KOOR SINGERS & PLAYERS www.koor.app
present Beethoven Mass in C Beethoven Overture, ‘Zur Namensfeier’
Live-streamed from Blackheath Halls www.blackheathhalls.com
December 16th, 2020
Tonight’s performance will be without interval
Tonight’s performers
Charlotte Shaw SOPRANO Martha McLorinan MEZZO SOPRANO Laurence Kilsby TENOR Jonathan Brown BASS
KOOR SINGERS & PLAYERS Sarah Sexton LEADER Simon Capet CONDUCTOR David Clegg ARTIST ADMINISTRATOR
Programme
Beethoven Overture, ‘Zur Namensfeier’ Beethoven Mass in C
Notes
Overture, ‘Zur Namensfeier’ (Name Day), Opus 115
Beethoven’s “Namensfeier” Overture, Op. 115 was a result of the composer's long compositional process. It began with ideas the composer sketched in 1809. These fragments resurfaced around 1811 when Beethoven first became interested in creating a musical setting of Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” Schiller’s liberating words reached epic new heights in the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, written some thirteen years later. Beethoven’s first attempt at the “Ode to Joy” sprang to life in this fleeting, fun-loving Overture. It was originally scheduled to be performed on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the name day of the Austrian Emperor Franz I. Beethoven failed to complete the work in time and it was premiered on Christmas Day, 1815 instead.
As with the Choral Fantasy, you can hear seeds of the Ninth Symphony in this music. Yet, there is nothing serious, profound, or earth-shattering here. Instead, it is a festive, celebratory romp—an “ode to joy” that delivers pure, unsophisticated fun. Out of the bombast leaps a frolicking cast of instrumental voices. At moments, strange, quirky dissonances seem to anticipate the sounds of the twentieth century.
Mass in C Major, Opus 87
Beethoven composed this, his first mass, during the summer of 1807. Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II (Haydn's last patron) invited him to compose a mass in honor of his wife's name-day in September. Beethoven's only previous foray in sacred music had been the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives (1803/4). He approached the project with some trepidation, for he was relatively inexperienced in setting sacred texts. Moreover, between 1796 and 1806 a mass had been composed each year for Princess Esterházy by Haydn or Hummel. Beethoven had a formidable standard to match!
He adopted a relatively conservative approach, casting his Mass into the traditional five movements: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. Familiar symphonic forms dominate the structure of each movement. Although some of the dramatic contrasts we associate with Beethoven are present, their effect is largely muted.
Beethoven's Mass was poorly received at its first performance, and was not published until 1812. Traditionally, masses were broken into individual concert numbers: arias, duets, an occasional vocal trio, and choruses. Beethoven interpreted the mass in symphonic terms, casting it in monumental movements, each having its own sub-sections. He integrated his soloists into the musical fabric, rather than setting them in relief with individual numbers. For example, the solo quartet dominates the Benedictus, but sings mostly together rather than individually. The soloists become an adjunct to the chorus.
One aspect that is novel is Beethoven’s key centers, which do not center on the stated tonality as Haydn’s masses did. Beethoven’s Mass begins and ends in C major, but is not limited to that key. He uses C major for takeoff and landing, as it were, and returns to it midway through in the Credo. He chooses other tonalities for the remaining segments, placing his Christe in E major, the Qui tollis in F minor and A-flat major, Et Incarnatus in E-flat major, Sanctus and Osanna in A major, and Benedictus in F major. At the end of the Mass, he refers back to music of the Kyrie for the conclusion, "Dona nobis pacem." Two excellent choral fugues on the texts "Cum sanctu spiritu" and "Et vitam venturi" are among the particular delights of this rewarding work.
The Mass in C is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets; timpani, a quartet of vocal soloists, mixed chorus, strings, and organ.
Performers Biographies
Charlotte Shaw - Soprano
British soprano Charlotte Shaw (nee Beament) is an alumna of the Rising Star of the Enlightenment programme for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Alvarez Young Artist Programme and Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Charlotte is a regular soloist for English National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has also sung for Glyndebourne Jerwood Artists, Garsington Festival, Brighton Festival, London Handel Festival and Barber Opera.
Her operatic repertoire includes Tytania A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Lucia THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA, Title role SEMELE, Serpetta LA FINTA GIARDINIERA, Michal SAUL, Title role BERENICE, Zerlina DON GIOVANNI, Barbarina LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Belinda DIDO AND AENEAS, Mabel PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Armilla in Porpora’s L’AGRIPPINA, Teresa in Julian Philips THE YELLOW SOFA, Miss Schlesen in Philip Glass’ SATYAGRAHA and Shadow Marnie in the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s MARNIE.
Concert performances include Handel’s SUSANNA, Haydn’s CREATION, MISSA SANCTI NICOLAI, THE SEASONS, NELSON MASS and HARMONIEMESSE, Mozarts’ REQUIEM, EXSULTATE JUBILATE and SOLEMNES DE CONFESSORE, Handel’s MESSIAH, ISRAEL IN EGYPT, and SAUL, Bach’s B MINOR MASS and CHRISTMAS ORATORIO, Villa Lobos’ BACHIANAS BRASILIERAS, Vivaldi’s NULLA IN MUNDO PAX SINCERA, Mahler’s FOURTH SYMPHONY, Strauss’ VIER LETZTE LIEDE in venues including Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, Kings Place and Snape Maltings and on tours of Europe and Asia with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort and London Chamber Arts Orchestra. Recent engagements include Glass’ AKHNATEN and Birtwhistle’s MASK OF ORPHEUS for ENO, a staged Bach ST JOHN PASSION with Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Sellers, semi-staged productions of Purcell’s FAIRY QUEEN and KING ARTHUR with the Gabrieli Consort and Handel’s SAUL for the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris.
Martha McLorinan - Mezzo-soprano
Martha McLorinan studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she held a scholarship and won the Margaret Tann Williams prize. She was also a prizewinner at the Royal Overseas League and the Thelma King Award, and now enjoys a career of oratorio, opera and recording across the UK and Europe.
Recent solo oratorio highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at St. John’s Cathedral, Malta (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/John Butt), St. John Passion at Zarayadye Concert Hall, Moscow (Taverner Consort and Players/Andrew Parrott), Christmas Oratorio at Philharmonie Luxembourg (Le Concert Lorrain/Andrew Parrott),
B Minor Mass at Kloster Eberbach (Gabrieli Consort and Players/Paul McCreesh) and at the British Museum (Academy of Ancient Music/Nigel Short), Magnificat at Snape Maltings (Les Siecles/Francois Xavier-Roth), Handel’s Messiah at Birmingham Symphony Hall (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Simon Halsey), Haydn’s Harmoniemesse at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam (The Sixteen and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century/Harry Christophers), and Copland’s In The Beginning at St. John’s Smith Square (Tenebrae/Nigel Short).
She also works regularly with choral societies across the country singing works such as Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Verdi’s Requiem and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. Operatic roles include Notary’s Wife and cover Anna (Strauss’s Intermezzo) and Lotinka (Dvorak’s The Jacobin) for Buxton Festival Opera, La Messaggera and Proserpina (Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo) at Cheltenham and Swidnica festivals (i fagiolini/Robert Hollingworth), First Witch (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) at Royal Festival Hall (London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Roger Norrington) and Second Witch at Cadogan Hall (Trevor Pinnock and Friends).
She made her BBC proms debut as the Alto 2 soloist in Stockhausen’s Mittwoch Aus Licht (Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore). Martha’s work with Tenebrae has taken her to the Royal Opera House, where she sang in a quartet of female voices for Joby Talbot’s ballet Alice in Wonderland. She has also enjoyed various collaborations with i fagiolini such as Betrayal: A Polyphonic Crime Drama (a fully staged show of Gesualdo with six singers and six dancers) and How Like an Angel (seven acrobats and nine singers).
Martha features on various recordings, and can be heard as a soloist in Garcia’s Missa Pastoril (Brazilian Adventures, Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore, Hyperion) and in Judith Bingham’s The Drowned Lovers (Music of the Spheres, Tenebrae/Nigel Short, Bene Arte). She also recently filmed this, for release later this year. Earlier this year, she recorded songs by William Byrd with Fretwork for release in 2021.
Future plans include recording songs by Alec Roth with the Sacconi Quartet, after having premiered his Beginnings and Endings last year.
Laurence Kilsby - Tenor
Laurence is a British Tenor and an ABRSM Vocal Scholar supported by the Victoria Robey Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, under the tutelage of Tenor, Timothy Evans-Jones and Pianist, Gary Matthewman.
He is a Drake Calleja Scholar for the 2020/21 academic year and was the recipient of the First Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers (2018). He looks forward to participating in the Carnegie Hall Song Studio with Renée Fleming and Gerald Martin Moore, as well as competing in the DAS LIED – International Song Competition in the new year. Laurence began his formal training as a chorister with the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, studying under Soprano, Bronwen Mills.
He won the title of BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2009, subsequently making his solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall, broadcast on Sky Arts. He appears as a soloist on a number of recordings, including the critically-acclaimed recording of Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers (Schola Cantorum), as well as the Grammy nominated album, Handel’s L’Allegro, Penseroso ed il Moderato (Gabrieli Consort).
Among his recent engagements is Blow’s Venus & Adonis with Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company (Wigmore Hall) Bach’s St. John Passion with the Gabrieli Consort (Cathédrale de Lausanne), Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Masaaki Susuki and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Peter Sellars’ staging of the St. John Passion with Sir Simon Rattle and the OAE (Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg), Handel’s Messiah with Nicholas Chalmers and the Britten Sinfonia (Nevill Holt Opera), Mozart’s Requiem (St. Martin-in-the Fields), Bach’s B Minor Mass with the London Handel Players (St. John Smith Square), Handel’s Esther for the London Handel Festival (Wigmore Hall).
Laurence has appeared in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Amanda Roocroft, Dame Sarah Connolly, Roderick Williams, Kathryn Harries MBE and James Gilchrist and has also given recitals at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin and the Cheltenham Music Festival. Operatic roles include; European debut as Apollo/Pastore/Spirito in L’Orfeo (Nederlandse Reisopera), Bud/Phoebus in The Fairy Queen (Waterperry Opera Festival), Cover Lysander for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nevill Holt Opera), Lucano/Famigliare in L’incoronazione di Poppea (Longborough Festival Opera), Post Office Clerk in Kommilitonen! (Welsh National Youth Opera).
Jonathan Brown - Bass
Jonathan Brown was born in Toronto and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music followed by the University of Western Ontario. After moving to England he continued his studies at the University of Cambridge as well as the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh with Sir Thomas Allen and Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
Operatic roles include Marcello (La Boheme, Royal Albert Hall), Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore), Count Almaviva, Yamadori (Madame Butterfly), Giove (La Calisto), Orested (Giasone), Garibaldo (Rodelinda), Ariodate (Xerxes), Silvio (I Pagliacci), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Shepherd (Venus and Adonis) and Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas).
He performed the role of Trojan (Idomeneo) for Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Salzburg Easter Festival. He has performed Orfeo (Pastore) at Lille Opera, Le Chatelet, Paris and Opera du Rhin with Emmanuelle Haim. He made his debut with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Holland as the baritone soloists in a concert of Bach cantatas and there after was a regular soloist with performances in Zurich, Brussels and Paris.
These performances formed part of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage and the subsequent CD release of all the cantata on the Soli Dei Gloria label. Recent solo concert work has included the Messiah, B Minor Mass, St John and St Matthew Passions at Westminster Abbey, The Seasons. Bach Magnificat in Italy, Sea Symphony, Ich have genug BWV 82 at Clare College, Cambridge and the Venetian Coronation (Gabrieli Consort at the Lincoln Centre, New York. He has worked with Philippe Herreweghe touring South America (Christus in Bach’s St John Passion) and he features in Herrweghe’s recording of Purcell’s Ode to St Cecilia for Harmonia Mundi.
Other recordings for Harmonia Mundi include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Blow’s Venus and Adonis under the direction of Rene Jacobs. He has recorded the baritone solos in the Faure Requiem with the London Festival Orchestra for BMG and he appears in the role of the Forester in Sullivan’s The Golden Legend for Hyperion. On the Priory Label a world premiere recording of Wesley’s cantata Confitebor tibi has just been released.
Sarah Sexton - Leader of Koor Singers & Players
Born in Cork, Sarah Sexton enjoys a versatile career as chamber musician, orchestral player and session musician on both baroque and modern violin.
Sarah was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied with Erich Gruenberg, Lydia Mordkovich and Simon Standage.
As a student, she became the first Irish person to lead the European Union Youth Orchestra in 2001, when she led the orchestra under Sir Colin Davis and Paavo Jarvi.
Sarah has been invited to perform as guest leader of the RTE National Symphony and Concert Orchestras, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Ireland, Classical Opera Company, Dunedin Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and is currently the leader of the Orchestra of the Sixteen.
Chamber music has always been a huge part of Sarah’s musical life. As a founder member, she toured internationally with the Callino Quartet for almost two decades until 2017. She enjoyed collaborations with diverse artists including John Abercrombie, Arcade Fire, the Kronos Quartet, Kurtàg, Vasks and Aleksandra Vrebalov.
David Clegg - Artist Manager for Koor Singers & Players
David Clegg began his singing career when he won the title of Choirboy of the Year in 1983. Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, he completed his studies on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Over the past 25 years he has run a busy career both as a soloist and a consort singer and has sung with many of the best known ensembles in the country including The Sixteen, The Monteverdi Choir, The Gabrieli Consort, Tenebrae, The Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, The King’s Consort, The Dunedin Consort, The BBC Singers and The Cardinall’s Musick.
With these ensembles he has made many recordings and toured the world extensively, performing at some of the most treasured festivals such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Salzburg and Mostly Mozart in New York.
He has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the ROH Covent Garden, the Lincoln Centre, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Suntori Hall in Japan. the Megaron in Greece and the Wigmore Hall in London.
As well as working with many period ensembles, he has appeared as a soloist with modern orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Scottish Ensemble and the Orchestra of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Alongside his performing career he runs a successful management business providing singers and instrumentalists for an increasing number of ensembles for performances and recordings.
He holds several positions including Artist Manager of Koor Singers and Players, Head of Artistic Personnel and Casting for Arcangelo, Choral Manager of the Gabrieli Consort, Vocal Advisor to the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Advisor to ORA amongst others. He is also a proud trustee of La Nuova Musica.
With these jobs and other he has worked closely with a huge number of eminent conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Marin Alsop, Emmanuelle Haim, Masaaki Suzuki, William Christie, Paul McCreesh, John Butt, Andreas Schiff, Trevor Pinnock, Laurence Cummings, Jonathan Cohen, Christian Curnyn and David Bates.
He has also worked in collaboration with artists such as Voces8, Nigel Kennedy and Gareth Malone. As well as being a guest conductor for ORA Singers and the Choir of the Age of Enlightenment in recent seasons he conducts his own ensemble “Aurum Vocale” with whom he enjoys making music with friends and colleagues. They were the chosen choir for the VJ event celebrations shown live on BBC1 earlier this summer.
He lives in Tonbridge with his partner Emily and their two year old daughter Ella.