Vocal ensembles come together Feb. 25

James Miller

Xak Bjerken

On Friday, Feb. 25, a "Choral Festival" will be held in Sage Chapel at 8 p.m., featuring -- in one concert -- several of Cornell's vocal ensembles: the Sage Chapel Choir, Richard Riley, conductor; the Cornell Chorale, James Patrick Miller, conductor; and the Cornell World Music Choir, under the direction of Scott Tucker.

The Sage Chapel Choir will open the concert with a performance of Joseph Haydn's "Lord Nelson" Mass. Officially titled "Missa in Angustiis" ("Mass in the Time of Difficulties"), the work is believed to have acquired its nickname at a performance given in honor of Lord Horatio Nelson, the "savior of Europe," who had defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Four soloists will be featured in the mass. Soprano Arsenia Soto earned an undergraduate from Cornell in 2000 and is currently pursuing a D.M.A. degree in voice from the Peabody Conservatory. Fran Shumway, alto, is associate director of advising at Cornell's College of Engineering and has previously sung with the Sage Chapel Choir in performances of Purcell's "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" and Stravinsky's Mass. Thom Baker is an Ithaca resident and is active as a voice teacher, soloist, and as a member of the New York City-based vocal ensemble Pomerium. Bass-baritone David Neal, a voice teacher in Cornell's vocal coaching program and a faculty member at SUNY Cortland, performed with the Sage Chapel Choir in Purcell's "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day."

Miri Yampolsky

The Cornell Chorale will perform three works, beginning with a movement from Richard Danielpour's "An American Requiem," which the Chorale will perform in its entirety on May 1. Begun before Sep. 11, 2001, the work was given new meaning by the events of that day and is dedicated to its victims; the Chorale will sing the seventh movement, "Lux aeterna." They will also perform "Angel vopiyashe," by Russian composer Pavel Tschesnokoff, and Eric Whitacre's "Water Night."

Rounding out the program will be selections sung by the Cornell World Music Choir. Founded last year, the choir performs music from African, Asian and Middle Eastern traditions, among others.

Soloists join chamber orchestra

The Cornell Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Chris Younghoon Kim, will present an evening of music for chamber orchestra and soloists on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. Featured soloists will be Richard Faria, performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, and Miri Yampolsky and Xak Bjerken, performing Mozart's Double Piano Concerto. Also on the program will be the world premiere of "Cedri Libani" by Forrest Pierce.

Faria, clarinet soloist, is an associate professor of clarinet at Ithaca College. He has premiered concerti written for him by Steven Burke and Joshua Kohl, and has appeared at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Miller Theater and the Smithsonian Institution.

A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Israeli pianist Yampolsky has studied with Leon Fleisher at Peabody, at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, and at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv.

Bjerken has performed in Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Phillips Collection, and the Kennedy Center. On the faculty at Cornell and co-artistic director of Ensemble X, he has held chamber music residencies at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.