STORY AND LINKS: 9/11 concerts beginning to appear on schedule

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

The question about how classical music will commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks isn’t really “how” but “how many?” Because 9/11 falls on a Sunday this year, most churches will likely pay tribute in their worship services. However, details of special musical events are also beginning to emerge.

• The Pasadena Master Chorale will honor the day with a performance of Fauré’s Requiem at 4 p.m. at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church. Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein will lead the concert, which will open with four a cappella American works: a traditional setting of Psalm 137, By The Waters of Babylon; Virgil Thompson’s My Shepherd Will Supply My Need; Words To Be Spoken, by Ross Lee Finney; and Bernstein’s own arrangement of America the Beautiful.

The Fauré Requiem is a logical choice for this type of concert. As Bernstein notes, “Perhaps the lightest of the well-known Requiem settings, Faure’s Requiem is tuneful and direct, ending with music of ethereal beauty and promise.” Soprano Krystle Casey and Baritone Cedric Berry will be the soloists in the Requiem, which will be accompanied by Edward Murray on the church’s pipe organ. DETAILS

Incidentally, the PMC will present a summer concert entitled “My Spirit Sang All Day” on Aug. 14 at 4 p.m. at La Crescenta Pres. Bernstein will conduct music ranging from Purcell, Elgar, William Billings and Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernst Krenek and Matthew Harris. DETAILS

• The first group out of the block on 9/11 commemorations was the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which will use its Hollywood Bowl concert on Tuesday, Sept. 13, as a tribute to those who died in the attack. The program will include the other “most obvious” musical choice — Mozart’s Requiem — and pair it with Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Bramwell Tovey, who for the past two seasons was the Phil’s principal guest conductor at the Bowl, will lead the orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale and soloists Heidi Stober, soprano; Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor; and Matthew Rose, bass-baritone. Chichester Psalms calls for a boy treble but he hasn’t been named yet (at least the name isn’t on the Web site). DETAILS

BTW: the Bowl’s concert on 9/11 will be a rock concert featuring The National;
Neko Case, with special guest T Bone Burnett; and Sharon Van Etten in what the HB Web site describes as “an evening of triumphant, powerful and poetic American rock music [celebrating] our spirit and resolve under the stars of the summer sky.” DETAILS

• Muse-ique, Rachael Worby’s new ensemble, has announced it will participate in a free concert of American music at 6 p.m. on the steps of Pasadena’s City Hall, but no details have been forthcoming.

More will surely arrive in the in-box during the weeks ahead.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Comments

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[Shawne Zarubica]

Hi, Robert. Just a quick FYI: the Pasadena Master Chorale’s August 14th concert will be conducted by Assistant Conductor Lauren Buckley (link: http://pasadenamasterchorale.org/Pasadena_Master_Chorale/2011-Summer.html
Thanks!