Overture Magazine 2019-20 BSO_Overture_Sept_Oct | Page 13

TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 4 expiate her cursed life via a life of solitary religious contemplation, takes refuge in a monastery. Don Carlo and Don Alvaro are thrown together on an Italian battlefield, and each, ignorant of his identity, saves the other’s life. Ultimately, Alvaro also seeks asylum as a monk in the same monastery where, unknown to him, Leonora has lived peacefully for years. Carlo tracks him there, and the two fight a duel in which Carlo is mortally wounded. Leonora is summoned to give aid to the dying man, and with his last breath, Carlo kills her to avenge the family honor. A distraught Alvaro is urged by the Father Superior to live out his life in service to God. Verdi did not add the opera’s unforgettably intense overture until he revised the opera for a production at Milan’s La Scala in 1869. A potpourri of several of the opera’s finest melodies, it opens with a sequence of implacable chords on a unison E, establishing the E minor tonality. Then we hear the relentlessly VOODOO VIOLIN CONCERTO Daniel Bernard Roumain Born 1970 in Skokie, IL Emmy-winner Daniel Bernard Roumain is one of the most eclectic and multi- faceted musicians in the U.S. today. Better known as “DBR,” this Haitian-American artist is an accomplished classical violinist, educator, activist and a composer whose music draws on many, seemingly disparate sources: classical, jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop. Beginning violin lessons at age five, DBR studied composition at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, then earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, where his mentors were two very eclectic composers in their own right, William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty. Nevertheless, all along the way, DBR was absorbing other influences. In junior high, he formed his own rock and hip-hop band in which driving theme of destiny, which mutters away throughout the rest of the overture. The wistful melody for woodwinds is Don Alvaro’s fourth-act aria after he has joined the monastery. The beautiful soaring theme for violins is Leonora’s Act II aria “Madre, pietosa Vergine,” also a recurring theme in the opera. Instrumentation: Flute, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. Choral Arts ON T UR! 2019-20 Astonishing Journeys Timeless Masterpieces ANTHONY BLAKE CLARK Baltimore Choral Arts charts thrilling musical voyages in our 54 th season, performing choral masterpieces from America, England, France, Hungary, Italy, and Vienna. Our tour theme also extends to our new concert home at Shriver Hall Auditorium and a tour to England. Music Director AN AMERICAN SUITE: FROM BILLINGS TO BERNSTEIN MONTEVERDI VESPERS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2019 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM Henry Balfour Gardiner Zoltán Kodály American Suite William Billings Traditional, arr. Alice Parker Susan LaBarr Ēriks Ešenvalds David Conte Anthony Blake Clark Bono, arr. Bob Chilcott Aaron Copland Baltimore Baroque Band, Peabody’s Baroque Orchestra, Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble, Maryland Institute College of the Arts In Baltimore Choral Arts’ second collaboration with MICA, their graduate students will add multi-sensory images to this Baroque masterpiece. Claudio Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine Leonard Bernstein Evening Hymn Laudes Organi Invocation Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal Grace Before Sleep Stars The Composer Higher Ground MLK Stomp Your Foot Zion’s Walls “Make our Garden Grow” from Candide CHRISTMAS WITH CHORAL ARTS MOZART REQUIEM SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020 AT 3 PM | SHRIVER HALL AUDITORIUM Steven Soph, tenor and Philip Munds, horn Wolfgang A. Mozart Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. (412+514)/386b Benjamin Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31 Mozart Requiem in D minor, K. 626 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019 AT 7:30 PM | THE BALTIMORE BASILICA Holiday choral favorites in the historic and inspiring setting of The Baltimore Basilica continue a 36- year tradition. JOIN US ON TOUR! JANUARY 10-20, 2020 Baltimore Choral Arts is touring England, highlighted by a prestigious invitation to sing Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s 100 th anniversary celebration. The Chorus will also perform at venues in London and Oxford. Notice: Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. has leased or rented facilities from the Johns Hopkins University. However, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. and any programs operated by Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. are not related to or affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University in any way. Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Inc. is an entirely separate legal entity with no connection to the Johns Hopkins University aside from the temporary use of facilities for the specified program. SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW ON SALE! BaltimoreChoralArts.org | 410-523-7070 S E P– O C T 201 9 / OV E R T U R E 11