Artistic Director Mary Westbrook-Geha has assembled a patchwork of American choral music that weaves together the sounds, rhythms, and styles of the unique American musical landscape. Westbrook-Geha has been closely associated with Mme. Moyse and the Chorale since 1988 when she first appeared as a mezzo-soprano soloist with the New England Bach Festival. The Chorale, under Westbrook-Geha’s leadership, is proud to continue performing quality music in a chamber setting in the tradition of Brattleboro Music Center’s founder Blanche Moyse, who celebrated her 100th birthday on September 23.
The Chorale will perform the a capella vocal masterpiece, “In the Beginning,” by beloved American composer Aaron Copland, and featuring soloist Margery McCrum. In this ravishing and colorful tone poem, the choir and soloist present a reading of the creation story from the book of Genesis that incorporates elements of jazz, folk, and classical music into a modern American sound. This staple of the choral repertory was written in 1947 and was premiered by the Collegiate Chorale at Harvard University conducted by Robert Shaw. Soprano soloist Margery McCrum is a regional favorite who sang with the Chorale under the direction of Blanche Moyse for many years. Margery appreciates and feels a special honor to be asked now to appear as a soloist with the Chorale. Dr. Mc Crum teaches voice in Brattleboro, VT serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brattleboro Music Center and is a Consultant in Anesthesiology at the Brattleboro Retreat. McCrum has earned an A.B., Brown University; M.D., UVM College of Medicine; and M. Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy, Westminster Choir College, Princeton.
To complement and contrast the gentle, sonorous beauty of the Copland, Westbrook-Geha has chosen five vivid songs of Charles Ives, arguably one of America’s greatest, most original and forward-thinking composers. These songs portray detailed and varied scenes of Americana, a brisk October walk, a tragic cattle roundup, the stunning piping of a nightingale on a quiet evening, hymn singing in a parlor, and a boisterous circus parade. The program continues with early American hymns and songs compiled from an 1849 songbook entitled “The American Vocalist,” and representing composers Williams Billings, Lowell Mason, and D. H. Mansfield. To complete this tapestry of American scenes, the Chorale presents three songs by Ernst Bacon, a relatively unknown Pulitzer Prize winning composer in 1932 for his “Symphony in D Major,” (founder of the Carmel Bach Festival), whose prolific musical output defined the sounds and rhythms of America. Bacon’s goal of expressing the American spirit in music as literature did inspired him to compose songs to words by Emily Dickinson (22 songs) and Walt Whitman.
Pianist Robbie Merfeld will be featured in the virtuosic piano parts in the Ives and Bacon songs. Merfeld was a founding member of the Apple Hill Chamber Players and is a frequent participant in the Emmanuel Music Chamber Music series where he first collaborated with Mary Westbrook-Geha. He has been a guest artist with many chamber ensembles such as the Mendelssohn, Philadelphia and Muir quartets in addition to performing on stage internationally. Merfeld has recorded on the Centaur and Sine Qua Non record labels and is currently on the piano and chamber music faculties of the Boston University, Harvard University and Longy schools of music.
Blanche Moyse Chorale concert tickets are $18, $10 for students, and are available by calling the Brattleboro Music Center at (802) 257-4523 or on-line at www.bmcvt.org.
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