Saturday Mar 18, 2017 Sunday Mar 19, 2017
March 18, 7:30 pm March 19, 3:00 pm (pre-concert discussion 2 pm)
Portsmouth High School 50 Andrew Jarvis Drive Portsmouth NH 03801
$12 Students $22 Seniors $25 Adults
Ginna Macdonald
603-686-8133
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Join the Portsmouth Symphony for the community event of the season. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode To Joy) is a revered masterpiece that combines the force of a full symphony orchestra, a large scale chorus and four vocal soloists to achieve a monumental effect. First performed in 1824 under the direction of a completely deaf Beethoven, the Ninth Symphony concludes with a choral movement, which pairs Beethoven’s music with Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode To Joy." The piece represents both artists’ plea to their contemporaries for universal brotherhood. Appropriately, this ‘anthem to humanity’ was performed in 1989 in East Berlin to celebrate fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of East and West Germany. The inaugural performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Portsmouth will feature the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director-Maestro John Page; Portsmouth High School Madrigal Singers, under the direction of Music Director Olin Johannesen; Portsmouth Pro Musica, under the direction of Founder and Music Director Priscilla Stevens French; Amare Cantare, under the direction of Music Director-Dr. Catherine Beller-McKenna; St. John's Episcopal Church Choir, under the direction of Music Director Dr. Margaret Harper; and professional soloists Soprano Amal El-Shrafi, Mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore, Tenor Charles Blandy and Baritone Bradford Gleim. The concert will kick off with “Prelude to Joy,” a contemporary piece composed to reflect the message of Beethoven's Ninth and written to feature the voice of Taylor O’Donnell, PSO Artist-in-Residence. Submitted as part of a composition contest held by the PSO and PARMA Recordings “Prelude to Joy” was written by PSO French hornist Stephen Blake. March 18, 7:30 pm March 19, 3:00 pm (pre-concert discussion 2 pm.)
Printed courtesy of www.portsmouthcollaborative.org – Contact the The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth for more information.
500 Market St., Portsmouth, NH 03801 – (603) 610-5510 – membership@portsmouthcollaborative.org