Friday, April 27, 2012

More Free Music at Emmanuel Lutheran


The Westminster Kantorei, conducted by Andrew Megill and assisted by The Select Choir of Daniel Boone High School, will perform a free concert Sunday, April 29 at 4 p.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 150 N. Hanover Street in Pottstown.


It is part of the Music at Emmanuel series.


(For more click on www.emmanuelpottstown.org or on Facebook.com/music.at.emmanuel)

The concert program will include:

  • “Musikalische exequien” by Heinrich Schutz, 
  • “The Glory and the Dream” by Richard Rodney Bennett, and 
  • “Psalm 67” by Sven-David Sandström. 
 The stunningly beautiful funeral music of Schutz’s Musikalische exequien is considered one of the masterpieces of the early Baroque period, according to a release from Westminster Kantorei.

William Wordsworth’s poetic masterpiece “Intimations of Immortality” provides the text for Bennett’s "The Glory and the Dream", who, in addition to a 50-year career performing and writing jazz, has composed many classic film scores.

Sandström’s "Psalm 67" is a newly-commissioned work that received its world premier by this ensemble in October of 2011.

Special guests for this concert will be the select choir from Daniel Boone High School. Led by their conductor, Erin Benn, this outstanding high school ensemble will open the concert with performances of “I’ve Got the Music in Me” arranged by Deke Sharon and “With a Lily in Your Hand” by Eric Whitacre.

Founded in 2004, Westminster Kantorei is an auditioned chamber choir from the renowned Westminster Choir College specializing in early and contemporary music.

The ensemble, which is composed of approximately 24 graduate and undergraduate students, performs regularly with some of America’s leading specialists in Baroque music, including collaborations with violinist Nancy Wilson and vocal ensemble Fuma Sacra.

Recent seasons have included performances of Bach’s "Missa brevis in G Minor," cantatas, and passions, including the "St. Matthew Passion" at Avery Fisher Hall, with the Westminster Choir and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur.

The ensemble has also performed works by Monteverdi ("Vespers of 1610, Sestina" and "Lamento della Ninfa"), Buxtehude ("Membra Jesu nostri"), Schütz, Schein, Telemann, Zelenka, Victoria, and Palestrina, as well as a concert of Latin American Baroque music.

Westminster Kantorei has also commissioned and premiered many works by such composers as Caleb Burhans, James Blachly, Doug Helvering, Philip Rice, Nathan Jones and Stefan Young.

This year, the ensemble premieres new works by Blake Henson, Daniel Elder, and the internationally acclaimed Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, commissioned for the ensemble by the Soli Deo Gloria Foundation and the Westminster Choir College Department of Sacred Music.

MUSIC AT EMMANUEL is dedicated to bringing the live music of the highest calibre to the Pottstown community.

It is also dedicated to supporting young artists from our region as they develop their performing careers.

 All concerts in the 2011-12 season are offered free of charge to the public, and are funded by the generous support of individuals in our church and community who believe that great music has an essential place in our culture and community.

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