Composers W.A. Mozart, Benjamin Britten and Max Reger as well as poets John Keats, William Blake, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson are featured at the Washington Square Music Festival’s free concert Sunday, November 24 at 3 pm in St. Mark’s Church-in the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street. This delightful program will be performed by Hélène Jeanney, pianist, tenor Marc Molomot, French hornist Eric Davis, and the Festival String Ensemble.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24 at 3 PM - free
The Festival Chamber Ensemble
Eric Davis, French horn
Hélène Jeanney, piano
Marc Molomot, tenor
St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street, New York NY 10003 (corner of Second Ave.)
Subway: N, R at 8th St.-NYU; 6 at Astor Place
www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
Max Reger “ Scherzino” for French horn and string ensemble
horn, Eric Davis
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto #12, K414 with string ensemble
piano: Hélène Jeanney
Benjamin Britten Serenade op. 31 for tenor, French horn and string ensemble
tenor: Marc Molomot,
horn: Eric Davis
Britten’s Serenade #31: This masterly work was written for the combined musical talents of tenor Peter Pears and hornist Dennis Brain. Pears was an English tenor who was Britten’s professional and personal partner for many years. Serenade is framed by a horn solo played on natural harmonics to evoke an atmosphere of far-off, primeval innocence. Serenade is an extraordinary example of Britten’s ability to set an anthology of texts bound together by a similar theme, in this case, the world of night, sleep, and dreams. The twilit atmosphere that characterizes this beautiful and evocative work is offset by the two settings that form its centerpiece, the “Sick Rose” of Blake’s “Elegy” and a nightmarish setting of the anonymous 15th-century “Lyke Wake Dirge”.
Tenor Marc Molomot is possessed of a high-tenor voice and a winning stage persona that comfortably embraces both comedic and dramatic roles. He enjoys an international career in opera and on the concert stage. Originally known for appearances with the world’s leading early music ensembles with conductors including William Christie and John Eliot Gardiner, Mr. Molomot is now praised as “an excellent actor-singer” in repertoire of all eras. Recent opera performances have included Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Chicago Opera Theater; a COT co-production with Long Beach Opera, Busoni’s Turandot in the role of Truffaldino with Bard Music Festival; Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of us All at Hudson Hall; and Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony in the role of Der Hauptmann. The live recording of this performance was the winner of a Grammy Award and an ECHO Klassik Award, both for Best Opera Recording. .
The Washington Square Music Festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with the City Council, The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, NYC Council Member Margaret Chin, and the Office of the Borough President of Manhattan, Gail Brewer, BP. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs & NYU Community Fund, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Washington Square Park Conservancy, Con Edison, Lamia’s Fish Market, Le Souk, and Three Sheets Saloon/ Off the Wagon/Down the Hatch, are deeply appreciated.