Masterworks Chorale Celebrates 200th Anniversary of “The Star-Spangled Banner" 10/19

Masterworks Chorale opens its fall season with a tribute to the "The Star-Spangled Banner," on Oct. 19. Originally the tune of a ribald British drinking song, the melody was rescued by Francis Scott Key in 1814 and transformed into the anthem we know and love today.

An original composition by Michael Gandolfi pays homage to the anthem by depicting the story of its creation through a musical performance. Accompanied by a full orchestra and chorus, the work celebrates both the song's bicentennial and the power of music in American life.

Masterworks is presenting this educational work at The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts on October 19, 2014, at 3:00 pm. The first half of the concert will include music of America by American composers: music of Appalachia, from the Broadway stage, and the ever-popular "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Also featured will be the 2014-15 Masterworks scholarship recipient Lance Mapp, who is a Grammy Camp participant, local composer, and performer.

Tickets are available at the door: $15 for all adults, $5 for students with school ID and children 5 and under free.

The Chorale would like to recognize our veterans as well as our men and women currently in the service and offer them a special invitation to the concert.

For the 2014-2015 season, Masterworks Chorale is under the leadership of Guest Conductor Millie Turek as well as Artistic Director Kathy Bizarth. Turek is the founder and director of the Centre Masterworks Youth Chorale in Newnan. In 2014, she directed a coalition of singers to represent Newnan in a cultural exchange with Newnan's sister city, Ayr, Scotland.

Turek retired in 2012 after teaching chorus for thirty-two years in middle and high schools in Clayton and Fayette County. She currently teaches chorus and is musical director for theatre productions in the middle and upper schools at Whitefield Academy in Smyrna, Georgia. She accompanied the Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde Training Choir and Youth Chorale when they competed in the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia, in the summer of 2014.

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