Chorale Bel Canto Goes to the Theatre!

Please join us for a thrilling program to close our 33rd season of beautiful singing! May 16, 2015, 4:00pm Order tickets at www.ChoraleBelCanto.org

The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore (Gian-Carlo Menotti) and Great Opera Choruses May 16, 2015, 4:00pm First United Methodist Church 500 E. Colorado, Pasadena You are in for a treat: a 20th century madrigal fable by Gian-Carlo Menotti. Chorale Bel Canto will be joined by dancers from ArtistsPlus Productions, who will dance the story as it is sung by members of the Chorale. A challenging program, musically and philosophically! and   Great Opera Choruses Chorale Bel Canto, 80-voices strong, will sing eight well-known opera choruses.  Soloists will be young artists from Redlands Opera Theatre. Donor Reception    Donors should soon be receiving an invitation to a special reception to follow the concert. Please respond to let us know you are attending. Library Program And mark your calendars for April 29 for another Chorale program at the Whittwood Public Library!   Chorale Bel Canto Goes to the Theatre! A lecture discussion with video and musical excerpts by Dr. Stephen Gothold, Music Director, and members of the ensemble From 16th century Italian madrigal comedy through 19th century grand opera with a focus on Gian-Carlo Menotti’s 20th century “madrigal fable” The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 7:00 pm Whittwood Library 10537 Santa Gertrudes Ave. Whittier CA  90603

Next for Chorale Bel Canto

The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore

Plus

Great Opera Choruses

May 16, 2015 4:00 p.m.

First United Methodist Church Pasadena

500 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena

The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore or, The Three Sundays of a Poet is a “madrigal fable” for chorus, dancers and instrumental ensemble, with original libretto and music by Gian-Carlo Menotti. Premiered in 1956, the work coni8sts of a prologue and twelve madrigals that tell a continuous story, interspersed with six musical interludes.

The piece is based on the 16^th century Italian genre of madrigal comedy. The madrigal comedy was an important forerunner of opera, a form first developed in Florence, Italy around 1600. It is fitting, therefore, that the second half of this Chorale Bel Canto program consists of choruses from some of the great operas of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

While not staged and acted as fully as an opera, these madrigal comedies were often performed with backdrops, costumes and dancers.

The plot, while comic, ultimately embodies serious themes about social conformity, the ease with which no longer fashionable fads are abandoned, and the casual killers of a poet’s dreams.

Menotti’s fable tells the story of a strange, hermetic poet who keeps these mythical creatures as pets. On three successive Sundays he parades a different pet through the town, each creature an allegorical representation of a stage in the poet’s life.

The Bach Festival concert was a resounding success on March 28! First Friends Church nearly overflowed with listeners and performers. Thank you to all who attended and all who participated for a marvelous afternoon devoted to J.S. Bach and his talented forebears.

And now it's time to start looking forward to our next program! Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 16, 2015, 4:00pm.

The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore (Gian-Carlo Menotti) and Great Opera Choruses May 16, 2015, 4:00pm First United Methodist Church, Pasadena 400 E. Colorado, Pasadena   You are in for a treat: a 20th century madrigal fable by Gian-Carlo Menotti.  Chorale Bel Canto will be joined by dancers from ArtistsPlus Productions, who will dance the story as it is sung by members of the Chorale. A challenging program, musically and philosophically!   and Great Opera Choruses Chorale Bel Canto, 80-voices strong, will sing nine well-known opera choruses.  Soloists will be young artists from Redlands Opera Theatre.   Please join us for this thrilling program to close our 33rd season of beautiful singing! May 16, 2015, 4:00pm Order tickets at www.ChoraleBelCanto.org

Bach is Back! This is going to be a fabulous month for all you Bach-lovers.  Chorale Bel Canto will be singing some of the finest pieces of J.S. Bach, and music by older generations of the Bach family as well.  Join us for Music of the Bach Family at First Friends Church in Whittier.

Concert March 28, 2015, 4:00pm Preview March 25, 2015, 7:00pm at Whittwood Public Library

Music of the Bach Family March 28, 2015, 4:00pm First Friends Church, 13205 E. Philadelphia St., Whittier We are well underway preparing our next concert program, Music of the Bach Family, to be performed in conjunction with the Whittier College Bach Festival. Lobet den Herrn (J.S. Bach) Ich danke dir, Gott (Heinrich Bach) Sei nun wieder zufrieden (Johann Bach) Es erhub sich ein Streit         (Johann Christoph Bach) Singet dem Herrn  (J.S. Bach) Singers will be accompanied by organ and chamber orchestra.  Some pieces will be performed with the singers surrounding the audience. Cantori Sine Nomine, an ensemble of the Chorale, will perform the opening motet.  A quintet of CBC singers will perform the solos in Ich danke dir, Gott, and we'll finish with J.S. Bach's monumental motet for double chorus, Singet dem Herrn.   Whittier College Bach Festival Chorale Bel Canto's upcoming concert is presented as part of the Whittier College Bach Festival, held March 27 and March 28, 2015.  See details below for the many events offered to tempt the lucky listener. Library Outreach Program And please join us for a preview of the concert on March 25.  Members of the Chorale will be singing parts of the pieces to be presented on the 28th, and Dr. Gothold will bring alive the music and the Bach family with his remarks. Our program is sponsored by the Whittier Public Library Foundation and will be followed by light refreshments.  Our thanks to the Library for their support of CBC and the arts! Wednesday, March 25, 7:00pm Whittwood Branch of the Whittier Public Library 10537 Santa Gertrudes Ave., Whittier Copyright © 2015 Chorale Bel Canto, All rights reserved.

February Fundraiser and More!

Happy New Year! Chorale Bel Canto has great things planned for 2015, and we hope you'll join us! Join us for an elegant evening of dinner and a show, presented by rising star Andrew Samonsky, at the lovely Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights. Cocktail Hour, 6:00pm   ****  DInner, 7:15pm Tickets $80.00 per person.  Purchase online by February 3, 2015. Tables for 10 may also be purchased. Purchase Fundraiser Tickets Cantori Sine Nomine And for something completely different, hear an ensemble of Chorale Bel Canto, Cantori Sine Nomine, sing the hauntingly beautiful Musikalische Exequien of Heinrich Schutz. Cantori Sine Nomine performs on Sunday, February 8 at 4:00pm in Morgan Auditorium at the University of La Verne. The concert is free. Thank you! Chorale Bel Canto extends its sincere thanks to all who donated in 2014 to help us fulfill our mission to present choral masterworks and other worthy choral literature for the enjoyment and education of our community. We couldn't do it without your help! And, for more musical offerings….. Our friends at the Downey Symphony are presenting Harp and Soul, a concert featuring harpist Alison Bjorkedal on Saturday, January 24, 2015. And we appreciate the ongoing efforts of the Veterans Resource Center. Copyright © 2015 Chorale Bel Canto, All rights reserved.