The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera presents Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Tivoli Theatre. This concert will be performed in memory of former CSO Executive Director Molly Sasse French.
Pianist Spencer Myer, Baritone Robert Barefield, the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Chorus directed by Darrin Hassevoort, and the Lee University Chorale directed by William Green will join the CSO for the concert. Other soloists featured include Caitlin Hammon Moore, Lucia Sanchez, Sara Snider Schone, Ron Brendel and James Harr.
Review for the music and performers:
The concert opens with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The Los Angeles Philharmonic calls the piece “powerful [and] strikingly original.” Based on the dramatic play by Goethe about Count Egmont and his 16th Century struggle for Dutch freedom from Spain, the piece takes you from tragedy through triumph.
The concert continues with the world premier of Wie die Blätter des Herbstes herbafallen (As the Autumn Leaves Fall) by Kendra D’Ercole. The piece is based on Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament. As Beethoven’s hearing began to diminish, he moved to the Viennese suburb of Heiligenstadt where he wrote this famous outpouring of emotions. The name of the piece is based on the postscript to the Testament: “As the autumn leaves fall and wither,” writes Beethoven, “so also has [hope] become dried up for me.”
Closing out the concert is Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy written for piano, solo voices, chorus and orchestra. Herbert Glass writes, “It is closely related to the “Emperor” Concerto in its combination of heroic grandeur and expansive lyricism, but unique to the Fantasy amid the composer’s music for piano and orchestra is its enthusiastic desire to excite the senses: this is show-off music, a virtuoso lark.”
Pianist Spencer Myer’s career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianist Association and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Mr. Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr. Myer is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stage.
Baritone Robert Barefield has performed as soloist with organizations throughout the United States and in Europe. Dr. Barefield received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a Corbett Opera Scholar. He is associate professor at the Hartt School in Connecticut, having served on music faculties at Arizona State University, Southern Methodist University and others. He has made presentations at national conferences of leading music organizations and his articles on voice-related topics have appeared in The Journal of Singing, The American Music Teacher, and The Music Educator's Journal. His summer activities have included performing and teaching at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska, Lingua e Canto and Operafestival di Roma in Italy, the Vianden International Music Festival in Luxembourg and the IES Center in Vienna, Austria (in collaboration with Carolyn Hague and Michael Pinkerton). Dr. Barefield’s current and former voice students are active as performers and educators throughout the country.
Kendra D’Ercole is one of the five visiting composers this season. The CSO will host a Composers Lunch where she will give a presentation on her piece and some background on her composition process. Also, there is a pre-concert Spotlight Talk at the Tivoli Center at 6:45 p.m. on concert night. Following the concert, ticket holders are invited to stay in the lobby for Postlude where they can meet the guest artists and musicians and enjoy complimentary sparkling wine.
Tickets range from $21 to $83 with discounts for students and educators and can be purchased by calling the CSO Box Office at 267-8583 or online at www.chattanoogasymphony.org.