Mozart and More
June 7th, 2012April 6, 2013 – 7:30pm
Sacramento Community Center Theater
Concert Program
| Franz Joseph Haydn | Symphony No. 103 in Eb Major “Drum Roll” |
| Maurice Ravel | Mother Goose Suite |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Mass in C Major “Coronation” |
Featuring the Sacramento Opera Chorus and Guest Soloists
Soprano – Carrie Hennessey
Known for her ability to bring great musical and theatrical depth to her performances, soprano Carrie Hennessey is a powerful and talented artist.
Ms. Hennessey’s embodiment of the title role in the West Coast Premiere of Tobias Picker’s opera Emmeline earned her a nomination in the 2010 Bay Area Broadway World Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Local). She brought “exquisite vocal purity and range to the title role” and was “nothing short of sensational”. On only one day’s notice, Ms. Hennessey made her debut with the Modesto Symphony as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, to great acclaim. 2011/2012 engagements have included her European debut at the International Mahler Festival.
Tenor – Brian Thorsett
Tenor Brian Thorsett has been seen and heard in over 90 diverse operatic roles; 2012-3 highlights include the title character in Rameau’s Pygmalion, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, Jupiter in Semele and creating roles in new works by Allan Shearer, Gordon Getty and Laurence Rosenthal. As a concert singer Brian fosters a stylistically diversified repertoire of over 200 works, which has taken him to concert halls across the US and Europe.
Mezzo Soprano – Betany Coffland
Mezzo-soprano, Betany Coffland is a sensational young singer and actress whose performance Opera
News has called “extremely fine” and whose voice The San Francisco Classical Voice has described as
“plush” and “Italianate”, “deftly capturing the ardor of the moment in scene after scene.” A graduate of both the Juilliard School and New England Conservatory of Music, Ms. Coffland recently completed a four year residency at Opera San Jose where she sang the roles of Carmen, Idamante, Rosina, Angelina, Cherubino, Siebel, Olga, Dorabella and Elle in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine.
Baritone – Zachary Gordin
Zachary Gordin is quickly gaining recognition as a dynamic and engaging interpreter of the bel canto works of Donizetti and Verdi, the 18th century coloratura bass repertoire, as well as works of contemporary composers. Formerly one of the rising countertenors of his generation, he is now making a name for himself as a sought-after baritone on the West Coast and beyond. Since embarking on the baritone repertoire he has received critical acclaim for the intensity of his acting, the beauty and power of his voice, and his athletic physique. Some recent highlights include Orff’s Carmina Burana with Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Pacific Shores Philharmonic, and Silvio in Pagliacci with Sacramento Opera. In addition to his performing schedule, he maintains an active vocal studio and is in demand as a presenter of workshops and master classes for emerging artists.
Mozart-Coronation Mass; Haydn-Symphony No. 103 (the Drum Roll Symphony); also Ravel-Mother Goose Suite.
The Mass No. 15 in C major, composed in 1779, is one of the most popular of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 17 extant settings of the Ordinary of the Mass. Mozart had just returned to Salzburg after 18 months of fruitless job hunting in Paris and Mannheim. His father Leopold promptly got him a job as court organist and composer at Salzburg Cathedral. The mass was probably premiered there on Easter Sunday April 4, 1779. It appears to have acquired the nickname “Coronation” at the Imperial court in Vienna in the early nineteenth century.
Ravel’s Bolero is so well known that it has overshadowed some of his other charming works. His Mother Goose began life in 1908 with the creation of a single movement for piano duet, Sleeping Beauty’s Pavane, written as a piano duet for the Godebski children, Mimi and Jean, ages 6 and 7. Four more duets were composed in 1910, Little Tom Thumb, Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas and Beauty and the Beast, and the Suite was premiered in Paris on January 29, 1912. The exquisite orchestration is distinctively Ravel.
Joseph Haydn is often called the “Father of the Symphony.” His Symphony No. 103, the “Drum Roll” Symphony, was written while living in London during the winter of 1794–1795, one of the happiest periods of his life. The ‘Drum Roll’ of the title comes at the very beginning of the symphony. There are no dynamic markings at this point in the score, so the actual sound of the roll on the timpani depends on the particular performance.
The Sacramento Opera Chorus is one of the region’s premiere choral groups. We are proud of the strong artistic relationship between the Sacramento Opera and the Philharmonic Orchestra.
(programs and artists subject to change)
