Virginia Chorale 2009-2010 Season Lift Every Voice!
Sing in the Seasons: Five Centuries of Songs for the Four Seasons
October 2, 2009 – 8:00 PM - First Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach
October 3, 2009 – 8:00 PM – Trinity Episcopal Church, Portsmouth
October 4, 2009 – 3:00 PM – Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg
From beloved Renaissance madrigals celebrating Spring to American standards like "Autumn Leaves" our opening program is devoted to music inspired by the seasons of the year. Romantic folksongs of Brahms, part-songs of Elgar and Debussy's cycle of minature masterpieces, "The Three Songs of Charles d'Orleans" round out this festive program kicking off our 26th season with style, wit and flair!
Sweet was the Song: Choral Classics for the Holidays
December 4, 2009 – 8:00 PM – Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg
December 5, 2009 – 3:00 PM – Christ & St. Luke's Church, Norfolk
Sing in the Holidays with the Virginia Chorale's most popular program! We continue our Britten Project with his earliest Christmas cantata, a series of carol settings entitled "Christ's Nativity". The central movement, "Sweet was the song the Virgin sang" sould inspire his beloved "Ceremony of Carols". We also continue our collaboration with last season's 25th anniversary commission composer, Robert Convery, in a performance and recording of his beautiful cantata, "The Nativity of our Lord". Along with popular songs and carols, we honor Mendelssohn's bicentennial with festive anthems of the season.
Ears Wide Open: Celebrating Women in Music
March 5, 2010 – 8:00 PM – First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk
March 6, 2010 – 8:00 PM – First Presbyterian Church, Virginia Beach
March 7, 2010 – 3:00 PM – Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg
In conjunction with the Virginia Commission for the Arts statewide focus "Minds Wide Open, Celebrating Women in the Arts" we are honoring the voices of women composers from around the world. This program features some of the best music written by women in the US from the 19th century to today, including a world premiere by award-winning composer Deb Mason. Classics by the romantic composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Shumann join works from Australia, Ireland, and among others, Pakistan.
Perpetual Light
May 15, 2010 – 5:00 PM – Chrysler Museum, Norfolk
May 22, 2010 – 8:00 PM – Churchland Baptist Church, Chesapeake
May 30, 2010 – 3:00 PM – Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg
This program juxtaposes two masterpiece settings of the Requeim Mass for the beloved medium of the a capella chorus. Tomas Luis da Victoria's setting is one of the masterworks of the Renaissance. Ildebrando Pizzetti, a little known Italian composer from the generation after Puccini, is indebted to Victoria and Palestrina, and his lush, romantic Requiem is every bit the masterpiece of his Renaissance ancesters. The May 30 performance is presented in conjunction with the Virginia Arts Festival.