Cantilena Chamber Choir & Berkshire Lyric Theater
Russian Choral Music May 15 & 16
By: Ariel Petrova - Apr 26, 2010
Cantilena Chamber Choir
and Berkshire Lyric Theater
Present a Russian Choral Music Weekend
May 15 and 16
The Cantilena Chamber Choir and Berkshire Lyric Theater will present a Russian Choral Music Weekend of concerts and lectures on May 15 and 16. Special guest performers will be New York City Opera tenor Konstantin Stepanov and, from St. Petersburg, Russia, The Konevets Quartet with Igor Dmitriev, Director.
The event schedule is as follows:
On Saturday, May 15, at 3 p.m., Berkshire Lyric will join with the Cantilena Chamber Choir and The Berkshire Institute for Theology and the Arts for a free lecture and recital at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Renne Avenue in Pittsfield. Cantilena director and Russian choral scholar Andrea Goodman will be the featured speaker. Selections of Russian art songs will be performed by members of the quartet and Konstantin Stepanov. This event is free and open to the public.
At 8 p.m. (following a pre-concert lecture at 7:15) the Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a concert featuring the Liturgia Domestica for chorus and orchestra by Alexandre Gretchaninov at Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street, Lenox. This is one of the only works in the Russian sacred music repertoire to be accompanied by an orchestra rather than the usual a cappella setting. The concert will feature Russian-born Konstantin Stepanov and the Northern Berkshire Chorale which will join the choir to complement the large forces required for such a work. The program opens with Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, a choral version of his Adagio for Strings, as well as selections by Vaughan Williams, Rubbra and Brahms. Tickets: $25 ($20 for students and seniors) are available at the door or in advance by email: satbchoir@yahoo.com. Reservations suggested: 413-637-2440. More information: www.cantilenachoir.org.
On Sunday, May 16, at 3 p.m., The Berkshire Lyric Chorus and The Blafield Children's Chorus directed by Jack Brown will present Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and other masterpieces from the Russian choral tradition at the First Baptist Church on South Street in Pittsfield. The concert features the Konevets Quartet. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Liturgy's premiere in pre-revolutionary Russia. The program opens with settings of Russian folk songs by Liadov, Gretchaninov and Tchaikovsky. The Konevets will also present selections from their ongoing 2010 North American tour. Tickets are $20 (children free with adult). Further information: 413-499-0258 or visit www.BerkshireLyricTheatre.org.
About the artists:
The Berkshire Lyric Choir, one of the county's longest-running community music organizations, was founded in 1963 by Robert Blafield. Its program of multi-generational musical performances and education is unique among arts groups in the region. Berkshire Lyric has been led since 2007 by Artistic Director Jack Brown.
Now in its sixth season, the Cantilena Chamber Choir, directed by Andrea Goodman, is the Berkshire region's leading a cappella group and has collaborated with the New England Baroque Soloists, Aston Magna and The Empire Brass, and is in residence at Trinity Church in Lenox. Goodman is also the Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale in Williamstown and the Saratoga (N.Y.) Choral Festival.
Konstantin Stepanov will make his debut this season at New York City Opera as B.F. Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. He made his American debut in 2008 in Carnegie Hall in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride with Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York. Upcoming engagements include a debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Malcolm in Verdi's Macbeth.
The Konevets Quartet was founded in 1992 by four young musicians from the St. Petersburg Glinka Choir College. Trained in the tradition of Russian song, the Konevets Quartet is not just a group of individual soloists, but is in essence a chamber choir dedicated to creating a perfect harmonious ensemble sound. They have participated in leading international festivals in Russia, Great Britain, the U.S., France, Italy, Ireland and Scandinavia.