Saturday, October 25, 7:30 pm
Hanes Auditorium, Salem Fine Arts Center
Magnificent Magnificats
We open the season with an evening devoted to multiple, varied musical responses to those stirring words of Mary from Luke 1 that begin “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” They will be heard in English, Latin and German in a striking array of musical idioms, ranging from the contrapuntal clarity of Johann Pachelbel and Robert Ramsey in the 17th century, to the rich harmonies of Felix Mendelsson in the 19th century, the dramatic reactions of Englishmen Herbert Howells and Bryan Kelly (his with an intentional Latin American flavor) in the latter half of the last century, and Canadian Ruth Watson Henderson in 2002. Founding conductor Donald Armitage will serve as organist.
Friday, December 5, 7:30 pm and
Saturday, December 6, 3:00 pm
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
Festival of Carols
We offer you a very special Festival this year, since our guest artists will be the Winston-Salem Children’s Chorus, Barbara C. Beattie, artistic director. The performance will open with a fanfare-like Latin motet by Palestrina, followed by colorful arrangements of traditional carols from the pens of Stephen Chatman, Bob Chilcott and Howard Helvey, sung by PCS. The Children’s Chorus will open the second half with works by John Rutter, David L. Brunner and others; both ensembles will then combine for the first performance of William Stevens’ Four Christmas Songs, newly arranged for the combination of young and adult voices, assisted by Laura Stevens, flutist.
Sunday, December 14, 6:00 and 7:00 pm
Bethabara Gemeinhaus
Candlelight Christmas
This longstanding tradition, our seasonal gift to the community, will open with some of the familiar Alfred Burt carols, but this year alternating with lovely settings of some of the Burt family lyrics set to music by Abbie Betinis (a young Minneapolis-based composer and grand-daughter of Alfred Burt) who recently has been writing a new carol each season for presentation on Minnesota Public Radio. Other seasonal music, new and old, will alternate with communal singing and solo pieces by guest organist Tony Robertson.
Saturday, February 21, 7:30 pm
Hanes Auditorium, Salem Fine Arts Center
King David
The centerpiece of the evening will be Swiss composer Arthur Honegger’s dramatic “Symphonic Psalm” King David, written in 1921. Conceived originally as a staged theater piece, in its concert version the Old Testament narrative is told in English translation by the chorus, fifteen members of the Carolina Chamber Symphony, three vocal soloists and a narrator. The Honegger will be preceded by Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs, striking pieces written in their present form in 2001 on poems by the composer’s wife for chorus, solo violin and piano. The evening will open with settings of the Jewish evening prayer, “Hashkivenu,” by Salamone Rossi, a 17th-century Italian, and David Nowakowsky, a 19th-century Russian. Assisting artists will include Winston-Salem soprano Mary Mendenhall and mezzo soprano Mary Gayle Green and tenor Randall Outland, both on the music faculty at Appalachian State University. Donald Armitage will serve as the narrator.
Saturday, April 25, 7:30 pm
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
Partners in Song: a joint concert with
the Bel Canto Company
For the second time in their histories the two ensembles will combine for a concert that will be repeated in Greensboro on April 27. In its separate part of the evening PCS will present the Italian-American Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s vibrant Romancero Gitano: Seven Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca with guitarist Joseph Pecoraro, a distinguished member of the NCSA faculty. Bel Canto will sing works by Claudio Monteverdi, Ivan Hrusovsky, Trond Kaverno and Eric Whiteacre. The pieces to be sung jointly include two for double choir by Mendelssohn (marking the 200th anniversary of that composer’s birth) and Norman Dello Joio’s Song of the Open Road with trumpeter Anita Cirba