The UTC Music Department will present a concert by the Chattanooga Singers and Chamber Singers and, the Southwest Virginia Community College Community Chorus, directed by Joseph Trivette and Kevin Ford, respectively. The concert will take place at First Baptist Church, Golden Gateway, 401 Gateway Ave., on Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
The concert is free of charge and is open to the general public. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Glenn Draper Choral Scholarship at UTC.
The performance will showcase Joseph Haydn’s “Theresienmesse,” William Albright’s “Chichester Mass” and “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi.
The Chamber Singers will open the concert with William Albright’s “Chichester Mass.” Albright was a creative musical master of great influence to American music. Born in Gary, Indiana in 1944, he constructed his music with formal integrity that naturally developed from his musical material and imbued his music with rhythmic fervor and prismatic timbres. The Chichester Cathedral commissioned Albright to compose the “Chichester Mass” to celebrate its ninth centenary.
The Chamber Singers, Chattanooga Singers and the Southwest Virginia Community College Chorus will join together for a performance of Haydn’s “Theresienmesse.” It is a Mass in B flat major thought to be named after Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies, empress consort of Francis II, Emperor of Austria and the last Holy Roman Emperor who reportedly sang the soprano solos in Hyden’s great oratorios “The Creation” and “The Seasons’ in their Viennese court performances. However, the autograph score is simply labeled “Missa” so that attribution has to remain suspect. The mass is thought to have premiered in 1799 in the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt and was one of a series of yearly masses Haydn composed later in his career on the name-day of the wife of his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy I. Although less theatrical in conception than its counterpart “Nelson Mass,” it is considered equally masterly and is a work of marked musical contrasts. The late masses of Haydn represent the peak of the Viennese Classical style. Soloists for the “Theresienmesse” are; Kala Cisson, major in voice at UTC, Rebecca St. Goar, U. C. Foundation Professor of Voice at UTC, UTC alumnus Harv Wileman and, Perry Ward, UTC Director of Opera Workshop and Assistant Professor of Voice.
The combined choral and orchestra forces will also perform Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” Several settings were written of the Gloria, of which the one being performed is the most familiar and popular. It is performed at many sacred events, including Christmas, and has been included on many CD’s and in a number of films. Soloists for the “Gloria” are Leigh Wattenbarger, Sarah Chapman, Laura Wilkerson, Kasey Toth and Julie Drexler.
The orchestra for the concert will be comprised of members of the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and members of the UTC Symphony Orchestra. The organist will be David Friberg, who is the organist for Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church and Chattanooga Choral Arts. Mr. Friberg is a former faculty member of Covenant College, Bryan College and Bob Jones University as well as organist for the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
Dr. Joseph Trivette is the holder of the Albert Endowed Chair of Music at SWCC in Richland, Va. He teaches music theory, music history, music appreciation, class piano, piano and instrumental lessons, and jazz improvisation. Ensembles under his direction include the SWCC Community Chorus, SWCC Jazz Ensemble/Combo, and Southwest Virginia Children's Choir. He frequently serves as conductor/accompanist for various all-county and all-district festivals and is an active church musician.
Dr. Kevin Ford is currently U.C. Foundation associate professor in Music and director of Choral Activities at UTC, teaching graduate and undergraduate conducting and choral methods. He is also the state president for the American Choral Directors Association. Formerly on faculty at University of North Carolina Charlotte and the State University of New York College at Potsdam, he is a distinguished conductor and has been a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout the U.S., Canada and Austria.
For more information call 425-4601 or visit http://utc.edu/music.