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Who: The Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra (WCCO)
When: Friday, April 8, 2016 7:30 p.m.
Where: St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 142 North Market Street, Williamsport, PA
What: Through the Poet’s Eye , WCCO Spring Concert
Contact: Richard Coulter, [email protected], 570-974-1501
Kent Weaver, Director, [email protected], 570-971-0793
Facebook: Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra
Brief Information
• The WCCO spring concert
• The concert will feature “Stabat Mater” set by Welsh composer Paul Mealor and “Fern Hill” by
John Corigliano.
• Classical choral music featuring the finest vocalists in the West Branch Valley
• Suitable for all age groups
• Kent Weaver is available for an interview. Contact info above.
• Tickets are available at Robert M. Sides Family Music Center, from performers or at the door.
$10 adult, $5 students
More Information
Williamsport – There is a change in the air, and the Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra
is celebrating the coming of spring with Through the Poet’s Eye, a musical journey exploring the
interface of poetry and music. The concert will feature “Stabat Mater” set by Welsh composer
Paul Mealor and “Fern Hill” by John Corigliano.
The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening April 8 at the St. Mark’s Lutheran Church,
142 North Market Street, Williamsport.
In choral music specifically, it is the words that must be seamlessly married by the composer
who sets these poems. This concert will feature two choral masterpieces that exploit the
exquisite poetry of Dylan Thomas and a 13th century Friar Jacopne da Todi. The “Stabat Mater”
set by Welsh composer Paul Mealor takes the text written by da Todi into a masterful
composition. The text of the Stabat Mater describes the suffering of the Virgin Mary beneath the
cross which opens with, “At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping
close to her son to the last.” Mealor sets this work into four distinct movements. It is a
contemporary but tonal work that has been recognized for conjuring up new and original, yet
beautiful material from what is the same old notes and the limitations of the human
voice.
The Dylan Thomas Poem “Fern Hill”, written in 1945 is entitled from the farm owned by his
aunt and uncle where Thomas would holiday as a youth, and poetically reminisces about this
bucolic setting where the curiosity and imagination of a young man was free to wonder. The
opening begins with, “Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs.” American
composer John Corigliano set this work in 1961 and revised it in 1999. John Corigliano writes
about this work stating, “Fern Hill is a blithe poem, yet touched by darkness; time finally holds
the poet ‘green and dying,’ but the poem itself, formally just an ABA song extended into a wide
arch, sings joyously of youth and its keen perceptions.”
The Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra’s mission is to provide superb cultural
entertainment for the people of the Williamsport area by enlisting the talents of outstanding
singers and instrumentalists to perform great choral literature. The ensemble is under the
direction of Kent Weaver. Weaver received a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir
College and a Master of Music Degree in Conducting from The Ohio State University. Weaver, a
native of Williamsport, returned to his alma mater in 1990 where he was appointed as
Williamsport Area High School Choir Director. He has had extensive experience performing and
conducting including Chorus Master at Opera Columbus, soloist with the Woodstock Symphony
Orchestra, and guest conductor of the Ballet Met. Choirs under his direction have been featured
at festivals throughout the eastern United States, the White House and with the Williamsport
Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets are available at the Robert M. Sides Family Music Center, 201 Mulberry St., from
performers, or at the door: $10 adults and $5 students. For more information, visit the
Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra on Facebook.
CONTACT:
Richard Coulter
570-974-1501
[email protected]
[email protected]