Programs of noted works by Mozart and Brahms highlight the Maine Music Society’s 2006-2007 season. The upcoming schedule also features a tuneful Americana offering early next summer, the 13th annual Battle of the Blends in October, and Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” at Christmastime.
On Sept. 30, the Maine Chamber Ensemble will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, KV. 467 and the Symphony in G Minor, No. 40, KV 550. The program was chosen to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday, and this can be considered Mozart’s “hit parade,” said John Corrie, Maine Music Society’s interim artistic director.
“Even people who are not familiar with classical music will hear these and say, ‘Oh, that one. I know that tune,'” he said.
Authenticity also plays an important role in the Mozart concert. Corrie will conduct the piano concerto as well as play the fortepiano, an instrument owned by the Bates College music department which is a replica of an early type of piano crafted by one of Mozart’s favorite builders.
“I think this will take people by surprise. This is what Mozart heard when he was performing,” Corrie said, explaining the fortepiano “is not the piano we know today.” It’s about the size of a harpsichord. Its sound is softer because the hammers are smaller than in modern pianos; and the strings are not on a heavy iron frame, so there’s less tension.
“Mozart is being fashionable” in his use of the fortepiano, Corrie said. It was the latest style of his time.
The fortepiano replica was built in Freeport by Rodney Regier and purchased by Bates College about 10 years ago, according to Corrie.
The birthday salute to Mozart will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, in the Olin Arts Center at Bates College.
The season’s second regular concert will be “Joy to the World: Music for Christmas.”
The Androscoggin Chorale will perform “Ceremony of Carols,” the most familiar and celebrated composition by Benjamin Britten. The ensemble will be accompanied by harp played by Jara Goodrich, principal harpist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
In addition, the Androscoggin Chorale will perform several pieces of traditional seasonal music.
The handbell choir of the Auburn United Methodist Church also will perform, and Corrie said, the program will include an audience sing-along.
The Christmas concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at the First Congregational Church in South Paris and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston.
The Maine Music Society’s most ambitious undertaking of the new season will come in March with the presentation of the Brahms’ Requiem. The performance will mark a first-ever citywide collaboration of the society, Bates College and Edward Little High School and Lewiston High School choruses.
The Brahms concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, 2007, at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. The four choirs will begin the concert by singing several a cappella compositions by Brahms and then the Androscoggin Chorale and the Bates College Choir will perform the Requiem, accompanied by the Bates College Orchestra and members of the Maine Chamber Ensemble.
“Everyone has heard about the Brahms’ Requiem, but few have heard it,” Corrie said. He explained that several variations on a small scale are often done, but the size and complexity of a full production makes this kind of program unusual.
He said the Lewiston performance will be sung in German.
It is expected that several members of the high school choruses will participate in the Brahms’ Requiem. Students will have the opportunity to rehearse with the Androscoggin Chorale in weeks leading up to the program, Corrie said.
The Brahms’ Requiem is counted among the top five of the world’s most famous and most celebrated choral works. It focuses on the bereaved – those who are left behind – Corrie said, noting that this is “a big emotional shift” from requiems of other composers.
A first-ever performance of both sacred and popular music by American composers will be performed by the Androscoggin Chorale in June of 2007.
Corrie said the program ranges from early American Shaker hymns, often known as “shape note hymns” because of the unique style of notation in which they were printed, to works of modern composers. The early music will have fiddle accompaniment by Greg Boardman and a group of fiddlers.
The Americana performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. June 2, 2007, at First Congregational Church in South Paris and at 3 p.m. June 3 at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston.
Besides its regular programs, the Maine Music Society will present “Battle of the Blends XIII,” its annual fall fund-raiser at 7:30 p.m.on Oct. 28. This “Blends” performance will be held for the first time at the Franco-American Heritage Center. Featured will be the “Boston Jazz” voices, “Fretless,” “Tuckerman’s at 9,” “The Colby 8,” and a return of two old favorites, “Faith In Action” and “Referendum.”
For tickets and more information, call the Maine Music Society, 215 Lisbon St., Lewiston, at 782-1403; or sen an e-mail to [email protected].
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