Hudson Valley Singers 60th Anniversary Concert A Cappella Kicks Off Jan. 9

Ward off the winter doldrums with wonderful music by the Hudson Valley Singers as they celebrate their 60th Anniversary year with a series of concerts in the tri-state area beginning in White Plains on Sunday January 9, 2011, at 3 PM at the White Plains Presbyterian Church, 39 North Broadway. Their tour continues into New York City on Saturday January 15 at 7 PM at the Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch, 552 West End Ave. at 87th St and New Jersey on Sunday January 23 at 3 PM at St. Marks' Episcopal Church, 118 Chadwick Road, Teaneck.

In a break from their traditional concerts accompanied by a full orchestra, it's all a cappella all year.

The 75-member chorus begins their sixtieth season with A Cappella! a retrospective of music from the 16th Century to the 20th-some sacred and some secular-by Mozart, Bach, Debussy, Victoria, Rameau, Poulenc, and Verdi. Former Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master Eugene Sirotkine directs the program, sharing his brief but enlightening insights into the development of a cappella singing from the Middle Ages through the present. The Masters School Middle School Chorus under the direction of Jennifer Carnavale adds bright young voices to the mix.

The concert opens with a motet from the Renaissance O vos omnes by Spain's most famous 16th Century composer, Tomas Luis de Victoria. Then comes the Baroque French carol La Nuit from Jean-Philippe Rameau's ground-breaking opera debut, Hippolyte et Aricie, a work familiar to modern audiences from the 2004 French film La Choristes and its Oscar-nominated soundtrack. Next comes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Ave Verum, a work described by Music Director Sirotkine as "the most famous choral piece ever" and Johann Sebastian Bach's celebrated motet, Komm, Jesu, Komm! The program then moves into the19th Century with Giuseppe Verdi's Pater Noster, an Italian work for five-part chorus based on The Lord's Prayer by Dante Alighieri and Claude Debussy's Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orléans (Three Songs of Charles d'Orléans), a rarity for Debussy as it is his only published piece of unaccompanied choral music. The program concludes in 20th Century France with Four Christmas Motets by Francis Poulenc.

Although the unaccompanied program is a departure for the Hudson Valley Singers from their typical fully orchestrated works, it is in keeping with their long-standing tradition of impressive programs. "The entire program is under 50 minutes long, but so demanding for the chorus that it's rare for amateurs to undertake similar efforts," said Sirotkine.
Come springtime, it's Russian A Cappella!

Winter Concert Dates: Sunday Jan 9, 2011, 3 PM at White Plains Presbyterian Church, 39 North Broadway, White Plains, NY 10601; Saturday Jan 15, 2011, 7 PM at Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch, 552 West End Ave. at 87th St in Manhattan, and Sunday Jan 23, 2011 3 PM at St. Marks' Episcopal Church, 118 Chadwick Road, Teaneck, New Jersey.
Tickets ($30 in advance, Seniors, Students/$35 at the door) are available through the website www.hudsonvalleysingers.org, by phone 914-674-2865, or email tickets@hudsonvalleysingers.org.

About the Hudson Valley Singers: Praised by The New York Times as Westchester's "most ambitious" chorus, the Hudson Valley Singers, an amateur ensemble under the professional direction of former Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master Eugene Sirotkine, has been enriching the cultural life of Westchester and Manhattan since 1951. The 75-member chorus has performed in Budapest and Costa Rica during the last few seasons. They are celebrating their 60th Anniversary with a series of a cappella concerts in the tri-state area. In a new endeavor, nine hand-picked singers, four men and five women, have formed the Hudson Valley Chamber Singers as the service arm of the chorus to bring their delightful music - also a cappella this year - to even more venues throughout the community. They are truly a community chorus with hipsters in their 20's to retirees who have been around even longer than the chorus.

About Eugene Sirotkine: Eugene Sirotkine is a St. Petersburg-born conductor who debuted with the Latvian Philharmonic in St. Petersburg in 1989 and was an assistant conductor and assistant chorus master with the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1999 through 2008, Over the past two decades he has conducted orchestras and choruses across the globe, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic with Olga Borodina; the Orquesta Sinfónica UNCuyo in Argentina; the Cape Philharmonic and the Cape Town Opera in South Africa; Israeli Vocal Arts Institute; the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, England (assistant Conductor; and with the New York Metamorphoses Orchestra (which he founded and directs) in collaboration with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York City Center and the Kennedy Center Orchestra, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., among others

 

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