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Press Release - October 15, 2006, Boston, MA
The Back Bay Chorale brings a bit of Venice to Boston in its opening concert
featuring Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 on Friday, November
10. Performing in Boston’s most “Venetian” venue—the
beautifully restored Old South Church in Copley Square—the Chorale
will be conducted by Music Director Scott Allen Jarrett and joined by a distinguished group
of soloists.
According
to Jarrett, the Vespers are both “exquisite and revolutionary.” With
daring harmonies and virtuosic character, Monteverdi anticipated the
baroque style that was on the musical horizon. When he composed the Vespers,
Monteverdi was considered the most prolific composer in all of Italy. The Vespers is
a monumental choral work that requires singers to cover up to 10 choral parts
in some movements and to split into two choirs in others. The Back
Bay Chorale performance, with a period instrumental ensemble, pays homage
to a choral masterpiece that has captivated audiences for 400 years. The
performance features a stellar cast of soloists: Shannon Salyards,
Soprano; Teresa Wakim, Soprano; Ian Howell, Countertenor; Charles Blandy,
Tenor; Lawrence Jones, Tenor; and Sumner Thompson, Bass.
In addition, the performance includes the debut of the 2006-2007 Emerging
Artists in Residence—Soprano Teresa Wakim and Keyboardist Justin Blackwell. The
Back Bay Chorale’s Emerging Artists in Residence Program is designed
to showcase emerging talented musicians in the Greater Boston area. Through
instructional and performance opportunities with the Chorale, the artists
will expand their knowledge of choral music performance and artistic leadership
and, in turn, lend their expertise to the Chorale. The Program is funded
through generous donations by its supporters.
In addition to his appointments as Music Director of the Back Bay Chorale, Musical Director and Conductor of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, and Director of Music and University Organist and Choirmaster at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel, Scott Allen Jarrett serves as the Assistant Conductor of Choirs at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute where he assists Dr. Ann Howard Jones. Also at Tanglewood, Jarrett teaches advanced music theory and history to the students in the Young Artist Vocal Program.
In Summer 2004, Jarrett was a guest conductor at St. Matthias Cathedral in Budapest and also gave an organ recital there. Later in the summer, he was guest conductor for New Hampshire’s White Mountain Musical Arts Bach Festival..
As a pianist, Mr. Jarrett frequently serves as rehearsal pianist and assistant for Ann Howard Jones. He also accompanied rehearsals for the late Robert Shaw during his Boston visits. As the rehearsal pianist for the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop, Jarrett played rehearsals for Charles Dutoit. As a baritone, Jarrett has been a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, the Boston Bach Ensemble, and Schola Cantorum of Boston.
The Back Bay Chorale is a 90-member chorus with a diverse membership drawn from communities throughout the Greater Boston area. Performing a repertoire of classical and contemporary choral music, the Back Bay Chorale strives to build community through musicality - fostering connection between choral and audience members.
Since its founding in 1973 by Larry Hill, the Back Bay Chorale has performed over a hundred concerts in such venues as Symphony Hall, Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, Emmanuel Church, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Church of the Covenant, the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Providence's Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. In addition to performances with its past music directors, Larry Hill, Beverly Taylor, Julian Wachner, and James Olesen, the Chorale has appeared with the Boston Pops under John Williams and Keith Lockhart, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra under Gunther Schuller and Gisele Ben-Dor, the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra under David Commanday, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project under Gil Rose. The Chorale has also collaborated with the Providence Singers, the Charles Street A.M.E. Church, and the National Center of Afro-American Artists.
The Back Bay Chorale's repertoire spans the full range of choral literature, from the masterworks of the Renaissance, baroque, classical, and modern periods to the most contemporary of compositions. In recent years, the Chorale has premiered several works written especially for it, including Marjorie Merryman's Three Ballads, James Russell Smith's Canto V: The Second Circle, Robert Kyr's Unseen Rain and Passion According to Four Evangelists, and Stephen Paulus's Voices.
The Chorale's discography includes recordings of John Knowles Paine's St. Peter Oratorio with Gunther Schuller conducting; James Yannatos's Trinity Mass with the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, under the direction of the composer; and, with conductor emerita Beverly Taylor, Robert Kyr's Unseen Rain and Passion. New recordings include Benjamin Britten's Company of Heaven, featuring the Chorale under the direction of Julian Wachner (2002), and Lukas Foss's Griffelkin with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
Full details are available at http://www.bbcboston.org/
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