The Collegiate Chorale Returns To Switzerland For The Verbier Festival 7/18-20

The Collegiate Chorale returns for its fourth appearance as part of the 16th annual Verbier Festival in Switzerland from July 18 - 20, 2009.

July 18, 2009 at 7:00pm
The Collegiate Chorale will perform Faure's Requiem featuring soprano Sandrine Piau and baritone Daniel Boaz with conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi and the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.

July 19, 2009 at 8:30pm
The company will present Works of Victoria, Vivaldi, Brahms, Weill and Bernstein with pianist Kenneth Bowen, conducted by Nancy Werstch.

July 20, 2009 at 7:00pm
The Chorale performs Mozart's Don Giovanni featuring: Bryn Terfel, René Pape, Susan Graham, Thomas Quasthoff, and Matthew Polenzani with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck.

Medici.tv will webstream a number of concerts in the Verbier Festival, including Requiem on July 18 and Don Giovanni on July 20. For more information, visit www.medici.tv/#/festival/300/301/.

The Verbier Festival, running from July 17 - August 2, is an innovative music festival which builds a community of exchange between great masters and young artists from all over the world. Through the Academy and the Orchestras, the Verbier Festival invests in the talents of young artists, while creating, and promoting excellence in the performing arts. Concurrently the Verbier Festival delivers a unique and convivial artistic experience for the public to enjoy.

The Verbier Festival Orchestras typically include a number of members of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra who help to coach young musicians. Although there is not an official connection between The Met and the Verbier Festival, the program was created in 2000 by James Levine, Music Director at The Met and Verbier's Conductor Laureate, who collaborated with festival founder and Executive Director Martin Engstroem to allow young musicians to have the experience of playing in a full orchestra.

The Collegiate Chorale, among New York's foremost vocal ensembles, has added to the richness of the City's cultural fabric for more than 65 years. Founded in 1941 by the legendary conductor Robert Shaw, The Chorale achieved national and international prominence under the leadership of Robert Bass. The Chorale has established a preeminent reputation for its interpretations of the traditional choral repertoire, vocal works by American composers, and rarely heard operas-in-concert, as well as commissions and premieres of new works by today's most exciting creative artists. In the Summer of 2007, The Chorale performed for the third consecutive season at Switzerland's Verbier Music Festival, where Mr. Bass conducted the ensemble in Orff's Carmina Burana. In July 2008, The Chorale toured with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem.

For more information, visit www.collegiatechorale.org or www.verbierfestival.com.

Photo credit Erin Baiano