May 13th Words of Music

Poetry and music are two powerful art forms on their own but when combined, they are unstoppable. Both musical pieces on the program were inspired by poems – George Meredith’s poem about the song of the skylark and Friedrich Schiller’s immortal “Ode to Joy”.

MUSIC

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
The Lark Ascending
Julia Haney, violin
 

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 9
with the Bakersfield Master Chorale

BAKERSFIELD MASTER CHORALE
The Bakersfield Master Chorale is a choral society of adult voices directed by Dr. Robert Provencio and affiliated with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. During its concert season, the Chorale seeks to enrich community musical awareness by presenting performances of major choral literature, secular and sacred, from all musical eras.
The Chorale is a non-profit educational organization, and is Bakersfield’s only mixed adult choral group governed locally by a board of directors operating under a constitution and bylaws.
The Chorale performs Handel’s Messiah each Christmas. It has also recorded several albums, audio tapes and CD’s. The Chorale has completed five European tours. The most recent tour was this past June, when the Chorale toured Italy. They performed in a Mass in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice and at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In addition, they performed a concert in Florence and in Rome and were granted permission to sing in the Pantheon in Rome. No donor contributions were used to underwrite the tour. It was self-supported by Chorale members. They also toured the United Kingdom in the summer of 1999 and also completed European tours in 1975 and 1996, and an Eastern European Tour in 2003.
Chorale singers and board members represent a broad cross-section of the community, ranging in age from college students to retired adults. Membership ranges from 75 to 100 or more singers. Chorale members’ occupations include such diverse fields as education, medicine, agriculture, service industries, legal, oil and homemaking.