New Haven, CT, February 16, 2011: The NHSO and Music Director William Boughton invite you to Woolsey Hall on Thursday, March 10, 7:30pm, for Fearless Górecki featuring Carl Maria von Weber’s Oberon Overture, Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs and the world premiere of Radiant Circles by Music Alive Composer-in-Residence Augusta Read Thomas.
Ms. Thomas’s new work Radiant Circles has been commissioned for the NHSO by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University and Music Alive, a national residency program of the League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer. Completed in September 2010 and dedicated to William Boughton, the NHSO, and former NHSO board member William E. Curran; Radiant Circles is a testament to the Orchestra and its performance venue Woolsey Hall.
In addition, the NHSO will perform Górecki’s mournful Third Symphony. Inspired by words scrawled on the walls of a Nazi concentration camp, Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs changed victims into heroic survivors with his music. Soprano Paula Almerares joins the NHSO for this moving performance. This piece will be dedicated to Holocaust survivor Selma Engel, her late husband Chaim, and the survivors of the Sobibor death camp.
Concertgoers need not wait until March 10 to join the festivities. Take part in one of these free events and gain valuable insights:
SymphonyCity: The Art of Tragedy, March 7, 2011, 5:30pm at Cask Republic, 179 Crown St., New Haven. Visual artist Jason Noushin will explore how art responds to unspeakable tragedy similarly to Gorecki’s response to the Holocaust. Mr. Noushin’s recent series of works, UN(common) Sense, represents the cases of 161 indicted war criminals from the former Yugoslav Territories. SymphonyCity is a cultural happy hour to feed the soul and the palette. Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served. This is event is free and reservations are recommended. Contact aisaacs@newhavensymphony.org or (203) 865-0831, ext. 10.
Join us for Prelude, a thirty minute pre-concert discussion beginning at 6:30pm at the Beinecke Library prior to the Fearless Górecki program. Augusta Read Thomas will discuss her piece Radiant Circles prior to its world premiere at Woolsey Hall.
March is Orchestras Feeding America Month. The NHSO asks all attendees to bring a donation of non-perishable food items to support The Junior League of Greater New Haven’s Hunger Awareness Committee and the Connecticut Food Bank.
This concert series is made possible in part by the generous support of Southern Connecticut State University and New Haven Register.
