Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Seattle Choral Company Presents Fauré Requiem

The Seattle Choral Company will perform the Fauré Requiem on Saturday, April 19, 2008, 2 PM, at Benaroya Hall in the Mark Taper Auditorium. We will also perform Eric Whitacre's "Five Hebrew Love Songs," Abbie Betinis' “From Behind the Caravan: Songs of Hâfez,” and Maurice Duruflé’s ethereal “Messe cum jubilo.

Seating is reserved: $40, $30, $25 & $20

Buy online at Brown Paper Tickets or call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006.

You can also contact the SCC ticket line at 206-363-1100, or email the SCC at tickets@seattlechoralcompany.org.

For more information, visit: http://www.seattlechoralcompany.org/Concerts/FaureRequiem.aspx.

 

The Seattle Choral Company returns to Benaroya Hall on April 19, 2008, to present a rich worldwide tapestry of sacred and secular choral works.

Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem” is luminous and shimmering, suffused by warmth and consolation. It is a rare gem in the French repertoire, performed and loved the world over. For this April performance of Faure’s masterpiece, the magnificent Watjen Concert Organ will receive centerpiece attention, as played by Seattle organist, Clint Kraus.

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970), is one of the bright young stars in contemporary concert music, and has quickly become a much commissioned, published, and performed choral and symphonic composer. As a student at the Juilliard School of Music, he studied with eminent composers John Corigliano and David Diamond. His “Five Hebrew Love Songs” were dedicated to his wife, the Jerusalem-born soprano, Hila Plitmann. The lyrics, written by Plitmann in Hebrew, are delicately beautiful love poems, each capturing a moment shared between author and composer while on vacation in the Swiss Alps.

Accompanied by the ancient Vielle and Persian hand drums, the women of the Seattle Choral Company will present the first Seattle performance of “From Behind the Caravan: Songs of Hâfez,” composed by St. Paul resident, Abbie Betinis (b. 1980). This seductive suite is based on the 14th century poems of Hâfez, and brings to fruition the love, mysticism, and Sufi themes that have long pervaded Persian poetry.

The men’s voices of the Seattle Choral Company will be spotlighted in Maurice Duruflé’s ethereal “Messe cum jubilo” (Mass ‘with rejoicing’) a Latin mass setting based the Gregorian Mass IX. Completed as recently as 1966, Duruflé’s mass recalls monastic plainchant. It is as restrained as Faure’s earlier setting of the requiem, and the results are both subtle and sublime

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Trish, Hans & Phil at the Metropolitan Room in NY

Join Trish, Hans & Phil for their East Coast debut at the Metropolitan Room in New York City.

Trish, Hans & Phil will be singin' and swingin' for two consecutive nights, Friday, August 24th, and Saturday, August 25th at the Metropolitan Room, located at 34 West 22nd St between 5th & 6th Ave., at 8 PM. There is a $25 cover and 2 beverage minimum.

For more information, read about the gigs at the Metropolitan website, and call the Metropolitan Room at 212 206 0440 for reservations.

We hope to see you there!

Trish, Hans & Phil in Montana



If you happen to be planning to be anywhere in the Whitefish or Kalispell, Montana area next week, stop by one of the gigs above (click the picture to see a bigger version), and I'll buy you a drink!

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Join the Seattle Choral Company for a Gala Celebration!

The Seattle Choral Company Concludes 25th Year with a Gala Salute on June 3rd

The Seattle Choral Company invites you to share our 25th season celebration. Join us at Benaroya Hall on June 3 for a celebration of twenty five wonderful years of music making!
With a cast of eight vocal soloists and full orchestra we'll bring you excerpts of past performances of our favorite musical works.

 

  • Handel Coronation Anthem No. 1,    “Zadok the Priest”
  • J.S. Bach Cantata No. 140,    “Sleepers Awake”
  • Mozart Requiem in d minor:    “Dies irae, Confutatis, Lacrymosa”
  • Haydn The Creation:    “The Heavens Are Telling”
  • Mendelssohn Elijah: “For He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee”
  • Berlioz Te Deum: “Tibi omnes”
  • Verdi Messa di Requiem: “Sanctus” 
  • Vaughan Williams "Serenade to Music"
    Johann Strauss, Jr. Die Fledermaus:    “Brotherhood Toast”
  • Carl Orff Carmina Burana: “O fortuna”  
  • Film score excerpts by John Williams -
    Amistad: “Dry Your Tears, Afrika”, Saving Private Ryan: “Hymn to the Fallen”, Star Wars, The Phantom Menace: “Duel of the Fates” 

 

Click here to purchase tickets:  Sunday / June 3 / 3:00 PM

Click here for directions to venue: Benaroya Hall Third Avenue & University Street, Seattle

Reserved seating.
For more details, call the SCC at (206)363-1100 or go to www.seattlechoralcompany.org

Group discounts available for 8 or more.
Groups of 15 or more from schools, churches and other non-profits receive 50% off.

Email your questions to tickets@seattlechoralcompany.org

Seating Information

Click here to see Benaroya Hall seating chart.

  • FOUNDERS TIER SEATING $30.00 & $40.00
  • ORCHESTRA LEVEL SEATING $15.00, $20.00, $25.00, & $30.00
  • SECOND TIER SEATING $20.00 & $25.00
  • THIRD TIER SEATING Not available.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Seattle Choral Company Presents "My Spirit Soars" March 3rd & 4th

"My Spirit Soars" offers a look at America's choral music scene today, March 3rd & 4th at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle.

Seattle Choral Company gives "Lux Aeterna" an encore performance

Northwest native, Morton Lauridsen, is now considered one of America's most beloved composers whose music is heartfelt and radiant. Local music lovers and critics were jubilant after our May 2000 performance of his Lux Aeterna, and we are excited to revisit this 1997 masterpiece during our 25th Anniversary Season.
"Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna is a classic of new American choral writing."  (The London Times)

Philadelphia Inquirer says: "Eric Whitacre is the hottest thing in choral music"

At age 36, Eric Whitacre is one of the bright stars in contemporary American music. Critics praise his compositions as "works of unearthly beauty and imagination, with electric, chilling harmonies." Three of  Whitacre's most often-performed works will be on our program:
(click for sound clips)
Water Night
Her Sacred Spirit Soars
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine

World Premiere of Herbolsheimer's "Dos Sueños"

A major new work for chorus and orchestra by Seattle composer, Bern Herbolsheimer, will be unveiled on March 3 & 4.
Titled Dos Sueños (Two Dreams), it is based on two mystical dream poems by Spanish poets Antonio Machado and Federico Garcia Lorca.
The Seattle Weekly states, "No Seattle composer has a more assured and polished craft than Bern Herbolsheimer. His choral writing is luminous and subtle."
Be with us when Dos Sueños receives its first performance by the Seattle Choral Company!

Tickets on sale now! Don't delay!

Saturday / March 3 / 8:00 pm

Sunday / March 4 / 3:00 pm

Click here for map and directions to venue: St. Mark's Cathedral 1245 10th Ave E, Seattle


Non-reserved seating.

For more details, call the SCC at (206) 363-1100 or go to www.seattlechoralcompany.org 

Group discounts available for 8 or more. Groups of 15 or more from schools, churches, and other non-profits receive 50% off.

Email your questions to tickets@seattlechoralcompany.org

Purchase tickets with no added fees! Visit our web site at: www.seattlechoralcompany.org

Saturday, December 02, 2006

The Seattle Choral Company Presents Handel with a Mozart Twist!

Discover Handel's Messiah . . . anew!

The Seattle Choral Company continues their 25th Anniversary Year this holiday season with Mozart's Messiah, featuring Handel's beloved oratorio, Messiah, as re-orchestrated by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
SCC Artistic Director, Fred Coleman, will conduct the eighty voices of the Seattle Choral Company along with full orchestra and eight vocal soloists.

Mozart Encounters Handel

"This version of Messiah is a revelation. It gives us a glimpse of Handel's era from the vantage point of the next generation. It is literally one great composer's encounter with another. Mozart's reworked orchestration succeeds because he is a masterful composer, who added his signature to Handel's genius with restraint and reverence," said SCC Artistic Director, Fred Coleman. "Don't miss this chance to hear some refreshing new flavors added to traditional holiday fare."

Click to hear sound samples from "Messiah, K. 572"

Don't Delay!
Buy your tickets now!

Saturday / Dec. 9, 2006 / 7:30pm
Meany Theater

Sunday / Dec. 10, 2006 / 2:00pm
Meany Theater

Reserved seating.
For more details,
call the SCC at
(206) 363-1100
or go to
www.seattlechoralcompany.org
Group discounts are available.
Email your questions to:
tickets@seattlechoralcompany.org

Purchase tickets with
no added fees!
Visit our web site at:
www.seattlechoralcompany.org

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Tickets for the Seattle Choral Company's 25th Season are now available.
Subscriptions & Information: SeattleChoralCompany.org
Single tickets: Brown Paper Tickets.

From powerful, large-scale masterworks to intimate, reflective a cappella, our new season salutes both performers and supporters who have brought us to this milestone year, so that we could look forward to our next quarter-century.


SingTango! Songs and Dances of Argentina

During the past century, Argentina's invention, the tango, took root all over the world, working its way from the smoky brothels of Buenos Aires to Europe's most glamorous nightclubs. In the hands of a master like Astor Piazzolla, the tango was reinvented as serious concert music. Yet while the tango is certainly Argentina's musical gift to the world, it is just one dimension of this country's musical riches.
Our 25th Anniversary Season opens with vital and exuberant choral music from Argentina-where new music emerges from European, African and local cultures, driven by musicians from jazz, rock and classical backgrounds.

Featuring music by
Astor Piazzolla"The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires""Libertango"
Carlos Guastavino"Coros Indianas, Suite No. 1""Se equivocó la paloma"
Carlos Rausch"El Tango""La Milonga"

Immerse yourself in the passion of the tango!


Saturday / November 4, 2006 / 8:00pm Town Hall Seattle
Sunday / November 5, 2006 / 3:00pm Meydenbauer Theater, Bellevue
Non-reserved seating.

Mozart's Messiah, K572

Discover Handel's Messiah . . . anew!

Forty seven years after Messiah premiered in Dublin, Handel's English masterpiece was placed in the hands of Mozart. His task? To present Messiah before a Viennese audience of his day.
With the greatest respect for Handel's craftsmanship and genius, Mozart added his own touches, intensifying Handel's original with an enriched orchestration that is unmistakably Mozart.
Hearing Messiah as interpreted by Mozart makes this beloved music new to us once again.
Don't miss this special holiday concert event!

Messiah, K. 572
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Arranged by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The year 2006 marks the 250th Birthday Anniversary of W. A. Mozart.

Saturday / December 9, 2006 / 7:30pm

Sunday / December 10, 2006 / 2:00pm

Meany Theater, U of W

Reserved seating.

My Spirit Soars: America's Choral Music Today

The Seattle Choral Company proudly presents music by three of America's most prominent living choral composers.

Morten Lauridsen:"Lux Aeterna"
A native of Washington State, Morten Lauridsen is now considered one of America's finest and most beloved composers whose music is heart-felt and radiant. Critics were jubilant after our May 2000 performance of his Lux Aeterna, and we are excited to revisit this 1997 masterpiece for our anniversary season.
"Lauridsen delivers bouts of light and shade that dapple the senses with a grace that the biblical "multitude of the heavenly host" might envy." (CNN.com/February 8, 2006)

Eric Whitacre:

"Her Sacred Spirit Soars""Water Night""Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine"
At age 36, Eric Whitacre is one of the bright stars in contemporary concert music The Los Angeles Times praised his compositions as "works of unearthly beauty and imagination, (with) electric, chilling harmonies," while the Philadelphia Inquirer has called him "the hottest thing in choral music."

Bern Herbolsheimer:

World Premiere to Be Announced
The Seattle Weekly stated, "No Seattle composer has a more assured and polished craft than Bern Herbolsheimer. His choral writing-and there's a lot of it-is luminous and subtle."
Be with us when a newly commissioned major work by this treasured Northwest composer will be unveiled!
Saturday / March 3, 2007 / 8:00pm
Sunday / March 4, 2007 / 3:00pm
Saint Mark's Cathedral, Seattle
Non-reserved seating.

Silver Anniversary Gala Salute

A Gala Celebration!
Join the Seattle Choral Company at Benaroya Hall in June for a celebration of twenty five wonderful years of music making!
With a cast of soloists and full orchestra we'll bring you memories of past performances with selections from our favorite masterworks.

Handel Zadok the Priest
J.S. Bach Sleepers Awake
Mozart Requiem
Haydn The Creation
Mendelssohn Elijah
Berlioz Te Deum
Verdi Messa di Requiem
Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music
Johann Strauss, Jr. Die Fledermaus
Carl Orff Carmina Burana
Filmscore excerpts by John Williams & songs by Cole Porter
Come celebrate 25 years with us.
Sunday / June 3, 2007 / 3:00pm Benaroya Hall
Reserved seating.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

UK Travelogue

We recently returned from a trip to the UK, and I've written a pretty extensive travelogue on my main Blog.

Please use these links to read all about it:

Part 1, Edinburgh
Part 2, Around Scotland
Part 3, York
Part 4, London
UK Observations