SUNY Choirs Present Great Opera Choruses: A Concert of Musical Drama from Monteverdi to Gilbert and Sullivan

NEW PALTZ — On Tuesday, May 7, 2002, the choruses of SUNY New Paltz, under the direction of Dr. Edward Lundergan perform a concert of selected choruses and excerpts that represent the broad history of opera, and highlight its various musical styles. The concert begins at 8:00 PM in McKenna Theatre. Tickets are available at the door beginning at 7:00 PM for the following prices: $5 adults; $4 seniors, faculty, and staff; $3 students.

The first half of the evening’s program features Baroque era opera choruses, sung by the Chamber Singers. Joël Evans, Shirley Warren, and Danielle Berardini, recorder; Susan Seligman, cello; and Mary Jane Corry, harpsichord–members of Collegium Musicum–accompany the choir on pieces from Monteverdi’s Orfeo, which is considered the first popular opera. Selections from another Baroque opera, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, are sung by the Concert Choir. All together, these excerpts represent the bulk of Purcell’s opera, and feature a number of soloists.

Following intermission, the College Community Chorale will perform a selection of more familiar operatic choruses, including Mascagni’s Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana, and the Chorus of Enchanted Islanders form Handel’s Alcina. A men’s chorus has been formed to sing Verdi’s Soldier’s Chorus from Il Trovatore, and a women’s chorus will perform Tchaikovsky’s Chorus of Peasant Girls from Eugene Onegin. Two selections by Gilbert and Sullivan complete the evening’s concert: the Finale from The Gondoliers, and “In a doleful train” from Patience, which is presented in a staged form, with Gretchen Brassard as Lady Angela, Efstathia Gletsos as Lady Saphir, and Thomas Crêpet as Bunthorne.

Information on other upcoming arts events at SUNY New Paltz is available on-line at www.newpaltz.edu/artsnews, or by calling 845-257-3872.

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