The Hawai`i Vocal Masterworks Festival

Seventh Annual Hawaii Vocal Masterworks Festival
Romantic Choral Rarities: Schubert, Brahms, Berlioz, Fauré and the Requiem in C minor by Luigi Cherubini

Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble
Festival Chorus and Orchestra
Timothy Carney, conductor

Festival Concert: Sunday, June 20, 2010, at 4pm in Mystical Rose Oratory (The Chapel) Chaminade University.
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 senior and military; and $5 student (elementary through college)


The Festival piece this year is the rarely-heard, dramatic Requiem by
Luigi Cherubini, written in memory of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.  This is the 250th anniversary of Cherubini's birth.
The Requiem was greatly admired by Beethoven (it was played at his funeral), Schumann, Berlioz, and Brahms.

Festival Singer Information:
please contact Tim Carney maestrotim1@gmail.com with any additional questions.

Festival rehearsals begin Wed. May 19, from 6:30-8:30pm in Henry Hall 221, on the campus of Chaminade University.

Henry Hall is the building on the 'first road' nearest the Chapel; it is right in front of Eiben Hall, our usual venue.  Room 221 is on the Diamond Head side on the second floor.
(Eiben Hall and Ching Center, our usual venue, is closed for renovations this summer)

Participation fee is $55, and includes a copy of the score and a ticket to the performance.  Your fee helps pay for the orchestral players.

*** Please pay by check or cash at the first rehearsal; no need to pre-register.
*** The fee is waived for students, and can be reduced for anyone with financial need.
*** There is no audition required.


Rehearsal Schedule:
Wednesday, May 19 6:30-8:30pm, Henry 221 (first reading)
Wednesday, May 26  6:30-8:30pm, Henry 221
Wednesday, June 2 6:30-8:30pm, Henry 221
Wednesday, June 9    6:30-8:30pm, Henry 221
Festival week: Wednesday, June 16  6:30-8:30pm, Henry 221; other
Festival week orchestra rehearsals and dress rehearsal TBA. (it will involve 2 evenings, depending on the orchestra schedule, not every night)

You must attend a minimum of three of the five Wednesdays, including the final Wednesday and orchestra rehearsal in order to perform.

Cherubini’s Requiem in C minor, by turns ethereal, dramatic and ultimately transcendent, was triumphantly premiered on January 21, 1817 in a memorial concert below the abbey church of St. Denis to commemorate the anniversary of the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The bodies of the long deposed monarchs were finally being laid to rest in the crypt of St. Denis. Though held in the highest esteem by many of the greatest composers of his time, this first of Cherubini’s two Requiems fell into obscurity by the end of the 19th century.

In illuminating liner notes that accompany the album, Martin Pearlman puzzles over the mysterious fate of Cherubini’s first “mass for the dead:”

    “The success of Cherubini's Requiem was immediate, and it was so overwhelming that Berlioz claimed that it gained a virtual ‘monopoly’ over memorial concerts in France. Beethoven, who called Cherubini "the greatest living composer," claimed that, if he himself should write a requiem, this one would be his only model; the work was performed at Beethoven's memorial service. For Schumann, the piece was ‘without equal.’ It is remarkable, therefore, that this beautiful work so admired by these composers, as well as by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Wagner, this requiem which the nineteenth century put on a level with the Mozart Requiem, fell into obscurity by the end of the century, along with most of the rest of Cherubini's music.”


_____________________
Further on the horizon:
The Enchanted Isle Early Music and Lute Song Workshop with Jennifer
Lane, mezzo soprano, David Taylor, lute and theorbo
June 28-July 3; details forthcoming

About the Festival

This annual event joins singers and instrumentalists from across the state for a week-long music festival. The objective of this program is the performance of significant choral-orchestral masterworks.

Singers from many local choruses join with Hawai`i Vocal Arts Ensemble to form the Festival Chorus. The chorus rehearses for several weeks in advance of the Festival week. An orchestra of professional musicians joins for the final rehearsals and performance, held at the intimate Mystical Rose Oratory overlooking Diamond Head.

"It was such a privilege to get to participate in the festival – and the music is truly unforgettable! Thank you so very much!" -- Festival participant

"One of the best choirs that I had the privilege to sing with in a long time." -- 2005 Festival participant

"A little extra [donation] – moved by the outstanding Festival Concert!"-- Festival supporter

Past Festivals

Sixth Annual

	Chaminade University of Honolulu and Tesoro Hawaii present the Sixth Annual Hawai‘i Vocal Masterworks Festival Music of  George Frederic Handel &  Felix Mendelssohn Featuring Ingrid Harwood, soprano &  Jennifer Lane, mezzo soprano 250th Anniversary • 2009 Music from Solomon, Jephtha, Atalanta, Theodora, and the Coronation anthem “Zadok the Priest” Felix Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Wie der Hirt schreit (As the hart cries after cooling waters) and the “Hebrides Overture” Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 4 p.m. Mystical Rose Oratory, Chaminade University of Honolulu For tickets, call Honolulu Box Office at 550-TIKS (8457) or order  online at honoluluboxoffice.com For more information, visit hawaiivocalarts.org. • $20 General Admission • $15 Senior & Military • $5 Students Preferred Seating available for $35. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door. “...Jennifer Lane stole the show.  Her voice is warm, velvety and resonant.”

Fifth Annual

"The performances are crisp, harmonic, seductive—in a traditional no frills manner."
-- Wayne Harada, Honolulu Advertiser

Fourth Annual

Fourth Annual Hawai'i Vocal Masterworks Festival
featuring Joseph Haydn's jubilant and sublime HARMONIEMESSE and
Johannes Brahms' Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)

Third Annual

Join us for the Hawai`i premiere of Robert Schumann's rare and sumptuous oratorio, Das Paradies Und die Peri (Paradise and the Peri). Based on a Persian legend, Schumann considered it his finest work. Featuring internationally acclaimed soprano Valerie Girard, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane , tenor Everett McCorvey , and baritone, Leslie "Buz" Tennent. Hawai'i Vocal Arts Ensemble will be joined by singers and instrumentalists from across the state to perform this masterwork for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, containing soaring melodies and thrilling harmonies.

June 25, 2006, 4:00 pm at Hawai`i Theatre