Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Performs Concert Suite of Gershwin’s American Classic, Porgy and Bess, Feb. 5-6

Program also features Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Baltimore, Md. (January 4, 2010) – Music Director Marin Alsop, guest vocalists Indira Mahajan, Alison Buchanan, Chauncey Packer and Derrick Parker and the Morgan State University Choir will perform the Concert Suite from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess on Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Porgy and Bess, dubbed an American folk opera, features the popular, genre-crossing song “Summertime,” as well as other favorites “A Woman is a Sometime Thing” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” The BSO will continue the evening of classics with Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy from Romeo and Juliet and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Editors Note: This program replaces the previously scheduled Ask Your Mama concerts featuring Jessye Norman.  Please see below for complete concert details.

George Gershwin’s operatic masterpiece Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway in 1935. The original cast was entirely African-American, with Eva Jessye as choral director. Such a casting decision was artistically bold for the time, but was nevertheless well received by audiences. Critics, however, were not convinced, citing racial issues and formal construction as inherent problems in the work. It was not until 1976, when Houston Grand Opera performed the work using Gershwin’s complete score that critics were able to accept Porgy and Bess as an American folk opera and hail it as an artistic success. With her “graceful stage presence” and “amber-tinted voice” (Charles Downey, The Washington Post), Indira Mahajan joins the BSO for the role of Bess. Mahajan and fellow vocalists, Alison Buchanan (soprano), Chauncey Packer (tenor) and Derrick Parker (bass-baritone), as well as the Morgan State University Choir will team up under the baton of Marin Alsop to bring this Gershwin classic to life.

Premiered in 1910, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was Ralph Vaughan Williams’ first masterpiece and has subsequently established itself as a cherished member of the orchestral repertoire. Scored for three string ensembles—a large orchestra, a small orchestra and a string quartet—Fantasia uses the spatial possibilities in this ensemble to create echoes and sound effects on a melody that Tallis wrote in 1567.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky published the romantic Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy in 1880. Its famous “love” motif is one of the most memorable and passionate melodies in the literature and is notorious for being quoted in television and movies, including television shows such as “Scrubs” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” as well as the film, Clueless. Tchaikovsky introduces the love theme quietly, with English horn and violas, allowing for a dynamic crescendo as the piece progresses.

Marin Alsop, conductor
Hailed as one of the world’s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002-2008, and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.

In 2005, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this prestigious award. In 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award, in 2008; she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2009, Musical America named her “Conductor of the Year.”

A regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Alsop appears frequently as a guest conductor with the most distinguished orchestras around the world. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award-winning cycles of Brahms and Barber orchestral works.

Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood where she studied with Leonard Bernstein.

Indira Mahajan, soprano
This season, Indira Mahajan will return to her signature characterization of Bess in Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, following previous performances with Los Angeles Opera, New York Philharmonic, Opera Comique, Dallas Opera, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Théâtre de Caen and the Granada Festival. Other recent credits include Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Mimi in La bohème (Royal Albert Hall), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Dallas Opera), Nedda in I pagliacci, Musetta in La bohème and the title role in Treemonisha (Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional in Costa Rica, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra). Concert engagements include programs of Gershwin (Colorado Symphony Orchestra, George Enescu International Music Festival, San Diego Symphony), Handel’s Messiah (Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra), Beethoven’s Mass in C (Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional in Costa Rica).

Alison Buchanan, soprano
Soprano Alison Buchanan recently made her role debut in Tosca for the Sedieres Festival in France and performed the role of Palmyra with Pegasus Opera in a new production of Delius' Koanga at Sadler's Wells. This past season she added the roles of Serena in Porgy and Bess, Cilla in Margaret Garner and Ariadne in Ariadne Auf Naxos to her operatic repertoire. She has performed the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall and a concert performance of Peter Grimes with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra at both the London Barbican and Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Also under the baton of Sir Colin Davis, Ms. Buchanan performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis on tour at La Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Basilique Saint Remi, the Flâneries Musicales d'Eté de Reims Festival, the Musique und Kongresshalle in Lübeck, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival and the Basilika of Kloster Eberbach in Wiesbaden for the Rheingau Music Festival. Ms. Buchanan is a member of the Ritz Chamber Players, who were recently artists in residence at the Baltimore School of Arts.

Chauncey Packer, tenor
American tenor Chauncey Packer recently performed the roles of Amon in Akhnaten with Atlanta Opera, Edmondo in Manon Lescaut with Shreveport Opera and Remendado in Carmen with New Orleans Opera. In past seasons, he performed the roles of Alfredo in La Traviata with Pensacola Opera, Rodolfo in La Boheme with Mobile Opera and Arturo in Lucia Di Lammermoor with New Orleans Opera. Mr. Packer is also one of the most in-demand artists for his captivating portrayal of Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess. He performed the role with the San Francisco Opera, Mobile Opera, Opera Grand Rapid, Tulsa Opera and on European tour with the Munich-based New York Harlem Productions. Mr. Packer sang Mingo and covered Sportin' Life on tour with the Opéra Comique in Paris, Caen and Luxembourg. A recent concert performance of the same work with the Nashville Symphony and conductor John Mauceri was recorded and released on the Decca label.

Derrick Parker, bass
Derrick Parker’s recent engagements include Alidoro in La cenerentola (Portland Opera), Colline in La bohème, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (Chicago Opera Theatre), Crown in Porgy and Bess (Cape Town Opera), Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Achilla in Giulio Cesare (Utah Opera), Lucifer in La Resurrezione, Claudio in Agrippina and Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea (Chicago Opera Theatre), Antinoo in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and Claudio in Agrippina (Glimmerglass Opera), Masetto in Don Giovanni and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. On the concert stage, he has sung Haydn’s Creation (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), Handel’s Messiah (San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony), Mozart’s Requiem (Utah Symphony), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Dallas Symphony, Pacific Symphony), Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 (Rochester Philharmonic) and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (Santa Rosa Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony).

The Morgan State University Choir
The Morgan State University (MSU) Choir is one of the nation’s most prestigious university choral ensembles. While classical, gospel and contemporary popular music comprise the choir’s repertoire, the choir is noted for its emphasis on preserving the heritage of the spiritual, especially in the historic practices of performance. The MSU Choir has performed for audiences throughout the United States and all over the world–including Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Canada, Africa, Asia and Europe. It has appeared at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall on numerous occasions and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Buffalo, Baltimore, Knoxville and National symphony orchestras.

The Choir has experienced many historic moments. It performed with Jessye Norman under the baton of Robert Shaw, conducting the Orchestra of St. Lukes in Carnegie Hall’s 100th Birthday Tribute to Marian Anderson. At the personal invitation of Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice, the Choir performed for the State Department for their annual African-American History Month Celebration. In October 2005, the MSU Choir sang for the service honoring Rosa Parks, who became the first woman to lie in honor at our nation’s Capitol Rotunda. In August 2007, the Choir completed a tour of Ghana and performed at the invitation of the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana to celebrate its 50th year of Independence. In May 2004, Reader’s Digest named the MSU Choir “the Best College Choir in the U.S.” in its list of “America’s 100 Best.”

COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS
Special Event: Porgy & Bess
Friday, February 5, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor
Indira Mahajan, soprano
Alison Buchanan, soprano
Chauncey Packer, tenor
Derrick Parker, bass-baritone
The Morgan State University Choir
     Eric Conway, director

Tickets for these performances range from $26 to $75 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.