Program All Music by Leonard Bernstein MASS (Selections) Arr
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John Finney, Music Director and Conductor Darryl Hollister, Associate Conductor and Accompanist with Christian Figueroa, tenor Darryl Hollister, piano Jessica Lizak, flute Richard Shaughnessy, clarinet Sandi-Jo Malmon, violoncello Eric Galm, percussion The audience is respectfully asked to turn off electronic devices and refrain from taking flash photography during the performance. If accompanying children under seven years of age, please be seated with them in the back half of the performance hall. Thank you. Sunday, November 18, 2018 St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA 4:00 p.m. Concert Program All music by leonard bernstein MASS (selections) arr. Doreen Rao Christian Figueroa, tenor DEVOTIONS BEFORE MASS Hymn and Psalm: “A Simple Song” Responsory: Alleluia SECOND INTROIT Prayer for the Congregation (Chorale: “Almighty Father”) CONFESSION Trope: “I Don’t Know” GLORIA Gloria tibi Gloria in Excelsis Trope: “Half of the People” CREDO Trope: “I Believe in God” THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father Trope: “I Go On” SANCTUS AGNUS DEI PAX: COMMUNION (“Secret Songs”) I N T E R M I S S I O N Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Richard Shaughnessy, clarinet Darryl Hollister, piano Take Care of This House / My House (A Choral Suite) arr. Rob Fisher West Side Story (Choral Suite) arr. Mac Huff Something’s Coming – Tonight Maria – One Hand, One Heart I Feel Pretty – Cool – America Somewhere Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide) arr. Robert Page 4 John Finney Heritage Chorale Music Director and Conductor John Finney is widely praised as a musician of great vitality and versatility. He has conducted the Heritage Chorale since 1987 in performances of choral repertoire from more than six centuries, ranging from the Renaissance era to the present day. Works performed by the Heritage Chorale under John Finney’s direction include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, and Duruflé. He has conducted members of the Heritage Chorale during three international concert tours, to Europe in July 2010 (with concerts in Prague and Vienna), to Canada in July 2012 (with concerts in Montréal and Québec City), and to Ireland in July 2015 (with concerts in Galway, Derry, and Dublin). John Finney has served for more than 30 years as Director of Music at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church in Wellesley Hills. He holds the title of Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Boston College, where he is Conductor of the University Chorale of Boston College and the Boston College Symphony Orchestra. He tours regularly with the University Chorale, and has conducted that ensemble in concerts in major cities throughout the world, including Rome, Prague, Vienna, Dublin, and Barcelona. Since 2013, he has performed as harpsichordist/organist and conductor at the acclaimed Bach Festival in Blue Hill, Maine. He was Associate Conductor and Chorusmaster of the world-renowned Handel & Haydn Society in Boston from 1990 until 2014. He has been a member of the organ faculty of The Boston Conservatory, and taught for six years at the Academy for Early Music in Bressanone, Italy. He holds degrees in organ performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and The Boston Conservatory. DARRyL HOLLISTER Associate Conductor and Accompanist Darryl Hollister was born in Detroit, Michigan. He received his B.Mus. from Michigan State University, where he studied with Ralph Votapek and Deborah Moriarty, and his M.Mus. from New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Patricia Zander. He is an active accompanist and performer in the Boston area. He serves as assistant conductor to the Dedham Choral Society, Coro Allegro, The Heritage Chorale, and Commonwealth School Chorus and Chorale. Since he started championing the works of African and African-American composers, Mr. Hollister has performed premieres of works by various leading composers. At the Festival of African and African-American Music in St. Louis in 2000 he premiered The Spring of Esentreby Gyimah Labi, Concertino Africana for Piano and Orchestra by Paul Konye, and participated in the North American premiere of Baptism of Fire – Symphony Concertante for 5 Three Pianos and Orchestra by Gyimah Labi. In December 2002 he performed a recital of African Piano Music at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In April 2003 he gave the world premiere of Three Ivory Magnolia Fantasiesby Gary Nash in a recital at Mississippi Valley State University. In August 2003 at The International Symposium and Festival on Composition in Africa and the Diaspora at Churchill College, Cambridge, England, he performed premieres of works by Paul Konye, Wallace Cheatham, Akin Euba, Gary Nash, Robert Kwami and Joshua Uziogwe. In May 2007 he was featured as piano soloist in the Heritage Chorale’s performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia. CHRISTIAN FIGUEROA Tenor Puerto Rican singer and actor Christian Figueroa has delighted audiences with his unique combination of vocal and dramatic skills in performances ranging from the stage, television, movies, to the recital hall. Christian graduated from Syracuse University and received his Masters in Music from the New England Conservatory of Music. He has been profiled on CNN’s Career Connections and on the People En Español Website. Christian was recently named by “El Planeta” Newspaper of Boston as one of the “100 Most Influential People for the Hispanic Community of Massachusetts”. He has been a guest vocalist at Carnegie Hall on several occasions and has performed as a soloist in The Orchestra Sings, The Orchestra Moves, The Orchestra Rocks, & The Orchestra Swings concerts. For the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Celebrations Christian was asked to sing the National Anthem at Fenway Park. He has performed and recorded the role of Antigonus in the opera Winter’s Tale with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. It can be heard on the BMOP Sound Record Label. Christian also stays active in the commercial and film world and can be seen in the German movies Ways Of Love as Dante Farinelli, and Why Did I Say Yes? as Andrew the Hotel Manager. He can be seen next in the new show Castle Rock on HULU. He can also be seen as “Chris” the singing store clerk for the Connecticut State Lottery, and in spots for KFC, United Airlines, Bank of America, TJ Maxx, LEGO, Pearl Vision, Orbit Gum, Vista Print, and Anton’s Cleaners among others. Some of Christians opera and theater credits include Camille Di Rosillon in The Merry Widow, Tamino in Die Zauberflote, El Toreador in Ainadamar, Ezekiel Cheever in The Crucible, El Remendado in Carmen, Toby Higgins in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Il Conte Ivrea in Un Giorno Di Regno, Alphonse in La Vie Parisienne, Vitellozo in Lucrezia Borgia, Patacha in L’etoile, El Señor Alcade in The Summer King, Che in Evita, Giuseppe Nacarelli in The Light in the Piazza, Manny Munoz in City of Angels, Ike Skidmore in Oklahoma, and Lt. Peter Wright in The Secret Garden. Upcoming engagements include solo work with the Stamford Symphony, Maryland Symphony, and Boston Musical Theater. 6 Program Notes Leonard Bernstein …if enough hearts would open themselves to the beauty of great music, there would be no room left in any of those hearts for evil, greed or hate…1 Bernstein could have been thinking of himself when he said: “Every author spends his entire life writing the same book”. He was an unrelenting and persuasive commentator on the world in which he lived, tirelessly using his many talents to understand the complexities of his life and times. He deployed music and language to do battle with anger, doubt, faith, and human frailty. Consequently, there are themes, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that recur in his work, exploding complacence and sowing beauty. Leonard Bernstein’s persona and accomplishments made him an icon of 20th century American music. He is said to have regretted not having composed more, but the concert hall and musical theater pieces he did create gained him considerable acclaim. His successes as a pianist, conductor, educator, and social activist further enhanced his celebrity. Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1918. At 13 he began taking piano lessons at the New England Conservatory of Music, and appeared for the first time as a concert pianist at 16. Three years later he met Aaron Copland (on Copland’s 37th birthday). Their friendship lasted for almost half a century and had a significant impact on Bernstein’s music and career. At 21, he graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music, and a year later he made his first appearance as a symphonic conductor at the Tanglewood Music Festival. At 23, he received his diploma in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, and in the same year conducted a professional orchestra for the first time – the Boston Pops. Bernstein’s relationship with the New York Philharmonic began in 1943, when he substituted for its conductor, Bruno Walter. He was appointed Director for its 1958-59 concert season, becoming the first American-born and trained music director of a major world orchestra. During that season, he conducted the first of his 53 CBS-televised performances of the Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts. After more than 1,000 performances, Bernstein’s tenure with the Philharmonic ended in 1969. He conducted the Orchestra for the last time in 1989, the year before he died at the age of 72. He had become an international superstar – a recipient of 22 honorary degrees, 13 decorations by foreign governments, 23 Grammy Awards, 17 Platinum/Gold and international record awards, 10 Emmy Awards, and many dozens of other television, arts, and civic awards. Though such recognition must have been personally gratifying, Bernstein would likely have been most pleased by the impact of his music on the lives of generations of young people, musicians, and music lovers.