When Nathaniel G. Lew, the Artistic Director of Montpelier-based Counterpoint Vocal Ensemble, was a teenager, he attended the prestigious pre-college program at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. There, in 1983, he sang the premiere of a setting of Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Bells. The composer of the piece was Ukrainian-American Eric Ewazen, a recent Juilliard graduate and Lew's music theory teacher. The work, for chorus accompanied by two pianos and percussion, made a lasting impression. Ewazen's career advanced, and now he is one of America's leading composers. Lew is Professor of Music at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, VT.
Now, the two musicians' paths will cross again. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 1-3, in Colchester, Manchester and Hanover, Lew will lead Counterpoint in performances of Ewazen's setting of The Bells, with the composer on hand. The 20-voice ensemble will be accompanied by pianists Samantha Angstman and Alison Cerutti, and percussionists, D. Thomas Toner and Nicola Cannizzaro, both members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.
According to Lew, Ewazen's score brilliantly translates Poe's poetic celebration of silver sleigh bells, golden wedding bells, brass alarm bells, and iron funeral bells into music: "Around the lyrical vocal lines he builds a panoply of shimmering, booming, and ringing, with complex piano textures and extensive writing for vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, chimes, gong, and other percussion" said Lew.
In addition to The Bells, the program contains two other major choral works that share a similar sound-world. Hence the concert title Tintinnabulations, a fantastical word, popularized by Poe's poem, for the sound of bells. Opening the program is Leonard Bernstein's Missa Brevis. "Once I knew we would hire percussionists, I immediately thought of Bernstein's Mass, which uses some of the same instruments as The Bells," explained Lew. "It is a work of thrilling vocal intensity, the last piece he completed before his death, but based on ideas from the height of his career." The concert closes with The Symphony of Psalms, composed in 1930 by Igor Stravinsky. Lew calls it "a universal masterpiece, deeply moving and transporting, whose final pages are a timeless song of praise, with their own bell-like quality."
Tickets for both concerts are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $5 for students and those of limited means. They will be available at the door.
What: Tintinnabulations: Voices Pianos Bells
Who: Counterpoint Vocal Ensemble
When/Where:
Friday, April 1, 7:30pm, McCarthy Arts Center, Saint Michael's College, Colchester VT 05439
Saturday, April 2, 7:30pm, First Congregational Church, 3624 Main St, Manchester VT 05254
Sunday, April 3, 3:00pm, Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, 40 College St, Hanover NH 03755
Cost: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $5 students and limited means
Availability: Tickets available at the door; no reservations needed.
Website: https://www.counterpointchorus.org/
Contact: contact@counterpointchorus.org or (802) 540-1784
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