The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Spring concert marks Con Brio’s 20th year
OLD LYME >> Con Brio’s Gala 20th Anniversary Spring Concert will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 23, at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme, CT.
The acclaimed shoreline chorus, directed by Dr. Stephen Bruce, will be joined by soloists Patricia Schuman, soprano, Clea Huston, mezzo-soprano, Steven Humes, tenor, Matthew Cossack, bass and Associate Music Director Susan Saltus, organ, with the recently augmented Con Brio Festival Orchestra.
Con Brio will offer the “best of the best” — the most beloved pieces from its 20-year repertoire. Members say this is a concert not to be missed.
Beethoven’s “Mass in C,” sung by Con Brio at Carnegie Hall during its very first year, opens the program.
Composed in 1807, Beethoven was already suffering hearing problems.
And yet he produced a masterpiece, fresh, innovative.
Robert Schumann wrote that this Mass “still exercises its power over all ages, just as those great phenomena of nature that, no matter how often they occur, fill us with awe and wonder.
“This will go on centuries hence, as long as the world, and the world’s music, endures.”
Opening the second part of the program is a piece that will stun with its majesty: the Coronation Anthem of Handel, Zadok the Priest.
Then, in a more reflective style, Con Brio presents Brahms’ Trõste mich wieder — one of the most beloved a cappella pieces of all time, showcasing Brahms’ mastery of choral writing.
Mendelssohn’s Heilig and Lotti’s Crucifixus, other well-known motets, will be performed in the round, as has become Con Brio’s custom in the wonderful sanctuary of Christ the King Church.
Et in Saecula Saeculorum, from Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus, is an exemplary fugue, even more amazing for having been discovered only in 2005.
Mascagni’s Easter Hymn, the renowned chorus from the Cavalleria Rusticana, is a worldwide, as well as a Con Brio, favorite; internationally acclaimed soprano Patricia Schuman will perform in the magnificent role of Santuzza.
In a lighter vein, Con Brio offers the Ward Swingle arrangement of Bach’s G minor organ fugue, as well as Arlen’s version of “Over the Rainbow” — an audience favorite since 1939, and “When I Fall in Love,” by Victor Young, made famous by Doris Day and Natalie Cole recordings.
Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow,” the radiant finale from the operetta Candide, is one of his great ensemble numbers, scored for soprano (Cunegonde) and tenor (Candide) soloists, chorus and orchestra.
Celebrating imperfect people who try to do the best they know, the piece has been sung by performers such as June Anderson, Renée Fleming, Jerry Hadley, Barbra Streisand and Judy Collins.
Over two decades, virtually every Con Brio concert has featured audience participation.
Maintaining this tradition, Dr. Bruce will ask the audience to join with Con Brio, in Hairston’s arrangement of the great AfricanAmerican spiritual, In Dat Great Gittin’ Up Mornin’.
Dr. Bruce has taught this to audiences all over Europe; with Con Brio featuring this ever-popular piece in all its six concert tours to Europe — and doubtless again, in its 2018 concert tour to Croatia and Slovenia.
Con Brio will offer the “best of the best” — the most beloved pieces from its 20-year repertoire. Members say this is a concert not to be missed.