara Porter, chorus managers SOPRANO I Black, Kimberly Black, Shelby Brown, Jamie Causey, Denelda Choi, LeEtta H. Coberly, Sarah Deskin, Erin Dirksen, Sarah Dukeshier, Laura Gile, Jenifer D. Gill, Lori C. Graber, Susan. Guynn, Erika Harpel, Jennifer Heintzkill, Mary-Therese Hinkley, Lynnae C. Hittle, Erin R. Hofmeister, Mary Hupp, Angela M. Joy, Shelley E. Kim, OnYoo Kirschner, Mary E. Knecht, Melanie Long, Lisa Look, Cathy Maupin, Anne Medema, Stephanie Moraskie, Wendy L. Porter, Barbara A. Rollins, Haley Ropa, Lori A. Schawel, Camilia Schweitzer, Laura Sladovnik, Roberta A. Solich, Stephanie A. Stegink, Nicole J. Tate, Judy Wuertz, Karen Young, Cara M. SOPRANO II Ahrens, Anna Ascani, Lori Blum, Jude Bohannon, Hailey Borinski, Jackie Bowen, Alex S. Brauchli, Margot L. Christus, Athanasia Coberly, Ruth A.
Colbert, Gretchen Cote, Kerry H. Dakkouri, Claudia Gross, Esther J. Henriques, Jillian Kraft, Lisa D. Kushnir, Marina Montigne, Erin Myers, Heather H. Nyholm, Christine M. O'Nan, Jeannette R. Pflug, Kim Rae, Donneve S. Rattray, Rebecca E. Rider, Shirley J. Ruff, Mahli Saddler, Nancy C. Timme, Sydney Travis, Stacey L. Von Roedern, Susan Walker, Marcia L. Weinstein, Sherry L. Woodrow, Sandy Zisler, Joan M. ALTO I Adams, Priscilla P. Brady, Lois F. Branam, Emily M. Braud-Kern, Charlotte Brown, Kimberly Buesing, Amy Chow, Ai Ling Clauson, Clair T. Conrad, Jayne M. Daniel, Sheri L. Dunkin, Aubri K. Franz, Kirsten D. Frey, Susie Gayley, Sharon R. Groom, Gabriella D. Guittar, Pat Haller, Emily Holst, Melissa J. Hoopes, Kaia M. Kraft, Deanna Lawlor, Betsy McNulty, Emily McWaters, Susan Nordenholz, Kristen Passoth, Ginny
Pringle, Jennifer Rudolph, Kathi L. Stevenson, Melanie Thayer, Mary B. Virtue, Pat Voland, Colleen ALTO II Boothe, Kay A. Chatfield, Cass Cox, Martha E. Deck, Barbara Dominguez, Joyce Eslick, Carol A. Golden, Daniela Hoskins, Hansi Jackson, Brandy H. Janasko, Ellen D. Kibler, Janice Kolstad, Annie London, Carole A. Maltzahn, Joanna K. Marchbank, Barbara McNulty, Kelly M. Mendicello, Beverly Nittoli, Leslie M. Schalow, Elle C. Scooros, Pamela R. Townsend, Lisa Trierweiler, Ginny TENOR I Borboa, Humberto Dougan, Dustin Dukeshier, Brian Gordon, Jr., Frank Hodel, David K. Jordan, Curt Martin, Taylor S. Moraskie, Richard A. Muesing, Garvis J. Nicholas, Timothy W. Reiley, William G. Roach, Eugene Zimmerman, Kenneth TENOR II Babcock, Gary E. Bradley, Mac Carlson, James Davies, Dusty R.
SOUNDINGS
Fuehrer, Roger Gale, John H. Guittar, Jr., Forrest Kolm, Kenneth E. Mason, Brandt J. McCracken, Todd Meswarb, Stephen J. Milligan, Tom A. Ruth, Ronald L. Seamans, Andrew J. Sims, Jerry E. BASS I Adams, John G. Bernhardt, Chase Boyd, Kevin P. Branam, Travis D. Cowen, George Drickey, Robert E. Falter, Corey M. Gray, Matthew Hesse, Douglas D. Jirak, Thomas J. Mehta, Nalin J. Quarles, Kenneth Ravid, Frederick Rutkowski, Trevor Struthers, David R. Wood, Brian W. BASS II Friedlander, Robert Grossman, Chris Israelson, Eric W. Jackson, Terry L. Kent, Roy A. Millar, Jr., Robert F. Moncrieff, Kenneth Morrison, Greg A. Nuccio, Eugene J. Phillips, John R. Skillings, Russell R. Skinner, Jack Swanson, Wil W. Taylor, Don Virtue, Tom G.
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HOLIDAY PROGRAM NOTES GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759): Messiah, An Oratorio George Frideric Handel was born February 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany, and died April 14, 1759 in London. He composed Messiah in London between August 22 and September 14, 1741, and directed the work’s premiere at Neale’s Music Hall on Fishamble Street in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The score calls for two oboes, bassoon, two trumpets, timpani, organ, and strings. Duration is about two hours. Messiah was last performed on December 14 and 15, 2016, with Nicholas Kraemer conducting. As both composer and impresario, Handel was London’s most important producer of Italian opera in the early 18th century. He toiled doggedly throughout the 1730s to keep his theatrical ventures solvent, but the tide of fashion (and the virulent cabals of his competitors) had brought him to the edge of bankruptcy by 1739. As early as 1732, with the oratorio Esther, he begun casting about for a musical genre that would appeal to the changing fancy of the English public, but neither that work nor the oratorio Alexander’s Feast of 1736 had the success he had hoped. The strain of the situation resulted in the collapse of his health in 1737. Rumors began to circulate that Handel was finished in London. Some held that his health had given way for good; others, that he had died. The story given greatest credence was that he planned to return to the Continent. However, in the summer he suddenly sprang back to creative life, inspired by a small book of biblical texts that had been compiled by Charles Jennens, who had earlier supplied the words for the oratorio L’Allegro, il Penseroso e il Moderato, based on Milton’s poem. Handel’s imagination was fired, and he began composing on August 22nd. The stories have it that he shut himself in his room, eschewing sleep and leaving food untouched, while he frantically penned his new work. Twenty-four days later, on September 14th, he emerged with the completed score of Messiah. “I did think I did see Heaven before me and the great God Himself!” he muttered to a servant. Handel chose not to premiere Messiah in London but rather in Dublin, where he was “universally known by his excellent Compositions in all Kinds of Musick,” according to the city’s press. Choristers were assembled from Dublin’s cathedrals, the best available soloists and instrumentalists were enlisted, and the date of the premiere was set for April 13, 1742. Messiah was a triumph. Though it took some time before the oratorio enjoyed an equal success in London, Messiah came to be recognized during the next decade as Handel’s masterpiece. It was the last work he directed, only eight days before he died on April 14, 1759. For all of its unparalleled popularity, Messiah is an aberration among Handel’s oratorios, the least typical of his two-dozen works in the form: it is his only oratorio, except Israel in Egypt, whose entire text is drawn from the Bible; it is his only oratorio without a continuous dramatic plot; it is his only oratorio based on the New Testament; it is his only oratorio presented in a consecrated space during his lifetime, a reflection of the sacred rather than dramatic nature of its content (“I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better,” he told one aristocratic admirer); it has more choruses than any of his oratorios except Israel; the soloists in Messiah are commentators on rather than participants or characters in the oratorio’s story. None of this, of course, detracts a whit from the emotional/artistic/(perhaps) religious experience of Messiah. (Handel and Jennens never appended the definite article to the title.) Its three parts — The Advent of the Messiah, The Passion of Christ, and His Resurrection — embody the most sacred events of the Christian calendar, yet its sincerity and loftiness of expression transcend any dogmatic boundaries. In the words of George P. Upton, the American musicologist and turn-of-the-20th-century critic of the Chicago Tribune, “Other oratorios may be compared one with another; Messiah stands alone, a majestic monument to the memory of the composer, an imperishable record of the noblest sentiments of human nature and the highest aspirations of man.” ©2010 Dr. Richard E. Rodda PROGRAM 12
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