Chora Nova presents an American premiere to open its 20th Anniversary Season
Chora Nova, a 50-voice Berkeley-based chorus, begins its 20th anniversary season with a program of Beethoven, Reicha and Mendelssohn at First Church Berkeley UCC (also known as First Congregational Church) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 22. Soloists for the evening are Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, soprano; Shauna Fallihee, mezzo-soprano; Joseph Meyers, tenor; and Sepp Hammer, baritone. The chorus and soloists will be accompanied by the Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra.
Chora Nova presents the American premiere of Czech composer Antonìn Reicha’s magnificent Te Deum for chorus, orchestra, and vocal soloists at this concert, two hundred years after its composition in 1825. While it is not known for what occasion Reicha’s Te Deum was written, settings of the Ambrosian Hymn of Praise, as the Te Deum is often called, were often written for celebrations which were not strictly speaking liturgical, but which served the purpose of giving the Church’s blessing to a particular public or state event. Thus they were grand and triumphal in feeling and Reicha’s Te Deum is no exception.
Reicha’s great friend, the far more famous Ludwig van Beethoven, is represented in this concert by two works: Elegiac Song, whose text is taken from a poem written in honor of the death of philosopher and poet Johann Georg Jacobi; and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, a setting of a pair of short poems by Goethe that depicts the contrasting imagery of a ship becalmed and the eventual rise of the wind that allows the ship to continue its journey. Also on the program is Mendelssohn’s orchestral exploration of the Goethe poems.
The Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra is a program of the San Francisco Civic Music Association and is conducted by Chora Nova’s Artistic Director, John Kendall Bailey.
Calendar listing:
Who: Chora Nova
What: Beethoven and Reicha
When: Saturday, November 22, 7:30 p.m.
Where: First Church Berkeley UCC, Dana St. and Durant Ave.
Tickets: $35 general, $30 senior (over 60) and under 25 years, $10 students with ID
Online at choranova.org/buy tickets, from any chorister, or at the door