Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Performs Gershwin's American Classic, Porgy and Bess in Concert, July 22

Program features Indira Mahajan (Bess) and Derrick Parker (Porgy) with the Heritage Signature Chorale

Baltimore, Md. (June 28, 2010) - Originally scheduled in February but cancelled due to inclement weather, Music Director Marin Alsop will finally lead guest vocalists Indira Mahajan, Alison Buchanan, Larry Hylton, Derrick Parker, the D.C.-based Heritage Signature Chorale and the BSO on Thursday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in Concert. 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 program will open with Gershwin's Overture to Girl Crazy, followed by another Gershwin favorite, An American in Paris. 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 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), Larry Hylton (tenor), Derrick Parker (bass-baritone), as well as the Heritage Signature Chorale will team up under the baton of Marin Alsop to bring this Gershwin classic to life.

George Gershwin often collaborated with his older brother Ira Gershwin to create some of the most memorable songs on Broadway. Their musical Girl Crazy (1930) and was a smashing success that made stars of both Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman. Two years before Girl Crazy's debut, Gershwin composed An American in Paris, inspired by a recent Paris vacation. Gershwin writes that he wanted "to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere." An American in Paris evokes the energy and passion that was found in Paris during the 1920s and has become one of Gershwin's most popular works.
 
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 returned to her signature characterization of Bess in Porgy and Bess with 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 included 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.

Larry Hylton, tenor
Larry Hylton, a native of Martinsville, Virginia, is a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. He continued vocal music studies at Carnegie Mellon University and Morgan State University. The Washington Post has described his voice as "polished and affecting." Mr. Hylton made his international debut in 2003 as Sporting Life in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at Theatre des Westens in Berlin, Germany. He has subsequently performed the roles of Sporting Life, Mingo and Crab Man in more than 300 performances of Porgy and Bess in 15 different countries around the world. He has appeared with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Tulsa Opera, Atlanta Opera Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago and L'Opera National de Lyon (France). He has shared the stage with a range of artists from soprano Barbara Hendricks to songstress Patti Labelle. Other signature performances include the Mayoral Inauguration of Adrian M. Fenty and the Inaugural Ball for President Bill Clinton. His has been heard in concert, oratorio and recital throughout the United States and abroad. A former touring member of the world renowned Moses Hogan Singers, he appears on several of the group's recordings including Ezekiel Saw de Wheel and A Home in that Rock. He will release his first solo album this summer.

Derrick Parker, bass-baritone
Derrick Parker's recent engagements included 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 Heritage Signature Chorale
While embracing a broad repertoire of choral music, The Heritage Signature Chorale is committed to preserving at the highest possible level the performance tradition of African-American music, especially the Negro Spiritual. The Chorale provides a venue for showcasing artists, composers and arrangers who share this commitment, thereby fostering community awareness and appreciation of an important historical legacy. The Chorale maintains an education component that targets youth, including mini-concerts, lectures, demonstrations, workshops and musical dramas. The chorale is proud to be a part of the dynamic choral community in the nation's capital. This year, The Heritage Signature Chorale (HSC) celebrates its 10th season as it continues its mission of preserving the African American choral tradition. HSC's 2009-2010 season included performances for the Joy of Christmas as guests of the Cathedral Choral Society; a return to The Kennedy Center for the 22nd Annual Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as guests of the Choral Arts Society of Washington; a performance at the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conference and Orff's Carmina burana with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and The Metropolitan Chorus at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall.

COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS
Porgy and Bess
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor
Indira Mahajan, soprano
Alison Buchanan, soprano
Larry Hylton, tenor
Derrick Parker, bass-baritone
Heritage Signature Chorale
     Stanley J. Thurston, music director

Gershwin: Overture to Girl Crazy
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess in Concert

Tickets for this performance range from $19 to $55 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.