Albany Pro Musica performs The Messiah

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Barbara Echaus
Albany, NY — Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Albany Pro Musica opens the 2005-2006 season on Saturday, December 3 at 8 PM at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with Handel’s breathtaking Messiah (Christmas portion). It’s been several years since The Messiah has been performed in the Troy Music Hall and the first time that Albany Pro Musica has performed the Christmas portion in its entirety. Also on the program are such seasonal favorites as “Here We Come A-Wassailing”, “Il est né, le Divin Enfant”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, the world première of the choral version of “Christmas Is…” by APM’s own Steve Murray, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “The Huron Carol.” Joining Albany Pro Musica for this performance is a quartet of stellar soloists – soprano Margaret Bragle, mezzo-soprano Barbara Eckhaus, tenor Brendan Hoffman and bass Keith Kibler. Margaret Bragle, a Bethlehem High School graduate who sang with APM Assistant Conductor Joe Farrell, is known for the warmth of her voice, her profound musicianship and her wide range of repertoire. This winter, in addition to appearing with APM, she will be a soloist with the Memphis Symphony in a Mozart/Vivaldi program. Recent highlights included an invitation to perform in the season opener at the Miller Theater (New York), Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Masterwork Chorus, a fully-staged production of Handel’s Clori, Tirsi and Fileno with Tempesta di Mare in Philadelphia, Bach’s Cantatas nos. 115 and 70 with Cantatas in Context, Handel’s Xerxes at the Connecticut Early Music Festival, Messiah with the Duke University Chapel Choir and the première of James Blachly’s new song cycle. Previous seasons included her Carnegie Hall début singing Messiah with the Masterwork Chorus, the Charlotte Symphony, Dallas Bach Society and Duke University Chapel Choir; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia and Duke University Chapel Choir; Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the North Carolina Symphony; the role of Amor Celeste in the American première of Antonio Caldara’s Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo in Princeton, NJ; Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Masterwork Chorus; a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Bach’s Magnificat with the Akron Symphony and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the North Carolina and Canton Symphonies. Barbara Eckhaus possesses a warm, rich voice which communicates beautifully with an audience. Her performances in opera have included Flora in La Traviata with the Glens Falls Symphony, Bibianna in Friends of Freedom, Third Lady in The Magic Flute with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, summer performances with Tanglewood Festival Opera under Seiji Ozawa, and regular appearances with Lake George Opera. She is welcomed enthusiastically as featured soloist on Concert Series at the Ocean Park Summer Music Festival, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Leddy Center for the Performing Arts, American Stage Festival Theater, Albany Symphony Orchestra and the White House, where her performances have been described as “stunning ... a model for anyone attracted to classical music.” A specialist in oratorio, she has been alto soloist with the North Carolina Symphony, Glens Falls Symphony, the Boston Masterworks Chorale, Union College, Berkshire Concert Choir and New York Catholic Chorale. Brendan Hoffman has been receiving high praise for his performances in the Capital Region. Most recently he performed the role of Lieutenant Joe Cable in the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, South Pacific, at Albany’s Park Playhouse. He will appear with Park Playhouse again this year as a part of “Seventeen Memorable Seasons in One Magical Night,” a retrospective of their seventeen years of productions. Brendan is at home singing music of various types and genres. His background includes seven years of vocal training, including four at the Crane School of Music where he earned his Bachelor of Music in music education as well as a Performance Certificate. While studying at Crane, Brendan performed with the Opera Ensemble in productions of A Wrinkle in Time by Libby Larsen, Assassins by Stephen Sondheim, and Cabaret by Kander and Ebb. He appeared as a soloist with the Crane Chorus in a performance of The Creation by Haydn. He also gave several recitals, which displayed various opera and oratorio arias and art songs. Keith Kibler has sung leading roles internationally with some of the opera world’s best directors, including Russian opera with Galina Vishnevskaya, Mozart with Peter Sellars, Britten with David Alden and Lou Galterio, and Handel with Tito Capobianco. Mr. Kibler has sung a wide range of early music with period instrument ensembles and was a visiting artist with the Boston Camerata. Summer engagements include appearances at the Monadnock, Wolftrap, Norfolk, and Tanglewood festivals, with pops concerts at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center and with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston. Mr. Kibler has premiered new compositions by Malcolm Peyton, Rodney Lister, Peter Homans, and he sang major roles in the Boston premières of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, both conducted by Gunther Schuller. Keith Kibler is one of the region’s most sought-after teachers with his students being 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 Duruflé, Vaughan Williams, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Carl Orff, and George Frederick Bristow. “We are thrilled to bring this masterpiece to Capital Region audiences and especially pleased to sing it in the magnificent Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with four wonderful soloists and orchestra,” said Artistic Director and Conductor David Griggs-Janower. “There’s no better way to ring in the season than with this beloved work and some familiar carols sung in different, fun settings.” The performance will be repeated the following afternoon, Dec. 4, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany at 2 p.m. Tickets for the December 3 performance 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 90 minutes prior to the performance. Otherwise, Box Office operations are handled at its business office at 30 Second Street, Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Complete concert and subscription/single ticket information for Albany Pro Musica can be found at www.albanypromusica.org or by calling 518-438-6548 for a season brochure. Celebrating its 25th anniversary season, 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 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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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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