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The Great Choral Tradition Concert12:00AM / Tuesday, April 19, 2005
 | | Lucille Beer |
Albany, NY – From dramatic and romantic to grand and triumphant, Albany Pro Musica wraps up its 24th season with the Great Choral Tradition on Saturday, May 7 at 8 P.M. at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
Under the gifted baton of maestro David Griggs-Janower, the chorus takes on Haydn’s dramatic Lord Nelson Mass; Vaughan Williams’ highly romantic Serenade to Music; Handel’s Coronation Anthem #1 sung at every British coronation since King George II; and Vaughan Williams’ mysterious, triumphant and laudatory Benedicite. It’s great choral music performed by the Capital Region’s premier choral group in the area’s best acoustic venue.
Appearing with Albany Pro Musica for this season finale is a chamber orchestra of 23 musicians and soloists soprano Heidi Skok, mezzo-soprano Lucille Beer, tenor Alan Schneider and baritone Keith Kibler.
The Lord Nelson Mass by Joseph Haydn was written for the name day of Princess Esterhazy. The piece is filled with exuberant melodies and driving rhythms, evoking joy and feelings of hope, except for the distinctive “military” moments. The music for the soloists contains both lyricism and drama, while the powerful choral unisons are alternated with passages of intricate counterpoint.
Serenade to Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams was composed in 1938 as a tribute to Sir Henry J. Wood, one of England’s most popular and innovative conductors on the occasion of his fiftieth year as a professional conductor. At its premiere performance, Sergei Rachmaninov, a guest of Sir Henry, listened to the piece and wept, declaring he had never been so moved by a piece of music.
Coronation Anthem #1 by George Frideric Handel is one of the four he wrote for the coronation service of King George II. The anthem was based on the coronation of King Solomon who came to the throne of Israel when his father, King David, was dying. The entire anthem is a supreme example of Handel’s power to make a unique statement by the simplest means.
Vaughan Williams composed Benedicite in 1929 for the jubilee of the Leith Hill Musical Festival in Dorking, where he lived. Vaughan Williams conducted the premier performance. His inspiration for the work came from William H. Prescott’s description of pagan ceremonial in Conquest of Mexico.
Heidi Skok |
Soprano Heidi Skok is a 1994 alum of the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artist Development Program, a 1990 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Vocal Performance and a 1991 recipient of an Artist’s Diploma from Tito Capobianco’s Pittsburgh Opera Center at Duquesne.
Miss Skok is renowned as a recital and concert artist, championing new music by American composers as well as the more traditional repertoire. She previously appeared with Albany Pro Musica in 2002, singing the Dvorak Te Deum.
Mezzo-soprano Lucille Beer won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, followed by her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in Ravel’s L’ Enfant et les Sortileges. Since then, she has performed in numerous Met productions, recently in Strauss’s Electra with James Levine.
In addition to opera, Ms. Beer frequently performs in oratorio and lieder recitals as well as a vast array of symphonic repertoire. She has sung with many of the leading symphony orchestras. Recent appearances include a performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass with Albany Pro Musica and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. 
Alan Schneider |
Tenor Alan Schneider has performed in opera, operetta, and music theatre productions with many companies in his native New England and elsewhere. He has most often appeared with the Boston Lyric Opera, having performed principal roles in Rigoletto, La Rondine, Carmen, Don Carlos, and Salome over the past four seasons. Mr. Schneider has also long been associated with the Commonwealth Opera, based in Northampton, MA and became that company’s Artistic Director in July of 2004. He is an alumnus of The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received his Master’s Degree from Boston University. Baritone
Keith Kibler has sung leading roles internationally with some of the opera world’s best directors. Twice a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, Keith Kibler’s doctorate was earned at Yale University and the Eastman School of Music.
He is one of the region’s most sought after teachers with students accepted at the New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, Peabody and Hartt Conservatories, the Tanglewood Institute and the Aspen Music School. Keith Kibler and David Griggs-Janower have a long-standing collaborative relationship of over ten years, having performed works of Durufle, Vaughan Williams, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Carl Orff, and George Frederick Bristow.
Keith Kibler |
There will be a pre-concert talk by David Griggs-Janower and violinist Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz at the Rensselaer County Historical Society, 57 Second Street, Troy at 7 p.m. just prior to the performance.
Tickets ($20 adults, $18 seniors (62+) and $10 students (under 24) may be purchased by calling the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Box Office at (518) 273-0038 or online at www.troymusichall.org. The Music Hall Box Office opens one hour prior to the performance. Otherwise, Box Office operations are handled at its business office at 7 State Street, Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., on show days only. More information on Albany Pro Musica can be found at www.albanypromusica.org.
Albany Pro Musica is an auditioned chorus of men and women from seven counties in the Capital Region and surrounding areas. Dedicated to the enhancement of the cultural life in upstate New York and their own musical growth, the choral group, under the leadership of founding conductor David Griggs-Janower, presents professional quality performances of an a cappella and accompanied choral repertoire drawn from diverse traditions and styles ranging from the great masterworks to contemporary and less familiar compositions. |
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