NARRATIVES IN MUSIC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 5, 2018

NARRATIVES IN MUSIC
Choral Arts Philadelphia's 2018-2019 Season Shares Stories Told Through Music

PHILADELPHIA: The newly announced thirty-sixth concert season of Choral Arts Philadelphia, led by Artistic Director Matthew Glandorf, will explore various sacred and secular stories as narrated through music. Bach At Seven series will offer five programs featuring choral, orchestral, solo and chamber works by J.S. Bach, his predecessors and followers, including a world premiere by young Philadelphia composer Chelsea Komshlies (February 27).

The New Year’s Eve performance tops the holiday cheers. This year, Choral Arts presents two masterpieces of the Baroque era. J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, with the Christmas "interpolations," originally included by the composer in Leipzig in 1723 for its first performance. Handel’s four Coronation Anthems, rarely heard all together, will culminate with the audience favorite Zadok the Priest. The tradition of giving a New Year’s Eve concert was born in December 2014, thanks to the resounding success of that year’s experiment with Bach’s rarely heard complete Christmas Oratorio.
 
In its six year of existence, Bach@7 series offers two programs in the Fall and three in Winter-Spring, exploring the idea of “narratives.”  Glandorf has chosen works that tell stories, ranging from actual tales (like the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale in Carissimi’s Jonas, October 10) – to poetic reflections (as in the celebration of love in Song of Solomon in  Bach’s Wedding Cantata BWV 196, November 28) and the Easter plot as depicted in Resurrection Historia by Heinrich Schütz (April 24). Glandorf has built his programming “to afford each performing component of our collective group  – an instrumental ensemble of fine chamber musicians, our fine forces of talented choir and our core of professional singer-soloists – a broader ability to explore the full sound with the combined forces, in contrast to what can be done in a more chamber-like program.”
 
On May 25, to close the season, the ensemble will honor its founder Seán Deibler (1947-2009), marking the 10th anniversary of his death with the Philadelphia premiere of the piano four-hands version of Johannes Brahms’ Requiem, sung in English. According to Glandorf, “this original version was approved by the composer who wanted the message of comfort for those living in grief to be immediate.”
 
“Sean had a profound impact on the choral landscape of Philadelphia as a conductor, teacher and mentor,” said Glandorf. “Choral Arts owes Seán the early success as a symphonic chorus of great ability that performed regularly and recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra.” On May 25, 2019, for the memorial performance in Deibler’s honor Glandorf chose Brahms' Requiem in a piano four hands sung in English, to become its first performance in Philadelphia. According to Glandorf, “this original version was approved by the composer who wanted the message of comfort for the living in grief to be immediate.”

FALL-WINTER 2018

All Fall and Winter concerts are performed at St. Clement’s Church, 2013 Appletree Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

BACH AT SEVEN SERIES    
When: Wednesdays, 7-8 PM
Admission: Pay-what-you-wish, suggested $25 donation at the door. Post-concert mingles.
  
OCTOBER 10
With Choral Arts Philadelphia, Soloists and the Philadelphia Bach Collegium
Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674): Jonas
J.S. Bach (1686-1750): Cantata BWV 111 Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit

NOVEMBER 28
With Core Singers of Choral Arts and the Philadelphia Bach Collegium
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703): Motet Meine Freundin, Du bist schön
J.S. Bach: Double Violin Concerto in D Minor
J.S. Bach: Cantata 196 Der Herr denket an uns

 
NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION
DECEMBER 31 @ 4-6 PM
With Choral Arts Philadelphia, Soloists and the Philadelphia Bach Collegium
J.S. Bach: Magnificat
G.F. Handel: Coronation Anthems
ADMISSION: Ticketed event.
Early Bird special (Save $5) $10-40, before October 1.
Buy tickets online at http://www.choralarts.com/tickets.html
 
Click to View Full Season Schedule

Choral Arts Philadelphia is a premier chamber ensemble of professional and avocational musicians. Under artistic leadership of Matthew Glandorf, inspired by the works of J.S. Bach, the choir presents historically-informed performances, explores new music, and engages the community in innovative ways. In 2008, Glandorf founded The Philadelphia Bach Collegium, a chamber ensemble of period instruments, resident group of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, which is a project of Choral Arts. Comprising  of the region's finest musicians and scholars, the Collegium specializes in the music of XVII-XVIII centuries. Learn more here or contact us at [email protected]. Leave message at 267.240.2586 (ALTO).
 
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Download high resolution images and captions at http://www.choralarts.com/press_photos.html. For more photos, interviews, press tickets, and other press inquiries, please contact Inna Heasley at [email protected] or call 215-280-4824.