Chorale Coeur d'Alene pays tribute to Vienna with spring concerts
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 7 years, 5 months AGO
For centuries, Vienna has been the world’s musical magnet, drawing in nearly all of Europe’s most significant composers and artists. For its spring 2019 concerts, Chorale Coeur d’Alene pays tribute to Vienna and the musical masters who populated the old imperial city.
Dr. Stan McDaniel, artistic director of the 70-plus voice Chorale, said, “Our concert repertoire is drawn from this amazing treasure chest of musical delight.” The program, he said, is a rich blend of sacred and secular music.
The first half features choral works by Haydn, Mozart and Franz Schubert, including Mozart’s ethereal “Ave Verum Corpus,” written shortly before his death.
Lighter selections make up the concert’s second half, with several love song waltzes by Johannes Brahms and familiar waltz tunes by the composer most identified with Vienna, Johann Strauss II.
The singers close their presentation with selections from “The Sound of Music.” As Dr. McDaniel put it, “Any concert with a Viennese theme would be incomplete without music expressing the experiences of the Von Trapp Family Singers, especially since Maria was born in Vienna.”
Soprano Andrea Olsen, well-known for her work in various venues throughout the Inland Northwest, will be featured in a couple of scintillating solo works, and she’ll join the Chorale as soloist in excerpts from Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” (The Bat).
Also in the second half, Belle Coeur, the 20-voice women’s chorus of the Chorale, will perform a brand-new piece by Norwegian-American composer, Ola Gjeilo, plus works by Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss II.
Chorale Coeur d’Alene, a nonprofit organization, has been promoting quality choral music from its inception in 2001. The primary focus is to present beautiful and uplifting sacred music based on the belief that music is an art form that transcends all boundaries of religious creeds and brings unity, peace and joy to all who attend their concerts.
For information about the concert season, the soloists, the Chorale and our artistic director visit www.choralecda.com.