11/11/2023
The Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus present its Fall Concert with music off the beaten path…
Mass in Blue, by Will Todd,
Credo, by Margaret Bonds
and
Canticle of Hannah by Melissa Dunphy.
The Mass in Blue, by Englishman Will Todd is sung in Latin and, of course, we’ll be accompanied by piano, but with a jazz trio out front setting the mood… it is a bright, joyful work that is absolutely delightful! Mass in Blue (originally entitled Jazz Mass) was commissioned by Hertfordshire Chorus and first performed at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in July 2003 with Will Todd at the piano. Todd's wife, Bethany Halliday, performed the very demanding soprano solos. We celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this vibrant and uplifting work!
The Credo is a slightly more traditionally classical piece although with the celebratory feeling of a spiritual. Margaret Bonds was celebrated during her life for music that’s lush and full and a little bit jazzy. She was a groundbreaking performer, composer and teacher. While the music was written in the last Sixties, Credo is based on a prose poem by W.E.B. DuBois published in 1904, in which the writer lays out nine points of personal belief towards racial equality: God, “the Negro Race,” pride, service, the devil, “the Prince of Peace,” liberty for all men, the training of children, and patience. A few months after this moving work premiered with Zubin Mehta at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bonds suddenly died and fell slowly into obscurity. Of late, she has gained recognition and her work is again being performed to acclaim.
The third piece, Melissa Dunphy’s Canticle of Hannah an award-winning and acclaimed composer specializing in vocal, political, and theatrical music. For 14 crucial years in the early 18th century, during and after the decline and death of her husband William, Hannah Callowhill Penn, a textile merchant’s daughter, ran Pennsylvania; arguably she was not just Pennsylvania’s first female governor, but the first female governor in the history of our nation. Her words provide the text of the first part of the Canticle. The lyrics of “My Loving Friends” are quotes taken from a packet of Hannah’s letters and “A Virtuous Woman” is an adaptation of Proverbs 31 and describes Hannah exactly, even down to its focus on textile trade as a useful skill.
Edward Elwyn Jones will conduct and the Chorus will be accompanied by Sarah Joyce Cooper, soprano, Dana Whiteside, baritone, and a Jazz Trio featuring John Sullivan on piano!!!
Saturday, November 18th, 8:00 pm at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., Harvard University, Cambridge.
Free parking for concertgoers will be available at the Oxford Street Garage. Directions to parking and Sanders Theatre can be found online.
Tickets: General admission - $25, Seniors - $15, and Students - Free.
Tickets available at the Harvard Box Office.
