The Palisades Symphony will perform with the Brentwood Palisades Chorale this Sunday.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT
If there is only one concert this year you can attend, make it the Palisades Symphony, Brentwood Choral Holiday Classical Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 8, at the Palisades Methodist Church 801 Via de la Paz.
This glorious concert is led by Palisades Symphony director Maxim Kuzin and Brentwood Palisades Chorale director Susan Rosenstein. The concert is free (donations are welcome).
The concert will feature two performed pieces. The orchestra will perform the stirring overture that Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko wrote for his 1890 patriotic opera Taras Bulba.
The overture embodies the great spirit of the Ukrainian Cossacks defending their land, brimming with might, tenderness, and energy. In its final moments, the overture features the melody of the Ukrainian song Zasvit Vstaly Kozachenky (At Dawn the Cossacks Rose) which served as a call to patriotic action.
The chorale will present “Hodie Christus natus est!” — “Today Christ was born” that was sung with joy at Christmas time in the Middle Ages, and provides the title for a spectacular Christmas cantata written in 1954 by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Vaughan Williams was an experienced film composer, who had a gift for evocative pictorial music, and the work reflects his interest not just in medieval music but also folksong, Baroque oratorio and sonic splendor. Concert goers will appreciate the work as it begins as the brass erupts into a huge medieval fanfare. This wonderful piece is not often performed because of the large forces involved. Performing the individual solos are Judith Siirila (soprano), Ross Chitwood (tenor) and Matthew Ian Welch (baritone).
ABOUT THE CHORALE:
The Brentwood Palisades Chorale was founded by the late Frances Cain in 1963. The Chorale performs twice a year with the Palisades Symphony, presenting oratorios, masses, and other large-scale works. To date, it has appeared with the Symphony in over 60 joint concerts. Susan S. Rosenstein has directed the Brentwood Palisades Chorale since 1987. In addition, she is Music Director at Wilshire Boulevard Temple and Associate Conductor of the SoCal Chorale. She studied Music Education (B.A.), Conducting and Organ Performance.
ABOUT THE SYMPHONY:
The Symphony was founded in 1966 by Joel B. Lish “to foster, promote and increase the musical knowledge and appreciation of the public; to provide qualified musicians with a venue to perform; and to afford contemporary composers an opportunity to have their works performed and heard.” After Lish’s passing in March, Maxim Kuzin became only the second director for the Symphony.
The Palisades Symphony gives seven concerts a year, including two with the Brentwood Palisades Chorale, a summer concert version opera, and a Young Artists showcase concert, which recognizes the talents of local students.