DIRECTOR- BARRIE KOKSY
REVIVAL DIRECTOR- DONNA STIRRUP
CONDUCTOR- LAURENCE CUMMINGS
Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 | Youth Philharmonic Fusion | Josep Caballé-Domenech · Guest Director · Spain | Betty Garcés · Soprano · Colombia│Susan Platts · Mezzosoprano · United Kingdom / Canada
Mezzo-Soprano Susan Platts sings in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
The Ottawa Choral Society and an all-star solo line-up join the NAC Orchestra for this magnificent work from one of history’s preeminent composers.
A season finale with Artistic Director Keith Lockhart leading hundreds of artists on the Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium stage in Mahler’s impassioned and apocalyptic Resurrection Symphony.
No other work in the symphonic repertoire so completely brings together musicians and audiences in communion. Music Director Alain Trudel combines a larger-than-life orchestra and a massive chorus of community singers to perform Mahler’s heart-stopping soundscape that unites life, death, and ultimate resurrection.
A RITE OF SPRING IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA
Bach Week Festival was founded in 1974 by Karel Paukert, then associate professor of Organ and Church Music at Northwestern University and Organist/Choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Mr. Paukert combined St. Luke’s renowned choirs with professional instrumentalists from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Orchestra and Northwestern with a mission in mind: To showcase the music of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín, tells the story of the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezín) during World War II who performed Verdi’s Requiem while experiencing the depths of human degradation. With only a single smuggled score, they performed the celebrated oratorio sixteen times, including one performance before senior SS officials from Berlin and an International Red Cross delegation. Conductor Rafael Schächter told the choir, “We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.”
The 2018-19 Virginia Symphony Classics Season comes to a close with one of the greatest symphonies of all time. Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, among his most popular and successful works during his lifetime, demonstrates his vision of beauty in the afterlife and in resurrection. Characteristic of Mahler, the symphony is written for a huge orchestra and runs the gamut of emotions in the contemplation of life and death.
A concert with Violinist Sarah Chang to celebrate Women’s History Month this March.