New Haven, CT (October 7, 2013): The New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) continues its 120th season with a thrilling concert experience! Music Director William Boughton conducts Lyricism & Longing on Thursday, November 7 at 7:30pm at Woolsey Hall in New Haven. The Symphony will perform Samuel Barber’s aching Adagio for Strings and works by William Walton, the Yale Glee Club will join the Orchestra for selections from Charles Ives, and Concertmaster Ani Kavafian will take on Vaughan Williams’ soaring Lark Ascending.
The concert celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. The Symphony’s performance of Walton’s Crown Imperial March and Symphony No.2 will be recorded live for a commercial CD to be released on Nimbus records. Funding for this CD is generously provided by the Beinecke Library.
In his youth, Vaughan Williams studied the violin, an instrument he came to regard with special affection. In 1914, considered a rising musical star just beginning work on his Second (“London”) Symphony, he expressed his love for the instrument with The Lark Ascending, composed for the violinist Marie Hall. The outbreak of World War I indefinitely postponed the premiere until 1920, by which time Vaughan Williams had revised and re-orchestrated it. Taking its title from the poem of the same name by George Meredith, the work presents the image of the soaring lark in the line of the solo violin, against the backdrop of the orchestra, all in a grand musical arch.
ANI KAVAFIAN enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras. Her numerous solo recital engagements include performances at New York’s Carnegie and Alice Tully halls, as well as in major venues across the country. In the 2012-2013 season, Ani Kavafian continued her association as an Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with a number of appearances in NYC, in tours around the United States. She has served as the popular Concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra since 2009.
YALE GLEE CLUB, Yale’s principal undergraduate mixed chorus and oldest musical organization, has represented the best in collegiate choral music, from its earliest days as a group of 13 men from the Class of 1863 to its current incarnation as an 80-voice chorus of women and men. During its recent 150th season, the Glee Club’s performances received rave reviews in the national press, from The New York Times (“One of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous”) to The Washington Post (“Under the direction of Jeffrey Douma, the sopranos – indeed, all the voices – sang as one voice, with flawless intonation…their treacherous semitones and contrapuntal subtleties became otherwordly, transcendent even”).
Tickets for the performance at Woolsey Hall ($15-69) can be purchased at 203.865.0831 x10 or www.NewHavenSymphony.org. KidTix are free for children up to age 18 with a paying adult. Blue Star tickets are free for the families of active duty military.
Thank you to our sponsors: Better ITS, Crest Auto Group, and Town Fair Tire. Season Media Sponsor: New Haven Register. Media Co-Sponsors New Haven Living, New Haven Magazine.
