The University at
Albany Department of Music is pleased to present the Capital Collegiate
Choral Festival on Sunday, November
11, 2007 at 3pm in the Main Theatre
of the Performing Arts Center on the uptown campus. This
concert marks the eighth annual performance of this event. Along with the University Chorale and the University
Chamber Singers under the direction of David M. Janower, the concert will
include the Vocal Chamber Ensemble of Schenectady County Community College
under the direction of Yiping Wu, the College of
St. Rose Chamber Singers under the direction of Michael Levi and the College
of St. Rose Masterworks Chorale under the direction of Barbara Wild in her
debut performance with the group.
The five choruses
will sing a varied program featuring the Music of Mozart, Beethoven and Carl
Orff plus music from South American and the Southwest US, music from the
Renaissance period and music of living composers such as William Hawley, Robert
S. Cohen, Edward Tyler, Conrad Susa, Robert Young, Andre Thomas and Berkshire composer Stephen
Murray.
Murray is no stranger to
area audiences. The UAlbany Chamber
Singers premiered a composition of his in last year’s festival, “Canadian
Folksong,” which went on to win first prize in a prestigious composition
competition in Canada. Murray sings with Albany
Pro Musica which has performed a number of his works.
Robert S. Cohen of
Montclair, NJ (who will be in attendance
at the performance) has written music for orchestra, chamber
ensemble, dance and theatre. He has been the recipient of many awards and commissions, including a New Jersey State
Council on the Arts Fellowship, an American Music Center grant and a Meet
the Composer Award. His most recent
work, a commission entitled Of Eternity Considered as a Closed System
for soloists, chorus and orchestra based on seven poems by the late Rochester
poet Hyam Plutzik, was premiered in February at Carnegie Hall as part of a
concert sponsored by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation entitled “Partners of
Hope.” The University Chorale will perform three movements
of this work in a version for piano and percussion.
Janower has also
programmed another work making extensive use of percussion and this time two
pianos, the opening of Carl Orff’s Catulli
Carmina. Like the better known Carmina Burana, Catulli is a rhythmic, driving, exciting work. The texts are erotic love poetry by the Roman
poet Catullis.
Rounding out the
program are some movements from familiar and lesser-known works of Mozart and
Beethoven, an exciting piece by Argentinian composer Ernani Aguiar
and Carols and
Lullabies, Christmas in the Southwest for chorus, marimba,
harp and guitar by San Francisco composer Conrad
Susa.
Tickets are $8 for the general public and $4 for students and
may be purchased through the Performing Arts Center Box Office. For further information, contact the Box Office
at (518) 442-3997 or visit the Performing Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac.
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