CONCORA’S 2006-2007 SEASON MESSAGE

A SEASON TO CELEBRATE!

A Message From Richard Coffey, Artistic Director

Is not every moment of celebration surrounded by music? CONCORA is ready to sing its song in celebration of much during the 2006-2007 season [PDF 1.32 MB]. We begin by celebrating the life of Francis of Assisi, lover of nature, animals, and mankind, with music befitting the name of one of the world’s kindliest saints: choral prayers, motets, anthems, psalms, and spirituals. How fitting that this presentation take place in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, seat of the Hartford archdiocese and one of our region’s most dazzling liturgical structures.

We celebrate Bach – twice! We sing the second half of his beloved Christmas Oratorio at the invitation of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, joined by the dynamic voices of the Hartford Chorale in the Belding Theater, Hartford’s newest performance jewel. Those who heard these very forces offer the first half of the cycle in 2004 know that a polyphonic treat is in store.

One more try! That is, a celebration of liberation – the gift of freedom from slavery and oppression, not just of the 19th century variety, but within our own cultures of today. Postponed due to snow last winter, the concert will be given just as planned, with storyteller Valerie Tutson returning to guide our thoughts in word, and our Consort of Voices offering their musical commentary. The site, as before, is the beautiful and welcoming First Church of Christ ( Center Church) in Hartford, whose Music and the Arts series is our collaborator and co-sponsor. There will be an additional performance in the SBM Auditorium on the campus of Manchester Community College. If you have tickets from the 2006 performance that was cancelled, we will honor them.

Then, back to Bach in our ongoing series with the Hartford Symphony: music of the master, including the most substantial of the motets, “Jesu, meine Freude,” and Cantatas 70 and 147, the latter of which offers not once, but twice, the sublime movement “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” For this we return to Immanuel Congregational Church, our frequent Bach “home.” The celebration? Just Bach – that’s enough.

And, at last, two birthday celebrations. Haydn turns 275 and Stravinsky 125, though neither is with us to enjoy the festivities. Nonetheless, their music will come to life in May as we present the powerful Lord Nelson Mass by Haydn and the extraordinary Mass for winds and choir by Stravinsky. Members of the Hartford Symphony join us for this enterprise, which is also a celebration of our performance site, the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hartford, our frequent home for concerts during the 1990s, with acoustics unmatched anywhere. So…we celebrate a return to one of our favorite venues.

I look forward to enjoying these celebrations with you. If you enjoy them too, please let me know!

–Richard Coffey, Artistic Director