Evening with Schubert

For its first concert of the 2009-10 season, The Metropolitan Chorus presented two major works of Franz Schubert, his Mass No 2 in G Major and Mass No 6 in E-Flat Major. The chorus' performance was exceptional, as were the organ and string accompaniments and solo sections performed by The Met Singers.

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer, writing some 600 lieder (songs), 9 symphonies, liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing.

Written in 1815, Mass No 2 in G Major (D167) was the best known of the three "shorter" mass compositions that Schubert composed between his more elaborate first and fifth masses. This second mass, commonly referred to as Schubert's Mass in G, was composed in less than a week (March 2-7), the year after his first mass had been successfully performed in Schubert's home parish.

Written in 1828, Mass No 6 in E-Flat Major (D950) was among Schubert’s most admired creations, hardly what one would expect of an ailing composer in his final year. Yet this great mass for five vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra is a bold and innovative work, inspired in its expansive form and abundant counterpoint by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

The concert was held Saturday October 23 at 8 pm at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia.

Concerts for Peace

For its first concert of the 2009-10 season, the Vienna Choral Society presented Dona Nobis Pacem and, in collaboration with The Amadeus Concerts Inc, also presented The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Together the two pieces reflect the powerful and compelling accounts of the descent into, and terrible consequences of, war.

In selecting text for Dona Nobis Pacem, Ralph Vaughan Williams turned to the Latin Mass, scripture, and the poetry of Walt Whitman, who had lived through the ferocity and bloodshed of our Civil War. Whitman volunteered in the military hospitals outside Washington, visiting with the injured men and writing letters for them. The experience was profoundly moving for Whitman and found its way into much of his poetry.

Written by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as a commission for the millennium by the Royal Armouries in England, The Armed Man is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis, a tragedy which unfolded as Jenkins started composing the piece. The work is a contemporary example of a Mass based on the 15th-century French song L’Homme Armé. The complete work sets sacred and secular texts including Tennyson, Kipling, Malory, Drydon, Swift, The Koran, and Hindu Mahàbharàta within the framework of the Christian Mass in a manner reminiscent of Britten's War Requiem.

The performances of both pieces went exceptionally well, and the success of The Armed Man was a direct result of the generous collaboration between A. Scott Wood, director of the Amadeus Concerts, and Terry Sisk, director of the Vienna Choral Society and accompanist for The Metropolitan Chorus. In presenting The Armed Man, the Vienna Choral Society also partnered with the Saint Francis Episcopal Church Choir, Saint Luke Catholic Church Choir, and Amadeus Community Singers.

The Vienna Choral Society's concert featuring Dona Nobis Pacem and The Armed Man was held on Saturday October 17 at 7:30 pm at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia. The Amadeus Concerts' performance of The Armed Man was held on Sunday October 18 at 4 pm at Saint Luke Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia.

Those Were the Days

For its fifth and final concert of the 2008-09 season, The Metropolitan Chorus (TMC) joined the Washington Balalaika Society (WBS) Orchestra for a evening of Russian folk music. The evening marks the orchestra's 20th anniversary season.

TMC provided the choral backdrop during the first half of the concert, opening with the powerful Hymn to the Great City from the ballet Medny Vsadnik (The Bronze Horseman) by Ukrainian composer Reinhold Glière. Next was an arrangement of Evening Bells, enhanced by the talent of Steve Nixon. The first half then concluded with Polovetsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor by Russian composer Alexander Borodin.

Founded in 1988, WBS promotes the study and performance of folk music from Russia, Ukraine, and eastern Europe using traditional instruments: balalaika, domra, bayan, and related wind and percussion instruments. WBS Orchestra has grown from an initial membership of 8 to more than 50 and is now the largest of its kind in America, with musicians of all levels and ages.

The concert was presented on Saturday June 6 at 7:30 pm at the Rachel M Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

Night at the Opera

For its fourth concert of the 2008-09 season, The Metropolitan Chorus (TMC) presented an evening of favorite opera choruses and solos, featuring the concert verson of Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin. Program selections were discussed during a pre-concert lecture by TMC's artistic director, Barry Hemphill. Solosts included Gina Powell (soprano), Winona Stanback (soprano), Colin Eaton (tenor), and Alvy Powell (bass-baritone).

The program began with Le carnaval Romain, ouverture pour orchestre (Roman carnival overture) by French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz (comprised of materials and themes from Berlioz's opera Benvenuto Cellini).

Opera choruses performed by TMC included:

• Don, din, don - suona vespro (Bell chorus) from the opera Pagliacci by Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo


• Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate (Chorus of the Hebrew slaves) from the opera Nabucco by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi


• Coro a bocca chiusa (Humming chorus) from the opera Madam Buterfly by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini


• O welche Lust! (Prisoners' chorus) from the opera Fidelio by German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven


• Vedi le fosche notturne (Anvil chorus) from the opera Il Trovatore by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi


• Polovetsian dances from the opera Prince Igor by Russian composer Alexander Borodin

Solo performances included:

• Pleurez! Pleurez, mes yeux! from the opera Le Cid by French composer Jules Massenet


• Where ‘er you walk from the opera Semele by German-English Baroque composer George Frideric Handel


• When I am laid in earth (Dido's lament) from the opera Dido and Æneas by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell


• Tombe degli avi miei from the tragic opera Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti


• Vous qui faites l’endormie from the opera Faust by French composer Charles Gounod

The concert was presented on Saturday May 16 at 8 pm, with pre-concert lecture beginning at 7 pm, at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia.

Light Up Washington

Continuing The Metropolitan Chorus' community outreach, The Met Singers were invited to perform during the Light Up Washington Small Business Conference Luncheon in Washington, DC. The luncheon paid tribute to small business owners and government officials and experts for their efforts in developing and promoting small businesses.

The luncheon also was part of the Light Up Washington Small Business Trade Show, an annual event designed to stimulate small business growth and provide employment to the unemployed. The trade show also provides remarkable opportunities for community-based businesses to market their goods and services to a widespread, diverse, and influential audience.

The opportunity for The Met Singers to perform was due to Jay McElroy, president and CEO of Premier Small Business Solutions. In addition to coordinating the luncheon, Ms McElroy worked with Washington, DC wards to hire for the trade show 10 unemployed workers from each ward.

America's Polo Cup

As part of The Metropolitan Chorus' community outreach, The Met Singers were invited to perform at the America's Polo Cup match between the United States and Australia at the Capitol Polo Club in Poolesville, Maryland. Music selections inlcuded: This Land Is Your Land, Anchors Aweigh, America the Beautiful, I Still Call Australia Home, and This Is My Country.

The event honored the Battle of the Coral Sea, a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. In commemoration of the bi-lateral relationship between the two nations, attendees experienced a special Battle of the Coral Sea Air Show featuring original warbirds and Japanese aircraft as well as other high-flying demonstrations, military presentations, and fireworks show.

Webber Requiem, Schubert Mass, and Marsalis Sax

For its third concert of the 2008-09 season, The Metropolitan Chorus (TMC) performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem and excerpts from Franz Schubert’s Mass No 6 in E-Flat Major. TMC was joined by The Heritage Signature Chorale and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Also on the program was guest artist Branford Marsalis, who will be performing an aria from Johann Sebastian Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera, and Vocalise for Branford with saxophone quartet and strings written by ASO's music director Kim Kluge. (YouTube clips of Branford Marsalis playing Concertino da Camera can be found here - part 1, part 2)

Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-) is an English composer of musical theatre. Having started composing at age 6 and published his first piece at age 9, he has composed some 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, and two film scores. His Requiem mass was written in 1984 in memory of his father, William Lloyd Webber, who died in 1982. This was the popular composer’s first and only full classical work. Requiem received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition in 1985, and Pie Jesu, the 8th movement and best-known segment of the piece, has received much popularity and been recorded frequently.

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer, writing some 600 lieder (songs), 9 symphonies, liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing. Written in 1828, Mass No 6 in E-Flat Major (D950) was among Schubert’s most admired creations, hardly what one would expect of an ailing composer in his final year. Yet this great mass for five vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra is a bold and innovative work, inspired in its expansive form and abundant counterpoint by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

The concert was presented on Sunday March 8 at 3 pm at the Rachel M Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

I Still Believe

The Choral Arts Society of Washington presented its 21st annual choral tribute, I Still Believe, to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Through choruses, soloists, and instrumentalists, the tribute unifies individuals and communities to honor Dr King's ideals of nonviolence, racial equality, and peace. Joining Choral Arts in its tribute were The Heritage Signature Chorale, Performing Artists Under the Lord (PAUL), and guest violinist Marina Aikawa. All performers exhibited eloquent musical expressions in honoring the civil rights leader.

The concert began with the combined choruses processing to a fitting rendition of We're Marching to Zion (Robert Lowry), in which the audience could not help but participate. Choral Arts continued with meticulous performances of I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me (C Hubert H Parry), featuring organist William Neil, and A New Song (James Macmillan). Performing Artists Under the Lord presented the traditional hymn O Magnify the Lord with Me (arr George Lynn) and You're the One (Leon Roberts). The audience could not helped but be moved by their energy. The Heritage Signature Chorale magnificently performed The Majesty and Glory of Your Name (Tom Fettke) and then Robert Ray's Credo (from Gospel Mass) featuring alto soloist Natalie Carter, whose encore proved much to the audience's delight. The combined chorus then performed Adolphus Hailstork's In Dat Great Gittin' Up Mornin' (from Four Spirituals). It was one of those "had to be there" moments to experience the joy of some 300 voices accompanied by organ, brass, piano, guitar, bass, and keyboard.

After intermission, violinist Marina Aikawa, accompanied by her mother on piano, delighted the audience with Niccolo Paganini's Allegro maestoso (from Violin Concerto No 1, Op 6). Indeed an incredible talent to behold, and a fitting tribute to Dr King.

The highlight of the evening came as Congressman John Lewis introduced John Doar as the recipient of Choral Arts Society's 2009 humanitarian award. Mr Doar served tirelessly as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice and witnessed the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He traveled extensively throughout the South, documenting and litigating civil rights violations. In fact, after the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers, it was Mr Doar who alone calmed an angry crowd by placing himself between grieving black youths and a double line of heavily armed police, shouting who he was and his affiliation with the Justice Department.

The combined choruses continued with a sing-along of Lift Every Voice and Sing (J Rosamond Johnson) and then performed Come, Thou Found of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, arr Mack Wilberg) and the traditional spiritual I Can Tell the World (Moses Hogan), which again captivated the audience with the vast number of voices. Another sing-along of Leaning On the Everlasting Arms (Anthony J Showalter, arr Howard De Cou) helped engendered a sense of wholeness that continued with an energetic and soulful rendition of Amazing Grace (arr Arphelius Paul Gatling). The spirit was further felt with pianist and baritone Ralph Alan Herndon’s performance of his Eternal Life. The evening concluded as the choruses processed out to a sing-along of one Dr King’s favorite selections If I can Help Somebody (A Bazel Androzzo).