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Festival Chamber Chorale Presents Brahms’ Liebeslieder (Love Song) Waltzes
Sunday, May 12, 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM PDT
$30
An Afternoon with Brahms in Vienna
Enjoy the delights of Brahms’ Vienna with a lovely springtime concert on Mother’s Day. There will be pretty little tables, delicious pastries, and a lot of great music. Flowers, too. Jenny Matteucci will conduct the Festival Chamber Chorale, and Daniel Lockert and Susan Waterfall will play the duo-piano accompaniment, plus the marvelously dramatic Hungarian Dances, No. 1 in G minor, No. 4 in F minor, and No. 10 in E Major. Daniel will play Intermezzos Op. 118 No. 1 and No. 2, plus the Ballade Op. 118, No. 3. Ana Lucas will sing two duets with Jenny: “Weg der Liebe” and “Die Meere.” Jenny will sing the gorgeous “Dein Blaues Auge.”
The Liebeslieder Waltzes are love songs written in the popular Ländler style of the day; a sort of wild, down-home precursor to what became the more upper-class waltz. Brahms meant the pieces to be performed in informal home gatherings, rather than in concert halls. The sixteen short “waltzes” range from bittersweet longing to joyous exuberance, and the 4-hand piano accompaniments are glorious in their own right. Susan Waterfall says: “The music is so marvelous—exactly what Brahms loved when he wasn’t tearing his hair out trying to reconcile the past and future of classical music.”
The Mendocino Music Festival Chamber Chorale, directed by Festival Chorus Master Jenny Matteucci, was formed in 2018 as an offshoot of the much larger Festival Chorus, members of which were invited to audition.
According to Festival Artistic Director Allan Pollack, “I’ve been touched by the dedication of the members of the Festival Chorus, and so have wanted to create an opportunity for people who are ready to take their choral singing to the next level.” Festival Chorus Master Jenny Matteucci reports, “It is a joy to work with a group of singers who are willing to do the hard work on vocal technique in order to make increasingly excellent and inspiring music together.”
Members are Randy Knutson, Pamela Hudson, Linda Perry, Cynthia Frank, Robin Knutson, Ana Lucas, Elaine Wing Hillesland, Evelyn Harris, Jo Britton, Cathy Boxell, Jason Kirkman, John Dixon, Jim Blanton, Eric Hillesland, Andria Richey and Paul Friesen.