Schola News

Fort Worth, Tex., March 4, 2010 – Schola Cantorum of Texas will conclude its 2009-2010 season with some of history’s most elegant and scintillating music for strings, piano and choir Sunday, April 1, 3:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 1000 Penn St., Fort Worth. Schola will be accompanied by string quartet, piano and piano four-hands.

The concert, titled “The Ecstasies Above,” which also has been the theme for the entire season, takes its name from British composer Tarik O’Regan’s work for double SATB quartet, chorus and string quartet.

The title comes from a phrase found in the lyric poem, Israfel, by Edgar Allan Poe, in which Poe creates a virtuous image of the supernatural, then compares that heavenly vision to the harsh reality of human existence. The score uses textural variation among the three groups of full chorus, solo octet and string quartet.

The work was commissioned for the Yale University Schola Cantorum, which made the inaugural performance in 2007.

Also featured are Johannes Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer (New Love Songs), a collection of Romantic pieces written for four solo voices and piano four hands, later adapted to include a full chorus. The text is adapted from folk songs of Turkey, Poland, Latvia and Sicily. The solo songs depict an array of characters, including a bass as an enraptured paramour, an alto as jilted lover, a tenor as Lothario, and soprano as a woman unlucky in love.

The most remarkable distinction of Beethoven’s Elegiac Song is that is rarely performed, perhaps because of its brevity, compared to the composer’s many iconic pieces. This “song of mourning” was composed as a gift for one of Beethoven’s patrons, Baron Johann von Pasqualati, to commemorate the baron’s late wife. The author of the text is not known, although it may have been the baron himself.

American composer René Clausen’s “O My Luve’s Like a Red, Red Rose” is a choral setting of Robert Burns beloved poem. Dr. Clausen is conductor of The Concordia Choir at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and founder of the René Clausen Choral School. A prolific composer and clinician, his works are performed high school, church and professional choirs.

Eric Whitacre composed “Five Hebrew Love Songs” with his wife, soprano Hila Plitmann, at the request of violinist Friedemann Eichorn, a friend from college days at the Julliard School. The songs were written in 1996 for a concert the three performed in Eichorn’s hometown of Speyer, Germany. Whitacre later adapted the songs for mixed voices and string quartet on commission from the University of Miami.

Each song is a “postcard” from Plitmann to Whitacre, commemorating moments the two shared, and embellished by Whitacre’s signature "Whitacre chords." The composer frequently uses seventh or ninth chords, with or without suspended seconds and fourths. He makes frequent use of quartal, quintal and secondary harmonies, and also writes unconventional chord progressions.

Tickets Available Now
Advance tickets are available for $20. Discounts are available for seniors (age 62), educators and groups. Students are admitted free of charge. Call the Schola Cantorum office, (817) 485-2500, for full information.

This concert closes Schola’s 47th season, one marked by incredible musical diversity. The season began in September with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana performed at the Meyerson Symphony Center with the Dallas Wind Symphony, the A Capella and Chamber Choirs of the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University's Meadows Chorale and the Texas Boys Choir.

In October Schola took a very different direction with “There’s a Meetin’ Here Tonight,” a rousing collection of treasured hymns and spirituals presented in Fort Worth and Granbury. “Here We Come A-Carolin’" Christmas concerts in Fort Worth, Arlington and Southlake drew thousands of choral music fans to hear a variety of traditional seasonal favorites.

Dr. Jerry McCoy is the fourth music director in the 46-year history of Schola Cantorum of Texas. He is Director of Choral Studies and Professor of Music at the University of North Texas, where he conducts the renowned A Capella Choir, North Texas Chamber Choir and the Grand Chorus. Dr. McCoy teaches choral studies and advanced choral techniques and guides an acclaimed choral program that includes more than 300 students.

Alan Buratto is piano accompanist for Schola Cantorum. He holds degrees in piano performance from Washington State University and New England Conservatory, has done doctoral work in choral conducting at the University of North Texas and served as Artistic Director for the Texas Boys Choir.
 
About Schola Cantorum of Texas
Schola Cantorum of Texas is North Texas’ premier choral music performing group. Since its founding in 1962, the group has performed hundred of concerts to critical acclaim across the United States and Europe. Known for its rich, resonant sound and dedication to honoring the heritage of choral music, Schola Cantorum of Texas performs regularly throughout Tarrant County and the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex under the direction of Dr. Jerry McCoy. For more information, please visit www.scholatexas.com.

Contact:

Schola Cantorum of Texas
(817) 485-2500
info@scholatexas.com