Chorus of Westerly Fall Concert

Description

 THE CHORUS OF WESTERLY
George KentPerformance Hall • 119 High Street • Westerly, RI 02891
Tel. 401.596.8663 • Fax 401.596.1370 • www.chorusofwesterly.org

GEORGE KENT’S FINAL SEASON WITH THE CHORUS OF WESTERLY
BEGINS WITH MASTERPIECES OF THE BAROQUE
MUSIC OF BACH, HANDEL, AND PURCELL
ON NOVEMBER 20

Beloved maestro George Kent kicks off his final season with the Chorus of Westerly on Sunday, November 20, 2011, with two performances featuring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, G.F. Handel, and Henry Purcell. In the performances under Kent, the 190-voice Chorus of Westerly and the Boston Festival Orchestra will offer Bach’s Cantata 191: Gloria in excelsis Deo (the ‘Gloria’ from the famous Bach Mass in B Minor), Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest, and Purcell’s Birthday Ode to Queen Victoria, Come Ye Sons of Art.  Joining the chorus and orchestra for this concert are Grammy-award winning artists Carmen Pelton, soprano, and William Sharp, baritone. Acclaimed New York tenor and local favorite Bryan Register will also perform. Coming to Westerly for the first time to sing in Come Ye Sons of Art are two rising stars in the vocal world, countertenors John Holiday and Patrick Fennig.

The performances will take place at 4 pm and 6 pm on November 20 in the George Kent Performance Hall, 119 High Street, in downtown Westerly. Tickets can be purchased at the Chorus of Westerly Box Office, by calling 401.596.8663, or by visiting www.chorusofwesterly.org. Ticket prices range from $18 to $56 (with $10 student tickets available). A free pre-concert lecture, offered by George Kent, will take place on Saturday, November 19 at noon, in the rehearsal room of the George Kent Performance Hall.  The lecture will be followed by an open rehearsal of Cantata 191 and Come Ye Sons of Art at 2 pm. The public is welcomed for all events. No tickets are required for the lecture or open rehearsal.

The November concert marks the kick-off to George Kent’s farewell season. Kent, who was born in Westerly and raised in neighboring Pawcatuck, Connecticut, founded the Chorus in 1959 at the age of 21. His purpose in creating the ensemble was to create an organization where area residents, and in particular children, would have the opportunity to sing and perform the great works of music. He also wished to bring the symphonic world to Westerly so local residents could hear and experience great classical music “live” as part of the audience. Over the Chorus of Westerly’s 53 seasons, Kent has grown the Chorus into one of the most respected, prestigious, and acclaimed arts organizations in New England. Over 2,000 area residents have sung under George Kent (including 1400 children) and over 1.5 million people have heard the Chorus sing in one of nearly 600 performances.

“We are delighted to kick off George Kent’s final season with this exciting program of Bach and Purcell,” states Ryan Saunders, executive director of the ensemble. “The Bach Cantata 191 is a work we have never sung before – so even in his final year Mr. Kent is bringing ‘new’ historic music to the town. We also are delighted to sing the Purcell and introduce two exciting and talented new countertenors to the audience. We hope everyone will come out to hear this great music and help us begin our celebration of George Kent’s final year with us.”


About the Guest Artists

Joining the Chorus for the performance are five professional soloists including two artists with Grammy award-winning albums on their resumes.
 
Soprano Carmen Peltonhas appeared in a wide range of works with orchestras, opera houses, chamber music groups, Equity drama theaters, and Off-Broadway productions. Ms. Pelton’s solo performances are featured on two recordings that won Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album of the Year: Barber, Bartok and Vaughan-Williams with the Atlanta Symphony in one of Robert Shaw's last recordings, and William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, recorded by Naxos at the University of Michigan. Ms. Pelton's first success in New York City was in the unlikely role of Susan B. Anthony in Mother of Us All; she was subsequently invited to perform the final scene from the opera at the televised Kennedy Honors program for the President and Honoree Virgil Thomson.  Her European operatic debut was more conventionally suited to Ms. Pelton's dramatic coloratura; Sir Peter Peers cast her as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Aldeburgh Festival and the outstanding reviews led immediately to her engagement by Scottish Opera as Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Other leading Mozart roles include Königin der Nacht, Donna Anna and the title role of Lucia Silla.
 
Tenor Bryan Register, a native of North Carolina, appears frequently with symphony orchestras in performance of a wide variety of works including Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabeus, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri and Ned Rorem’s Missa Brevis. Mr. Register made his Lincoln Center debut in a recital of French Chamber Music at the Bruno Walter Recital Hall, his debut at Carnegie Hall singing Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and his Town Hall debut in Haydn’s Harmonie Messe. He has participated in the renowned apprentice programs of The Santa Fe Opera and Glimmerglass Opera. He is a winner in the 2008 Gerda Lissner Competition, the 2006 Sullivan Foundation Competition, the Licia Albanese/Puccini Competition and the recipient of a 2006 Grant from the Liederkranz Foundation. At the Manhattan School of Music (where he earned his M.M.) he was awarded the Birgit Nilsson Scholarship.  This past year, Mr. Register debuted with the Buffalo Philharmonic in the Verdi Requiem as well as the all-Wagner Concert Festival with the Birmingham Opera.
 
Baritone William Sharphas appeared regularly with the leading symphony orchestras, chamber music festivals, contemporary ensembles and early music ensembles in North America and abroad, and has presented hundreds of solo song recitals.  His dozens of recordings include his recital of American Songs on the New World label, for which Mr. Sharp was nominated for the Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Performance, the Grammy-winning world-premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles (on Koch International), and several recordings of works of J.S. Bach with the American Bach Soloists (also on Koch International), including the Mass in B Minor and four volumes of cantatas. He has won the Carnegie Hall American Music Competition, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (including the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Prize) and the Geneva International Competition.  Mr. Sharp serves on the faculty of The Peabody Conservatory of Music.
 
Countertenor Patrick Fennigmade his solo debut in 2009 with the American Classical Orchestra in a period performance of Handel’s Messiah. Last season with the ACO, he appeared as a soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with The Central City Chorus, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel’s Messiah at Christ Church, Greenwich, CT and Schütz's, Sei Gegrüßet, Maria at The Little Church Around the Corner in New York City

Countertenor John Holiday, Jr., is one of the opera world’s fastest rising stars. Recently, Mr. Holiday was an apprentice artist at The Santa Fe Opera, where he covered the role of Corrado in Peter Sellars’s production of Vivaldi’s Griselda and was subsequently awarded the Anna Case MacKay Career Grant. He also recently performed as Tolomeo in the College Conservatory of Music’s production of Giulio Cesare in Egitto. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Holiday was a first place winner of the TEXOMA region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.  No stranger to jazz music, Holiday opened for Grammy-Award winner Jason Mraz in concert and subsequently released his own Christmas album Holiday Guide in 2006.  In 2007, he was the 1st place winner of the Middle-East Tennessee District of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (MONC). Other highlights include an invitation by Pope John Paul II to sing as soloist at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.  For the 2011-2012 season, John will make his company debut with Portland Opera and will sing as the alto soloist in the Messiah with Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. 
 
More information
The Chorus of Westerly’s performance is presented through support from The Alumni Association of the Chorus of Westerly, The Blue Mitten Thrift Shop, the Brightman Hill Charitable Foundation, Marion S. Palm, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Sculco, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Smith, The Wine Store/Liquor Warehouse, and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.  The Chorus is also thankful of its media sponsors for the event: Sun Publishing, Classical 95.9 WCRI, The New London Day, and WBLQ 1230 AM.

For further information about this performance or for tickets, please call Lee Eastbourne at the Chorus of Westerly Box Office at 401.596.8663 or visit chorusofwesterly.org.

The Chorus of Westerly’s performances take place at the George Kent Performance Hall, 119 High Street, Westerly, Rhode Island. The George Kent Performance Hall is handicapped accessible.
 
Photographs of George Kent, Carmen Pelton, Bryan Register, William Sharp, Patrick Fennig, John Holiday, Jr., and the Chorus of Westerly are available by emailing Lee Eastbourne at lee@chorusofwesterly.org