CHOIR EXPLORES STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC,
Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s story is an equal to any contemporary ragsto-riches tale, from working for three decades for a royal family tight with the purse strings, to international sensation.
Practically overnight, the 19th century Austrian composer saw his income increase dramatically once he went to England. Haydn had grown up in a poor family and would never again have to fret about money. That freedom inspired one of his most beautiful works, “Creation,” written at the apex of his creative life, said storyteller, Tom Allen.
Such meaty tales have long delighted Allen, host of CBC Radio Two’s “Shift” narrator of Saturday’s Grand Philharmonic Choir concert “Big Choruses: From Brahms to Broadway” at Centre in the Square.
As Allen said, Haydn’s story is one of a man who lived a humble life then experienced riches so he saw this good fortune as a blessing, without forgetting his past.
“He became the richest musician alive,” said Allen. “He was a humble musician before he became recognized as a great, great musician.”
Allen already knew a lot of the stories behind the music chosen for this concert but there were also a few surprises, such as Haydn’s tale.
“The stories are rich,” said Allen who hasn’t been on stage at Centre in the Square for at least a decade and he’s eager to return, this time under direction of the choir’s conductor, Mark Vuorinen.
The concert, performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Grand Philharmonic Children’s Choir, will fill the stage with an eclectic array of music including Handel’s “Zadok The Priest,” Brahms’ “Requiem,” Bernstein’s “Candide,” Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” Mozart’s “Idomeneo” and Rogers & Hammerstein’s “State Fair” to name a few.
“The pieces are timeless,” he said, adding the children’s chorus will perform excerpts from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” which though considered a comic opera has scandalous elements and even shocked the Paris opera goers of the mid-1800s. Now that’s a juicy story. There are also stories of hope and inspiration such as Bernstein’s “Candide” based on French satirist Voltaire’s 1759 novel.
“Candide is a strongly naïve young man who always has positive feelings about the world,” said Allen.
But as Candide ventures out into the world he is faced with real life, the piracy, the wars and earthquakes, destruction created by both humans and nature. Yet he maintains his belief that life should be cherished and celebrated, a garden that needs to be nurtured even as pestilence chews down all the plants.
Allen said it’s a message partnered with beautiful music, an antidote the world needs right now.