Naxos to release Cecilia's recording of "The Construction of Boston."
The CD of Composer in Residence Scott Wheeler's opera will be released during 2008. The libretto, as well as program notes from
the April 2007 concert performance, are available now.
"Teeters and his classy cast and players offered the first truly satisfying performance I’ve heard... If I ever forget what a superb programmer he's been over his 39 years of directing Boston Cecilia, remind me of this concert."
-Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix, Apr. 5, 2007. Read the review!
Introducing New Music: Recent and Right Now, presenting the music of up-and-coming composers, in collaboration with Scott Wheeler. Annual series debuts in June 2008!
Join the Boston Cecilia on Friday May 2 at 8:00 pm and experience the scintillating music of our time, including the Boston premiere of a new work,
Turning Back, for mezzo-soprano Krista River, chorus, and pianist Barbara Bruns, by Boston Cecilia Composer-in-Residence Scott Wheeler. This new work, based on the poetry of Hilda Doolittle, takes a modern look at classical literature.
Friday, May 2, 2008 at
8:00 pm
First Church in Cambridge
11 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tickets are $62, $42, $27, and $15.
The program will also feature works by both established and rising composers of the 20th and 21st centuries:
Richard Rodney Bennett: "Time" and "Verses on Saint Cecilia's Day" -
Two works for unaccompanied chorus,
Chen Yi: A Set of Chinese Folk Songs
Barbara White: "Black Air" - Fragments after Dante's Inferno
Elliott Carter (honoring his 100th year): "Musicians Wrestle Everywhere" and
"Heart not so heavy as mine" - Two Emily Dickinson settings
Experience these exciting new works by established and emerging composers as they come to life under the direction of music director Donald Teeters!
About Krista River, mezzo-soprano:
Praised by The New York Times for possessing a "shimmering voice…with the virtuosity of a violinist and the expressivity of an actress," mezzo-soprano Krista River demonstrates these distinctive qualities in all of her performances, whether it is on the operatic stage, in an art-song recital, or in front of a symphony orchestra. Ms. River is a winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and is also a 2007 grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation.
About Scott Wheeler, Composer-in-Residence:
Boston Cecilia Composer-in-Residence Scott Wheeler's most recent commission is for an opera for the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theatre. Other commissions and performances include the orchestras of Minnesota, Houston, Toledo and Indianapolis, as well as New York City Opera, sopranos Renée Fleming and Lauren Flanigan, baritone Sanford Sylvan, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Scott Wheeler's opera Democracy: An American Comedy, on a libretto of Romulus Linney, was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and premiered by them in January 2005. His first opera, The Construction of Boston with the Boston Cecilia chorus and orchestra, is available on the Naxos American Classics series.