ECHOES

ECHOES

In This Issue:

MCC Performs New Musical: GOLDEN GATEHolmdel Native to Direct Golden GateWrite a ReviewMay 3rd Benefit and Silent Auction Featuring Jo Ellen MillerScholarship Winners

Fun StuffWelcome to the “April 2008”issue of ECHOES, targeted to fans and audience of the Monmouth Civic Chorus. Look for an issue of ECHOES in your e-mail before each of our upcoming concerts.

MCC Performs a New Musical: GOLDEN GATE

A new musical comes to New Jersey with the Monmouth Civic Chorus production of Golden Gate. Set in San Francisco in the 1930’s, Golden Gate tells the story of a family traveling to the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge on a journey of discovery and reawakened hope.

The music of Golden Gate is a road trip from retro to pop, with sounds of the Jazz Age and 1990's Broadway. With music by Richard Pearson Thomas and book by Joe Calarco, the show won the Michael Stewart Musical Theater Development Award, named for the librettist of Hello, Dolly! and Bye Bye Birdie.

New York City-based composer and pianist Richard Pearson Thomas has had works performed by the Boston Pops, Covent Garden Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Banff Centre, Skylight Opera Theatre, and Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. His songs have been sung in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Joe’s Pub, and before the U.S. Congress by artists such as Audra McDonald, Sanford Sylvan, Lauren Flanagan and Kurt Ollmann. He is a recipient of an American Composers’ Forum Continental Harmony commission for the Alabama Tri-State Orchestra. His work Race for the Sky, commissioned as a commemoration of the events of 9/11, has been performed by the Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra and in recitals nationwide.

He is currently on the faculty at Teachers College/Columbia University, and is composer-in-residence of the Gold Opera Project, Young Audiences/New York. In that capacity, he has composed more than 80 operas with students in New York City public schools.

The world premiere of this concert version of Golden Gate, led by Dr. Mark Shapiro with the composer on piano, will be performed at 3:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at the Middletown Arts Center, 36 Church Street, Middletown, New Jersey. Tickets are $25 regular, $22 seniors, $20 groups, $5 students. Call (732) 933-9333 or visit www.monmouthcivicchorus.org.

We invite you to join Richard Pearson Thomas for a Composer Chat after the 3:00 performance.

Holmdel Native to Direct Golden Gate

Monmouth Civic Chorus is proud to have Holmdel native Eric Einhorn as the stage director of our production of Golden Gate. Mr. Einhorn has served on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera since 2005, working on numerous new productions, including two world premieres: An American Tragedy and The First Emperor. He recently made his Glimmerglass Opera debut with a production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. From 2002-2004, he was the resident stage director for Great Music for a Great City at the City University of New York Graduate Center where he staged Brundibar and The Medium.

A proponent of Holocaust art, Mr. Einhorn has directed several pieces on the subject, including Korczak’s Orphans (co-director of the world premiere staging) with Real Time Opera, a reading of While Childhood Slept with the Holmdel Theatre Company, and Der Kaiser von Atlantis at Oberlin College. In addition, he has served as resident stage director for the Music at Hillwood concert series at the Tilles Center of Long Island University. Upcoming engagements include a production of Alcina for Wolf Trap Opera, Don Pasquale for the Pittsburgh Opera Center, and Dialogues des Carmélites for Austin Lyric Opera.

Mr. Einhorn holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Opera Directing & Voice Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He is a graduate of Holmdel High School and a 1998 honorable mention recipient in the Monmouth Civic Chorus vocal scholarship competition. He was a winner of the 1999 MCC poetry contest with his poem Anonymous Prayer, set to music by composer Tom Cipullo and performed in the MCC commissioned work Voices of the Young.

Write a Review

We’d love to know what you think about our upcoming Golden Gate show. Why not write a review? You can send it in, share it with your friends, and see what other listeners have to say. Visit monmouthcivicchorus.org after the concert for this new interactive feature.

May 3 Benefit Recital and Silent Auction – Join Us!

Monmouth Civic Chorus is planning a very special evening on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 p.m. Soprano Jo Ellen Miller (daughter of MCC soprano Pat Miller) will perform in recital at Monmouth Museum, located on the Brookdale Community College campus, 765 Newman Springs Road in Lincroft (Parking Lot #1). Valet parking will be provided. Accompanied on piano by Artistic Director Mark Shapiro, Jo Ellen will present Songs Among the Planets, with the program including works by Grieg and Debussy, as well as favorite show tunes.

Reservations are $80 per person, and attire is semi formal. Call (732) 933-9333 or visit monmouthcivicchorus.org to make your reservation. Please join us in support of MCC’s primary fundraising event of the season. If you’re unable to attend, we are gratefully accepting financial donations; all donors will be listed in the benefit program.

The reception, catered by Falco’s Catering, will be held in the Museum’s Nilson Gallery and showcase “Watercolors” by Michalyn Tarantino, part of the NJ Emerging Artists Series. Hors d’oeuvres and champagne will be served before the recital and desserts and coffee served afterward. The evening will also feature a Silent Auction; items include box seat tickets to a Yankee game, a fishing expedition, a gourmet dinner, and a week in a Florida resort. We’re still accepting donations for the auction; please email subscriptions@monmouthcivicchorus.org if you have any suggestions.

Featuring Our Benefit Recital Soloist

Jo Ellen Miller was a 1999 recipient of the Monmouth Civic Chorus scholarship award, followed by recent appearances with MCC as soloist in Handel's Messiah, Faure's Requiem and J.S. Bach’s Cantata #51. A graduate of Middletown High School South, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Michigan, she has spent the last several years working professionally in the operatic, oratorio, and contemporary music worlds. She has sung with the Boston Pops, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Opera New Jersey, Sarasota Opera, Mark Morris Dance Group, New Jersey State Youth Orchestra, Opera Company of Brooklyn, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Ravinia Festival, among others. She was a winner of the 2004 National Opera Association scholarship, and the Grace B. Jackson Prize for Vocal Fellows from Tanglewood Music Center. Equally at home on the musical theater stage, she appeared in 2006 as Abigail Adams in 1776 with Phoenix Productions. Monmouth Civic Chorus is delighted to have Jo Ellen return as our Benefit guest soloist.

Monmouth Museum’s BEYOND Exhibit: Visions of Planetary Landscapes

Monmouth Civic Chorus is pleased to be presenting our Spring Benefit Concert at Monmouth Museum, where Jo Ellen Miller will be performing in the Main Gallery amidst images from the Solar System. May 3 is the last night to see spectacular images from a new Smithsonian Traveling exhibition “Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes.” Award-winning film-maker, photographer, and journalist Michael Benson spent years searching the archives of NASA and the European Space Agency to find imagery for this incredible collection of prints. Featuring 35 large-scale (ranging from 3 feet to 5 feet in width) framed prints containing 59 individual photographs, all digitally processed by Benson, the exhibition made its national touring debut at Monmouth Museum. After it closes, the exhibit will continue on a national tour through 2010, traveling to cities such as Tucson, Cleveland, Santa Barbara and Chicago.

Artist Benson mined planetary databases for his source material; then, using various techniques, including mosaics and collages, he pulled together images to create seamless photographs of unprecedented clarity and realism. The exhibition is divided into sections, including the Inner Solar System, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Compositions include rare pictures of the sand dunes on Mars, storms on Neptune, and the fiery eruptions of the sun. Many of the photographic images were taken by robots that have traveled to nearly every planet in the solar system during 40 years of robotic space missions.

Scholarship Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 MCC Vocal Scholarship Competition.

1st place $1500

Jong Woo (Sammy) Huh

Ridgefield High School

To Attend: Julliard School for Voice

2nd place $1000

Lori Tishfield

Freehold Township High School

To attend: Boston Conservatory

3rd place $400

Kelsey Robertson

Point Pleasant Borough High School

To attend: Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Honorable Mention

Joseph Mendoza

Rumson Fair Haven High School

To attend: Eastman School or Music or Mason Gross School of the Arts

Honorable Mention

Christian Krenek

Monsignor Donovan High School

To attend: Undecided

Fun Stuff … Golden Gate Bridge Trivia

1) In what year was the Golden Gate Bridge completed? A) 1932 B) 1935 C)1937

2) Chrysopylae is a name that represents what? A) Crystal Gate Inlet B) Golden Gate Strait C) Golden Gate Lake

3) The GGB is a suspension bridge. True or False ?

4) How many total rivets are in the GGB? A) 1,200,000 B) 1,300,000 C) 1,400,000

5) The San Francisco Chronicle referred to the GGB on opening day as what? A) A $35M steel drum B) A $35M steel toed boot C) A $35M steel harp

6) Some of the steel used in the GGB was fabricated in NJ. True or False

7) How long is the longest span on the GGB? A) 4200 ft. B) 4260 ft. C) 4300 ft

8) The towers that support the GGB’s suspension cables are smaller or larger at the top than at the base?

9) What color is the GGB? A) Gold B) Red C) Orange

10) The GGB connects San Francisco to where? A) Orange county B) Marin County C) Los Angeles

11) The GGB’s engineer was: A) Johann Strauss B) Joseph Strauss B) Johnny Strauss

12) Bridge opening celebrations lasted for how long? A) 3 days B) 2 weeks C) 1 week

13) One may cross the 1.7 mile span on car, foot, or bicycle: True or False

14) What is the name of the official song to commemorate the opening of the GGB? A) There’s a Gold Moon on the Golden Gate B) There’s a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate C) There’s a Silver Moon over the Golden Gate

15) What is the name of the poem that Strauss wrote about the GGB? A) The Big Task is Done B) Hooray, we’re finished! C) The Mighty Task is Done

16) Has the GGB ever been closed due to wind, and if so, how many times? A) No B) Yes, 5 times C) Yes, 3 times

Trivia Answers

1) C 2) B 3) True 4) A 5) C 6) True 7) A 8) Smaller 9) C 10) B 11) B 12) C 13) True 14) B 15) C 16) C

“Planets” in Songs

We thought it would be fun to do a Google search on Art Songs with “planets” in their lyrics. Below are just a few samples found on “The Lied and Art Song Texts Page,” http://www.recmusic.org/lieder. Match the letter of the lyrics to the corresponding Song Title, Author, and Composer. The “Lied and Art Song Texts Page” is an archive of 27,973 texts used in Lieder and other classical Art Songs as well as in many choral works and other types of classical vocal pieces. The collection currently includes 43,655 settings and 6,372 translations to English, Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and other languages.

Letter To Match Title

Below

Sampling of Song Lyrics that Reference Planets

A.

There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, Nor of people in church or the Park, As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, And that glittered and winked in the dark. The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, And the star of the sailor, and Mars.

B.

Wide are the meadows of night, And daisies are shining there, Tossing their lovely dews, Lustrous and fair; And through these sweet fields go, Wanderers amid the stars -- Venus, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.

C.

Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled: They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it. What matter to me if their star is a world? Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.

D.

Weep not, child, Weep not, my darling, With these kisses let me remove your tears; The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious, They shall not long possess the sky--shall devour the stars only in apparition: Jupiter shall emerge--be patient--watch again another night—the Pleiades shall emerge …

E.

From the Planets thou may'st know All the change that shifts below, Fled - beneath that zone of rays, Fled to Night a thousand Mays; Thrones a thousand - rising - sinking, Earth from thousand slaughters drinking Blood profusely pour'd as water; - Of the sceptre - of the slaughter - Wouldst thou know what trace remaineth? Seek them where the dark king reigneth!

F.

Ring out, choir of trumpets, so that in this star-bright night God the Lord may hear this song of praise from the high watchtower. His hand guides the planets over a sure course through time and space, directs souls past the struggles of this world to Eternity.

G.

Some say that ever against that Season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The Bird of Dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no Spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no Planets strike … So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

H.

Darkness that makes the meadows holier still, The elm-trees sadden in the hedge, a sigh Moves in the beech-clump on the haunted hill, The rising planets deepen in the sky, And silence broods like spirit on the brae, A glimmering moon begins, the moonlight runs Over the grasses of the ancient way Rutted this morning by the passing guns.

I.

The hills Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun, -- the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods; rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green; and, pour'd round all, Old Ocean's grey and melancholy waste, -- Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death, Through the still lapse of ages.

J.

It's not accustomed to remaining stable, Yet bad times are changeable too. If it's not possible, That sad eyes can break down Cruel harsh planets nor change the heavens, It is no use to weep …

K.

Fill all your cups till they foam again, Bubbles must float on the brim; He that steals first sneaking home again, Daylight is too good for him! While we have goblets to handle, While we have liquor to fill, Mirth, and one spare inch of candle, Planets may wink as they will.

L.

'Twas noontide of summer, And mid-time of night; And stars, in their orbits, Shone pale, thro' the light Of the brighter, cold moon, 'Mid planets her slaves, Herself in the Heavens, Her beam on the waves.

Match

Lyrics

Letter

Title

Author of Text

Musical Settings by Composers (may not be comprehensive list)

Evening star

Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

· John Habash (published 1964)

· Edward Royce (1886-1963)

If times are good(Se nel ben sempre incostante)

Anonymous

(Language: Italian)

· Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)

Melancholy; To Laura

Edward George Earler Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

· Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)

· Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760-1802)

Morning a cruel turmoiler is

Sir. Alexander Boswell (1775-1822)

· Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

My star

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

· Sidney Homer (1864-1953)

On the beach, at night, stands a …

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

· Ernst Bacon (1898-1990)

· William Gergsma (1921-)

· Julius Harrison (1885-1963)

· Andrew Imbrie (1921 -)

· Philip James (1890-1975)

· Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987)

Requiem da Camera - “August 1914”

John Masefield (1878-1967)

· Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)

Song Cycle (Cing petites chansons) – “The stars”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

· Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947)

Song Cycle: Six Poems by Scheffel, Mörike, Goethe and Kerner - “The watchman’s song of Wartburg”

Joseph Viktor von Scheffel (1826-1886)

· Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)

That Hallowed Season

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

· John La Montaine (1920 -)

To him who in the love of Nature …

William Cullen Bryant (1974-1878)

· John C. Heiss (1938- )

· Joseph Mosenthal (1834-1896)

Wanderers

Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)

· Frederic Austin (1872-1952)

· Harry Farjeon (1878-1948)

Answer Key

Lyrics

Letter

Title

Author of Text

Musical Settings by Composers (may not be comprehensive list)

L.

Evening star

Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

· John Habash (published 1964)

· Edward Royce (1886-1963)

J.

If times are good(Se nel ben sempre incostante)

Anonymous

(Language: Italian)

· Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)

E.

Melancholy; To Laura

Edward George Earler Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

· Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)

· Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760-1802)

K.

Morning a cruel turmoiler is

Sir. Alexander Boswell (1775-1822)

· Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

C.

My star

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

· Sidney Homer (1864-1953)

D.

On the beach, at night, stands a …

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

· Ernst Bacon (1898-1990)

· William Gergsma (1921-)

· Julius Harrison (1885-1963)

· Andrew Imbrie (1921 -)

· Philip James (1890-1975)

· Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987)

H.

Requiem da Camera - “August 1914”

John Masefield (1878-1967)

· Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)

A.

Song Cycle (Cing petites chansons) – “The stars”

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

· Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947)

F.

Song Cycle: Six Poems by Scheffel, Mörike, Goethe and Kerner - “The watchman’s song of Wartburg”

Joseph Viktor von Scheffel (1826-1886)

· Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)

G.

That Hallowed Season

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

· John La Montaine (1920 -)

I.

To him who in the love of Nature …

William Cullen Bryant (1974-1878)

· John C. Heiss (1938- )

· Joseph Mosenthal (1834-1896)

B.

Wanderers

Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)

· Frederic Austin (1872-1952)

· Harry Farjeon (1878-1948)

“Word Search

Please find the following words pertaining to San Francisco in the word search puzzle below.

Alcatraz

Beach

Bohemian

Buena Vista Park

Cable Cars

California

Coffeehouse

Coit (Tower)

Earthquake

Fishermans Wharf

(The)

Fillmore

Fog

Fortyniners

Ghirardelli (Square)

Giants

Goldrush

GoldenGate Bridge

(GoldenGate) Park

Hills

Hippies

International Orange

Joseph Strauss

Lake Merced

Lombard (Street)

Marin (County)

Market (Street)

Mission (District)

Muir Woods

Murals

Napa (Valley)

Nob Hill

Pacific Ocean

Rice a Roni

San Andreas Fault

San Francisco

(SF) Chronicle

(SF) Peninsula

(SF)Bay

Sausalito

Sourdough Bread

Span

Strait

Suspension

Union Square

(Silicon) Valley

West Coast

Windy

Yerba Buena

Yosemite

Zoo

V

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We hope you’ve enjoyed the “April 2008” issue of The Monmouth Civic Chorus’ ECHOES!

We welcome your comments, suggestions, and ideas for the future.

Send comments or questions to: newsletter@monmouthcivicchorus.org

Send address changes or unsubscribe requests: mailinglist@monmouthcivicchorus.org

Monmouth Civic Chorus

P.O.Box 16, Red Bank, NJ 07701

732-933-9333

newsletter@monmouthcivicchorus.org

www.monmouthcivicchorus.org

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