Choral Concert at Hotchkiss to Feature Gallery Voices
Sarah Vallera
Posted January 13, 2011
The Winter Concert Series continues at The Hotchkiss School as the vocal group Gallery Voices takes the stage Friday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Esther Eastman Music Center's Katherine M. Elfers Hall. Under the direction of soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, the group performs repertoire for six to 12 voices from the Middle Ages to the present. On tour in North America, Central America and Europe, the group's inventive use of musical choices highlights varied eras and styles, and its programming is at once serious and playful, fine art and entertainment.
The first portion of the evening's program features works by contemporary composers, including a group of songs by American composer Morten Lauridsen called Mid-Winter Songs. The pieces range from "Lament for Pasiphaë" to "Intercession in Late October" and "Mid-Winter Waking." Also in the lineup is "Tres canciones de cuna" by Carlos Guastavino and a medley of songs by various English and American composers. Three Elizabethan Songs, works by Ralph Vaughan Williams which include "Sweet Day" and "O Mistress Mine" follows, and "Liebeslieder Waltzes, Opus 52" by Johnanes Brahms rounds out the program.
Gallery Voices members are hailed as some of the finest soloists from the United States, Great Britain and South Africa. The singers appear regularly in such distinguished venues as the Kennedy Center, Washington National Cathedral and the Library of Congress, and with the Washington Bach Consort and the Washington Chorus, among others. Gallery Voices appears as The National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it has been in residence since 2004.
The Dept. of Visual and Performing Arts at Hotchkiss is commemorating two important milestones this year — a century of music in the school's curriculum and the fifth-year anniversary of the 34,000-square-foot Esther Eastman Music Center — by hosting a memorable series of free concerts that feature a wide variety of performers. Phone 860-435-4423 for more information on this and other arts events.
