Masterworks Chorale to present wide-ranging program
5/24/2012Masterworks Chorale will wrap up its 40th season with Collage V -- the latest version of its collaborative work with other local arts groups and performers -- at 8 p.m. June 2 in the Valentine Theatre.
Artistic director Donna Tozer Wipfli will conduct a program ranging from the Classical period -- Rossini's amusing "Cat Duet" -- to 20th century works by Leonard Bernstein. In the mix will be an Islamic chant sung in Urdu and Daniel Pinkham's "In the Beginning of Creation" for chorus and electronica.
Ballet Theatre of Toledo dancers will join the chorus for several numbers, and local radio hosts and singers Brad and Jennifer Cresswell also will perform.
The choir's newest foray into recruitment and audience development, called Masterworks Idols, will be represented with performances by young singers chosen during auditions in May.
Tickets for the concert are $12-$35 at 419-242-2787 and at the door.
Auditions for next year's interns and chorale members will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today at Ottawa Hills High School's choir room. For more information, call 419-242-0800.
●
Two special free public concerts to honor veterans on this Memorial Day weekend are scheduled for the same hour on Sunday -- 3 p.m. -- and will mean music lovers and patriots must choose which to attend.
Of Thee I Sing!, a benefit for Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio, was announced earlier this season by the Northwest Ohio Chapter, American Guild of Organists, and will present some of the area's finest performers in Historic St. Patrick Church, 130 Avondale Ave.
Performers will be Brian Bogdanowicz, one of the country's most renowned theater organists, and music director at Gesu Church; Terry Brassell, resident keyboardist at St. Pat's, plus Denielle Buenger, Pam Davis, Dennis Johns, Denise Mathias, of Monroe Street United Methodist Church, and Mark Mathias, organist at Christ Presbyterian Church.
Also on the program will be the Academy Brass Quintet of Toledo, with members Michael Smith, Jason Jordan, Bruce Heuring, Mitch Wechsler, and Pete Vavrinek, plus Dave Meegan of the Toledo Firefighters Pipes and Drums Band.
Admission is free. Donations will go to support Honor Flight, which transports disabled veterans to Washington to view the war memorials.
Another holiday-themed event at the same time will be American Visions, a recital of music for the trombone performed by Garth Simmons, principal trombonist of the Toledo Symphony, and pianist Michael Boyd, faculty musician at the University of Toledo.
Their recital will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Great Gallery of the Toledo Museum of Art.
On the program will be works written between 1948 and 1998 by American composers Robert Sanders, David W. Brubeck, Richard Monaco, Michael Johanson, George Fredrick McKay, and Paul Tanner.
This concert also is free.
●
The Toledo Symphony will reprise last year's popular Movie Memories outdoor concert with a 7 p.m. performance June 1 at Centennial Terrace, 5773 Centennial Rd. at Erie Street, Sylvania. Resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock will lead the orchestra in music from famed films under the stars in the historic amphitheater.
Opening with Tara's Theme from Gone With the Wind, the program will comprise music by Leonard Bernstein and Elmer Bernstein, Richard Rodgers, and John Williams (Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars), plus Hans Zimmer's Concert Suite from The Dark Knight.
Tickets are $15 to $25 with children 12 and under free. Reservations are required for all, ticketed or free, at 419-882-1500.
●
A benefit concert for the Fremont Ministry Association Emergency Fund will feature singer Lindsay Kesselman and pianist Christopher Lees in a 7 p.m. performance June 1 in St. John's Lutheran Church, 200 N. Clover St., Fremont.
Kesselman, a soprano, is a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, and Lees, who recently made his conducting debut with the Toledo Symphony, is associate director of orchestras at the University of Michigan.
The program, titled Joy in All Seasons, will be followed by a reception.
●
The Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra will present a concert honoring the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 at 5:30 p.m. June 2 at Fort Meigs Historical Museum, Perrysburg.
Newly appointed music director Robert Mirakian will conduct the orchestra. The award-winning Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps will perform on the program.
Tickets are $5 to $10 at the door or in advance at Ken's Flowers in Perrysburg.
●
Two veteran Toledo Symphony performers -- violinist Paul Bailey and trumpeter Mel Harsh -- played their official swan songs with the symphony during its recent Classics IX concerts in the Peristyle.
Both players joined the orchestra in 1980.
Bailey says his retirement plans include composing and publishing music. Harsh, who wrote program notes for the orchestra and led pre-concert talks for years, says he may come back for those interesting preludes during the 2012-2013 season.
Congratulations to both and thanks for so much wonderful music!
Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of performance.