Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers Find 'Serenity' March 15

In a hectic world, people seek peace. For their March 15th concert, aptly titled "Serenity," Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers present Beethoven's bucolic sixth symphony, Vaughan Williams' intensely personal Serenade to Music and Stravinsky's other-worldly Le Baiser de Fée. Each musical selection was specifically chosen for this concert because it comes from a place of peace and love; transporting the listener with calm, serene beauty.

Beethoven once wrote, "No one can love the country as much as I do. For surely woods, trees, and rocks produce the echo which man desires to hear". The Pastoral, Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, serves as a musical expression of this love. Igor Stravinsky's ballet music, The Fairy's Kiss, was composed as a loving tribute to Tchaikovsky and tells the tale of a child given a fatal Fairy kiss that takes him from his engagement celebration to a realm beyond time and place. And finally, what work is so ravishing that Rachmaninoff, the Russian Romantic composer, wept at its premiere? It was Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, which gives voice to Vaughan Williams' love of natural and musical beauty by bringing listeners those "most-desired echoes" of heavenly harmony.

Tickets are $25 for adults; $20 for seniors; $10 for students and Youth age 7-17 receive one free ticket with each paid ticket. They are available through Brown Paper Tickets by phone at 1-800-838-3006, online at www.brownpapertickets.com and www.osscs.org, or at any Silver Platters location. For more information please call 206-682-5208, or visit our website at www.osscs.org.

Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers (OSSCS) is made up of a 60-member semi-professional orchestra and a 55-voice chorus. Membership is by audition and includes professional musicians, music teachers, and highly skilled amateurs who choose to work together under the direction of George Shangrow. During its forty-year history OSSCS has made an extended sojourn through the heart of the orchestral literature and has sought to promote local musicians, world recognized soloists and new music by Northwest composers. They have attained special recognition for their interpretations of the music of Handel and Bach and have introduced rarely heard choral masterpieces to Seattle audiences such as Handel's Israel in Egypt, Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers, and Haydn's The Seasons. Praised by critics for their vibrant sound and spirited, disciplined singing, the Seattle Chamber Singers also delight in performing classics such as Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and Brahms' German Requiem.