Cantata Singers concludes 53rd Season Honegger's KING DAVID, 5/12

Cantata Singers concludes its season with a program exploring Jewish history, culture, and music on Friday, May 12, 2017 at 8pm in Jordan Hall. Paired with Arthur Honegger's dramatic psalm King David, Cantata Singers will present Yehudi Wyner's Torah Service alongside Yiddish art songs and choruses by his father, Lazar Weiner, works rarely heard on the concert stage.

A pre-concert Shabbat dinner, open to all, begins at 6:30pm to contextualize the evening's program. This event allows people of all faiths to learn about the Jewish customs that are the framework for some of the music featured on the program, while also allowing observant Jews to attend the program on the Sabbath. Rabbi Audrey Berkman will lead the dinner, and it will be held at the Huntington Avenue YMCA at 316 Huntington Avenue in Boston. The dinner is supported in part by Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Jewish Arts Collaborative. Please note that registration is required to attend the Shabbat dinner, and is available online or by calling 617.868.5885. A post-concert reception will take place in Williams Hall following the concert, free to all ticketholders.

Lazar Weiner (1897-1982) emigrated from modern day Ukraine to America in 1914, due to the rise of anti-Semitism in the Russian Empire. Settling in New York City, Weiner was first employed as a piano player in a New York silent cinema house. He eventually became the music director of the Central Synagogue, one of the oldest and largest synagogues in New York City, and served on the faculty of the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College. Weiner became involved in New York's literary circles, and became familiar with the world of modern Yiddish literature and poetry, as well as the tradition of Yiddish folksong. Inspired by these traditions, Weiner wrote his own Yiddish art songs, which are featured on the evening's program with new orchestrations for chorus and orchestra by music director David Hoose.

Yehudi Wyner (b. 1929), is considered one of America's most distinguished composers. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize in Music and a GRAMMY award, Wyner has also received two Guggenheim Fellowships, The Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Rome Prize, the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, and the Elise Stoeger Prize given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for a "lifetime contribution to chamber music." Jewish Arts Collaborative recently honored Wyner in a program entitled, "A Celebration of Yehudi Wyner" on March 22, 2017 in the first annual Michael B. Rukin Memorial Concert. He is the President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Wyner is currently Professor Emeritus of Composition at Brandeis University, and has taught previously at Yale University, Cornell University, and Harvard University. Cantata Singers will perform Wyner's meditative Torah Service, music intended to be performed during the reading of the Torah in the Saturday morning synagogue service. Cantata Singers' member Ian Pomerantz, bass, will be featured as the cantor.

Concluding the evening's program is Arthur Honegger's (1892-1955) King David, performed in the original French. A member of the early twentieth-century French avant-garde group, Les Six, Honegger spent most of his life in-between Paris and Switzerland. Honegger's colorful oratorio recounts the story of King David's life, from his childhood, to his eventual ascension as king and the unification of Israel, to his fall from grace and ultimate death, through 27 movements that fuses styles from ancient music, Baroque music, and jazz. Originally composed in 1921, Honegger was drafted at the last moment to write incidental music for a play about the biblical Jewish king, and completed the musical interludes in two months. The music was an instant success, firmly establishing Honegger's reputation as a composer. Actor Nael Nacer will be featured as the narrator, while Cantata Singers' member Lynn Torgove, alto, will perform the role of the Witch. Additional Cantata Singers' members featured as soloists include sopranos Angelynne Hinson, Karyl Ryczek, Alexandra Whitfield, and Majie Zeller; altos Elizabeth Eschen and Jennifer Webb; and tenor Eric Christopher Perry.

Guest artist Nael Nacer is originally from Paris, France and holds degrees in Theatre and Public Relations from Suffolk University. A proud member of Actors Equity Association since 2008, he is an Elliot Norton and IRNE-winning actor who has worked with many area theatres including: Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, The Charles Playhouse, Central Square Theatre, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and Company One. As an educator Mr. Nacer has taught the Summer Theatre Program at Payomet Performing Arts Center in North Truro, MA and has experience in audition and monologue coaching in Boston.

Single tickets start at $25, discounts for students, seniors, and groups

For more information, contact Cantata Singers at 617.868.5885, or visit our website, www.cantatasingers.org

About Cantata Singers

A singular desire to bring to Boston's listeners music that isn't being heard anywhere else has inspired Cantata Singers' programming for 53 years.

In 1964, that music included the cantatas of J.S. Bach. Today, it may be hard for us to believe, but when Cantata Singers was founded in 1964, live performances of Bach cantatas were quite a rarity. In fact, Cantata Singers' early concerts featured the first Boston performances of many of the cantatas.

Bach's music, from the cantatas to the B-minor Mass to the Passions, remains an essential part of Cantata Singers' repertoire. However, the ensemble's repertoire has expanded to include music from the 17th century to today. Cantata Singers has commissioned 14 works for choir and orchestra-including one that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music-and has presented more than fifty Boston premieres of music both old and new.

Many of Boston's most talented musicians perform regularly with Cantata Singers. The chorus is made up of singers who have careers as musicians, educators, doctors, and architects. Many of these members appear as soloists with Cantata Singers, as well as with other highly respected organizations; some conduct other choruses and orchestras in the area. Although many of our musicians perform actively as solo singers, they choose to sing with Cantata Singers because of the reward they find in performing music of the choral canon at the highest possible level.

Cantata Singers has always focused on the music-be it by Bach, Verdi, Harbison, or Pärt-and its audiences do, too. Our audiences return year after year to hear fresh visions of iconic music, or an intriguing unfamiliar work that is-in fact-quite approachable. Each Cantata Singers concert is often surprising, sometimes challenging, always beautiful, and ultimately inspiring.

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