January 31, 2016, Sunday - Sonomento – British Masterworks at MacPhail

PROGRAM
Reception: 5:30 – 6:45 p.m., Room 607 – By Invitation
Performance: 7:00 p.m., Antonello Hall – Open to Public

Location: MacPhail Center for Music, 501 2nd Street South

British Masterworks will feature the singers of Sonomento and the MacPhail Chamber Players in performances of Händel’s Chandos Anthem No. 4, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, O Clap your Hands, Souls of the Righteous and songs by William Walton, Edward Elgar and The Beatles. The program will conclude with a special performance of Benjamin Britten’s moving Cantata Misericordium (Blessed are the Merciful) with strings, harp and percussion. The work re-tells the story of the Good Samaritan and is dedicated to the International Red Cross and humanitarian aid for the refugee crisis in Europe. Featured soloists are Gerry Schmidt, baritone and Roy Heilman, tenor.

The Britten Cantata was first performed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the International Red Cross in Geneva in 1963. With this performance, local leaders of the American Red Cross and MacPhail Center for Music join hearts, hands and the voices of Sonomento to honor the ongoing humanitarian work of the International Red Cross. Their volunteers are currently engaged in mitigating the suffering of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Europe fleeing the devastation of civil wars in their home countries. They have been driven from their homes, losing everything, and hope to re-build their lives.

Sonomento is the premier adult choral ensemble at MacPhail Center for Music. Under the direction of Craig Fields, the chorus has toured Europe and won two silver medals at the International Brahms Choral Festival in Germany last July.

To purchase tickets, call Student Services at 612-321-0100.