Christmas Concert:
Bush’s Christmas Cantata & English Carols
Saturday & Sunday, December 12 & 13
Chamber Choir Concert: Bach Cantatas
Sunday, February 7
DVORÁK: Requiem Sunday, February 28
BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis Saturday, May 8, 8:00 p.m.
Our concert facilities are wheelchair-accessible.
For information about other choral music events and activities in the Triangle area, visit TriangleSings.
Christmas Concert:
Geoffrey Bush: A Christmas Cantata
& English Carols
with orchestra, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Saturday, December 12, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 13, 4:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
Our annual Christmas concert in Duke Chapel features Geoffrey Bush’s Christmas Cantata, an exquisite collection of settings of traditional carols, mostly from medieval England. The cantata is for soprano solo and chorus, accompanied by string orchestra and oboe. To complement the cantata, we present a selection of English carols, several with string accompaniment, and the well-known Fantasia on Greensleeves, by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Chamber Choir Concert:
Bach Cantatas 137, 196, and 190
with the Mallarmé Chamber Players
Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Sunday, February 7, 3:00 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC
Adults $18 in advance, $20 at the door
Entitled “Historical Bach,” this joint concert will be presented with Baroque performance practices and instruments. The Choral Society Chamber Choir will be heard in three brilliant cantatas for soloists, chorus, and orchestra: Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren (Praise the Lord, the mighty King of honors), the wedding cantata Der Herr denket an uns (The lord cares for us), and Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing unto the Lord a new song). Also on the program is Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2.
Please note: Our season brochure incorrectly identifies the second cantata as 197 instead of 196.
DVORÁK: Requiem
with orchestra, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Sunday, February 28, 4:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
Though rarely heard in concert, Antonin Dvorák’s Requiem is one of his most significant and ambitious works, composed when he was at the peak of his powers. Scored for four soloists, chorus, and full orchestra, with organ, it was created not for liturgical use, but for concert performance. Though showing the influence of Czech folk music so characteristic of Dvorák, this large-scale mass is grand, fervent, and intense, reflecting the darkness and urgency of the requiem text. We hope you will join us for the Choral Society’s first-ever performance of this neglected masterpiece.
BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis
with orchestra, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Saturday, May 8, 8:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
We close our season with one of Beethoven’s late masterpieces, his Missa Solemnis (Mass in D). This demanding and rarely performed work employs large orchestra, chorus, and solo quartet. Conceived for a ceremonial occasion, the mass is a work of grandeur, in the tradition of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and the late masses of Mozart and Haydn. But it is also, as Beethoven’s inscriptions on the score tell us, a highly personal expression of the composer’s religious beliefs and ethical ideas, from the opening Kyrie (“from the heart, may it go to the heart”) to the closing Agnus Dei (“a prayer for inner and outer peace”). Don’t miss a rare live performance of this splendid work!
