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TWELFTH SPECTACULAR SEASON! Join us this July for the twelfth annual Saratoga Choral Festival. Singers will meet for
rehearsals over a three-week period in Saratoga Springs beginning Thursday, July 5th, and will perform in a concert open to
the public at the SPA LITTLE THEATER on Friday, July 27th, at 8:00 p.m. This summer's concert will feature
the moving Stabat Mater for chorus and orchestra by English composer Karl Jenkins and Handel’s Coronation
Anthem: Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened for chorus and orchestra. Jenkins
made his mark in the world as a media composer writing commercial music for Levi’s, British Airways, Renault, Tag Heuer,
Pepsi as well as US/global campaigns for De Beers and Delta Airlines. For Delta he wrote the famous song Adiemus
that accompanied the jet in flight. After this period, his return to the music mainstream was initially marked by the success
of the Adiemus project. Adiemus combined the ‘classical’ with ethnic vocal sounds and percussion with an invented
language and topped classical and ‘pop’ charts around the world. His Armed Man: A Mass For Peace alone
has been performed nearly 1000 times in 20 different countries since the CD was released while his recorded output has resulted
in seventeen gold and platinum disc awards. Since its premiere in 2008, the distinctive Stabat Mater has had over
150 performances worldwide. Added to the traditional Stabat Mater prayer is an ingenious use of Arabic, Aramaic,
Hebrew & Greek sung prayer accompanied by Middle Eastern percussion instruments.
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The contralto soloist for the concert is Marion Dry. With an extensive repertoire of opera, oratorio and chamber music, and as an accomplished interpreter
of 20th Century music and art songs, Marion Dry has elicited high praise from audiences and critics alike
for her beautiful contralto voice and fine musicianship. She has appeared with Netherlands Opera, Seattle
Opera, Opera Boston, Houston Grand Opera, The Tanglewood Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Intermezzo, The Bostonians, Cleveland
Orchestra, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Madison Symphony, The National Symphony Orchestras of the Ukraine
and Panama, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, at the Edinburgh Festival and the Kennedy Center. She
was a member of the original cast of John Adams’ opera, Nixon in China. She has been presented
in recital by the Boston and New York Wagner Societies, and various colleges and universities. She has also collaborated with
numerous chamber groups, including the Lydian String Quartet, the Triple Helix, the Borromeo String Quartet and the Boston
Chamber Music Society. With baritone, Robert Honeysucker and pianist, Leslie Amper, she is a member of
the Jubilee Trio, a group dedicated to performing American Art Songs and Spirituals with which she recorded the CD, Let’s
Have a Union, for Brave Records. Other recordings include Nixon in China, the first recording
of Lukas Foss’s opera, Griffelkin, for which she sang the Grandmother (devil) and Samuel Barber’s opera
Vanessa. She can be heard on Brave Records, Chandos, Nonesuch, Koch, Virgin Classics and CRI recording
labels. She is a member of the Music Department of Wellesley College, where she has been department chair,
teaches voice, and is the Director of the Music Performance Program.
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If, after browsing this web site, you have any un-answered
questions, please use the following contact information.
Saratoga Choral Festival
PO Box 291
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-791-0185 Email
General Information: agoodman@saratogachoralfest.org
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