New Philharmonic opens 2019-20 season with 'Ode to Joy' Sept. 28-29
"Ode to Joy" opens the 2019-2020 season for New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the College of DuPage.
Maestro Kirk Muspratt will lead the concerts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, in the Belushi Performance Hall at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn.
The program will include Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 and a side-by-side performance of Beethoven's "Egmont" Overture, Op. 84 with the Metea Valley Symphony Orchestra. A free MAC Chat will take place one hour prior to each concert.
Tickets are $53 or $51 for age 61 or older, or military/veterans. A limited number of $10 tickets are available for students with presentation of valid ID. For tickets, visit AtTheMAC.org or call (630) 942-4000.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 features the popular final movement "Ode to Joy," commonly regarded as Beethoven's greatest work. Composed when he was completely deaf, Beethoven (1770-1827) was the first orchestral composer to use the human voice in a symphony.
The orchestra will be joined by four vocalists including soprano Katherine Weber, mezzo-soprano Kate Tombaugh, tenor James Judd and baritone Sam Handley as well as the 100-voice Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus.
Katherine Weber garnered considerable acclaim for her 2018 performance in the title role of "Iolanta" with Chicago Opera Theater in 2018. She was also recently seen with New Philharmonic as Rosalinde in Strauss's "Die Fledermaus," following her appearance as Violetta in New Philharmonic's of "La Traviata" in 2017. Honors and awards include regional finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions twice (2015 and '17), recipient of the Award of Excellence and the Lew Cady Memorial Award (both from Central City Opera), the Bain Fellowship from Indiana University, and two-time winner of the Schubert Club Competition.
Kate Tombaugh was seen in last year's New Philharmonic season as a guest artist in "Show Boat and Show Tunes" and in the 2017 "The Best of Broadway: Rodgers and Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber." She has performed with opera companies and symphonies throughout the U.S. Honors include performing as a soloist at Carnegie Hall upon winning the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition, winning the Harold Haugh Light Opera Vocal Competition, and being awarded the "Grace Keagy Award" by NYC-based Kurt Weill Foundation.
James Judd was most recently seen at the McAninch Arts Center in the role of Alfred in New Philharmonic's January 2019 production of Strauss's "Die Fleidermaus." He has sung with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and The AIMS Festival Orchestra. Judd also sings with many professional choruses, including the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Sam Handley was last seen at the McAninch Arts Center in the role of Frank in New Philharmonic's January 2019 production of Strauss's "Die Fledermaus." As a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center, he performed more than a dozen roles and sang with the National Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, and the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia with James Conlon.
The Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus, established in 1987 is comprised of more than 100 singers drawn from all over the Northwest Indiana and South Chicago area.
The chorus has performed with the Northwest Indiana Symphony in everything from requiems to reggae and is the choral component of the Symphony Society, providing added texture and versatility to the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra's performance repertoire.
Recent works performed include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," "Requiems" by Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé and Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Holst's "The Planets," Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Georges Bizet's "Carmen" with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists.
The program will open with New Philharmonic sharing the stage with members from Metea Valley High School's Symphony Orchestra for a side-by-side performance of Beethoven's expressive "Egmont" Overture, Op. 84 conducted by New Philharmonic Associate Conductor Ben Nadel.
"Egmont," Op. 84 was a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The music department of the Aurora-based high school has been acknowledged by the National Association of Music Merchants as one of the Best Communities for Music Education in America every year since 2012 and was named a Grammy Signature Gold School in 2016, one of just three in the country to receive the honor.