Chorale & Chamber Singers
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Pitt-Greensburg Chorale & Chamber Singers Chris Bartley, director Matt Klumpp, accompanist Soprano Alto Averi Davis †*Alli Brekosky Hayli Davis Alicia Dorsett Aeris Day Jonah Jankovik Kathryn Giblin* Deanna Lesso T Mia Gilroy* Jenna Maroadi Nicole Hill Heather Mueller Tyler Humphries‐Randolph* Mary Sherpinsky ZÜxtà Madeline Jackson† †Alexis Williams Catherine Lancashire *Sonnet Woodrow Ryleah Ruffner* *Summer Woodrow Miranda Smith i|á|ÉÇ Bass Tenor *Joe Fitz Cameron Collins†* Brandon Gray Scott Gerse* Cornell Grigsby Benjamin Hill Keith Hambersky Cameron Stahl Tom Matusky Harvey Weyandt* *Alexander Mikita Bryan Regus‐Douglass jr * Chamber Singers *Sam Shadle Wednesday, November 28 † Chorale Council Logan Tomko Friday, November 30 – 7:30pm www.greensburg.pitt.edu/musicseries www.facebook.com/musicatpittgreensburg Mary Lou Campana Chapel & Lecture Center Program prides herself on a studio of over 20 accomplished young singers. Ms. Ritenour is very excited to sing with the UPG choir. Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder Claude Debussy (1862‐1918) John Burgh was first introduced to the Pittsburgh Hymne au soleil Lili Boulanger (1893‐1918) music scene in 1982 when he joined the Harold Betters Band playing five nights a week at the Alli Brekosky, alto South Hills Sheraton. Mr. Burgh graduated from Pitt‐Greensburg Chorale IUP in 1981 as a piano performance major and has returned there many times to play with nationally Toast pour le nouvel an Gioachino Rossini (1792‐1868) known artists such as Billy Crystal, Chita Rivera, and most recently Doc Severinsen. In 1982 he Pitt‐Greensburg Chamber Singers furthered his musical studies at Duquesne University. He then played for many years with the Billy Price Band touring Europe. He has recorded five albums with the rock She Who Could Bind You Tristan Frampton (b. 1980) group Gathering Field, playing Hammond B3 organ. Besides filling in with CLO productions for musical performances, he enjoys playing piano for Dr. Tristan Frampton, conductor (Wednesday premiere) local musical productions in Sewickley. A long‐time member of the Balcony Pitt‐Greensburg Chorale Big Band, he plays monthly at Jergels Rhythm Bar in Warrendale. A Harmony/Zelienople area native, he grew up playing piano accompanying Hymn to St. Cecilia Benjamin Britten (1913‐1976) his father, who played banjo, and helping his family in the tractor salvage yard business, which he continues to this day. Tyler Humphries‐Randolph, soprano Mia Gilroy, soprano Sonnet Woodrow, alto Dr. Tristan Frampton is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Music Activities at St. Louis College Harvey Weyandt, tenor Joe Fitz, bass of Pharmacy, where he conducts multiple vocal and Pitt‐Greensburg Chorale instrumental ensembles and teaches music‐related courses. He is a member of Pro‐Arte St. Louis, a Stabat Mater Rossini professional early music ensemble. Dr. Frampton 7. Fac ut portem has served as a music director for the Ozark Actors Theatre, guest conducted musical performances for 9. Quando corpus morietur Fine Linen Drama, and sung as tenor soloist with the Rolla Choral Arts Society. Last summer, he assisted with organizing and Ave Maria Jacques Arcadelt (c. 1505‐1568) directing a European tour for the St. Paul UCC choir of Belleville, IL, during arr. Pierre‐Louis Dietsch which Dr. Frampton's composition, Rain Music, saw its international 8. Inflammatus et accensus (1808‐1865) premiere. Dr. Frampton holds a BM in music from Truman State University, an MM from the University of Arizona, and he just completed his PhD in Chelsea Ritenour, soprano music education at the University of Missouri. John Burgh, piano Cameron Stahl, trumpet Pitt‐Greensburg Chorale & Chamber Singers Biography, 217) Rossini had made his name in the early 19th century in the Please take a moment to turn off your electronic devices, & world of opera, and while he completed no operas after 1829, his fiery Please do not use them in any way during the performance. operatic techniques of sharp rhythms and expressive extremes are just as All of the performers thank you for these courtesies. vibrant in these movements. His later works, including “Toast pour le nouvel an” from his 1860s collection Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) were comparatively smaller in scope but no less dynamic, and definitely fun. Translations Chorale has had the opportunity to premiere several new works by composers Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder: God, what a vision she is across the country. By strange and great fortune, these pieces have God, what a vision she is; one imbued with grace, true and beautiful! consistently set poetry of Sara Teasdale: I Would Live in Your Love, Tonight, To For all the virtues that are hers, everyone is quick to praise her. Joy, and now She Who Could Bind You. Dr. Frampton, a St. Louis native as was Who could tire of her? Her beauty constantly renews itself; Teasdale, has said that he reads her poetry musically, hearing melodies in her On neither side of the ocean do I know any girl or woman words, in this case, a single rising stepwise melody in d‐minor that spawns who is in all virtues so perfect; it's a dream even to think of her. three images of captivation by love. We are grateful and honored to be the first to perform this piece. Hymne au soleil: Hymn to the Sun th One of the touchtone choral works of the 20 century is Benjamin Britten’s Let us bless the power of the reborn sun. Hymn to St. Cecilia, an ambitious and astonishing setting of Auden’s poem of With all the universe let us celebrate its return. the same name. After meeting Auden, he composed music for this over two Crowned with splendor, it rises, it soars. years in the early 1940s (100 years after the Rossini publishing debacle), having The waking of the earth is a hymn of love. to restart the work from memory after English customs offers took his drafts, lest they secretly carry enemy messages! Its harmonies amaze, and radiate joy Seven rushing steeds that the God scarcely holds back and veneration; Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians, and through Britten’s Ignite the horizon with their scorching breath. seminal music, has been our muse. Oh, vivid sun, you appear! With its fields in bloom, its mountains, its thick forests, Our Guests The vast sea set ablaze by your fires, the universe, younger and fresher, Chelsea Ritenour is a Coloratura Soprano with a BFA With morning vapors are glistening with dew. from Carnegie Mellon University and MM from Mannes College in New York City, each in vocal Toast pour le nouvel an: New Year’s Toast performance. She is recognized for her precise coloratura, and bell like sound. She has performed On this happy day as we all come together, across the United States with companies such as the New Year, we celebrate you; treats and songs, presents and sweets, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Miami Music Festival, come running, girls and boys. and in Germany with the Mittelsachsisches Theater Friendship and tender love in turn will celebrate the return of this fine day; performing in multiple operas/concert series. young hearts and old wines at joy‐filled feasts, isn’t this heaven’s delight? Ritenour currently travels and performs with the Dear friends, let’s drink deep, let’s empty our bottles and make a toast. Studio E Band singing pop, country, and rock, most O Virgin Mother, show us your favor, recently to San Diego on the USS Midway. An active offer our blessed children your protection here below. performer in multiple genres, Ritenour is also a private voice instructor and On this happy day, etc. Yes, for all of us this is the picture of heaven! A Great Vision Tra la la la la la... Let the champagne foam, frothy and bubbling, Tonight’s program began from humble origins: for which composers do we that’s where true happiness lies. O Virgin... observe anniversaries in 2018? Certainly in his centennial year, Leonard The coming hour is fleeting, let’s enjoy it while we can, Bernstein came immediately to mind, but since the Pittsburgh Symphony and yes, that’s where happiness lies. Mendelssohn choir had him covered in October, we thought we would explore a road less traveled by: it has made all the difference. These On this happy day, etc. This, for us, is heaven’s delight. anniversary tributes led to music united around visions and revelations; a Dear friends, with no further ado, program that, as W.H. Auden so eloquently wrote, could Appear and Inspire. let’s uncork the wine, drink to our pals and make a toast. Let’s empty our bottles, enjoy ourselves and make a toast: Lili Boulanger and Claude Debussy helped to shape the sound and style of let’s drink, and toast the New Year! Impressionism at the turn of the 20th century. Impressionism captures the look and feel of a moment: for Debussy, the awe of beauty of one single Fac ut portem: Let me bear person, and for Boulanger, of the sun at its rise. Their pieces here employ the technique of chordal planing, whereby the voices in a triad glide together in Let me bear Christ’s death, let me share His passion step and direction. Their harmonies are then rich, shimmering as light upon and remember His wounds. ebbing waters. Debussy’s innovations most often emerged in instrumental Let me be wounded with His blows, inebriated with the cross genres, but he did compose three pieces for chorus: Dieu! is the first of these and your Son’s love. Trois Chansons. It is lush, and its polyphony produces unexpected but delightful clash in the voice lines, surrounded by the satisfying homophony of Quando corpus morietur: When my body dies the title text at the beginning and end.