Department of Music

• Saturday, May 26, 2012
• First Presbyterian Church
• 8:00pm
•  

Gabriel Fauré once observed, “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”

On Saturday, May 26 at 8 p.m., The Oratorio Society of Virginia will present Fauré’s Requiem and other masterpieces from the French sacred tradition, accompanied by orchestra and the Casavant Frères organ at the First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. The concert also will include Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and works by his late 19th and early 20th-century contemporaries in Paris, César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Marcel Dupré.

Tickets are available online from the Oratorio Society at www.oratoriosociety.org or 434-295-4385 or at the New Dominion Bookshop. This will be the final concert for this season that has generated enthusiastic audience responses. Next season’s performance schedule will be announced soon.

Under the direction of the Oratorio Society’s newly-appointed Music Director Michael Slon, the chorus will be joined by soloists Adelaide Muir Trombetta, soprano; Sumner Thompson, baritone; and David Norfrey, organist.

Soprano Adelaide Muir Trombetta
When soprano soloist Adelaide Muir Trombetta performed as a National Finalist in the renowned Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, The New York Times described her as “sensitive and affecting.” The recent graduate of Yale’s prestigious Opera Program is rapidly gaining recognition through her performances that include leading roles in the United States and Europe. The Roanoke Times noted “her sweet purity of tone and a cleanness and accuracy to her vocal ornamentation that was a delight to hear.” She has enjoyed repeated seasons with L’Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, Italy, where she has performed leading roles as Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow), Euridice (Orpheus in the Underworld), Ana (The Seven Deadly Sins by Kurt Weil), Lilli Vanessi “Katharina” (Kiss me Kate), and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). Other European engagements include performances with Das Verein Opera in Zurich and the opening event for the annual fashion show “Gala Catania, Talenti &Dintorni” of 2009 in Catania, Italy. She regularly visits Italy to maintain a modern concept of the Bel Canto style and Italian language for opera. She has been featured on NBC’s Good Morning America and in Classical Singer Magazine and Opera News. Ms. Trombetta is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Liberty University.

Baritone Sumner Thompson
Described as possessing “power and passion,” and “stylish elegance,” baritone Sumner Thompson is in demand on the concert and opera stage across North America and Europe.

He has appeared as a soloist with many leading ensembles including the Britten-Pears Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Les Boreades de Montreal, Mercury Baroque, Les Voix Baroques, The Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and Tafelmusik.

Upcoming engagements include Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Handel’s Messiah with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, Bach’s St. John Passion with Orchestra Iowa and with Switzerland’s gli angeli baroque, Britten’s War Requiem with the New England Philharmonic, a return to Early Music Vancouver’s summer festival with Les Voix Baroques, Messiah with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers with the critically acclaimed Green Mountain Project.

Mr. Thompson can be heard on the Boston Early Music Festival’s Grammy nominated recording of Lully’s Psyché on the CPO label, and also with Les Voix Baroques on Canticum Canticorum, Carissimi Oratorios, and Humori, all on the ATMA label.

ABOUT THE ORATORIO SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA
Founded in 1966, The Oratorio Society of Virginia is comprised of nearly 100 highly diverse singers ranging in age “from 18 to 80” and from all walks of life. All have considerable choral singing experience, including some who are professional musicians and music teachers. Among the ranks are men and women who are students, physicians, farmers, business owners, professors, administrators, a cabinetmaker, researchers, technicians, and more. The Oratorio Society of Virginia is affiliated with the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia. For more information, visit www.oratoriosociety.org.