FARMINGTON – The UMF Community Chorus presents an exciting program of choral music at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5; and at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6; in Nordica Auditorium, in Merrill Hall on the University of Maine at Farmington campus. The chorus, directed by Bruce McInnes and accompanied by Patricia Hayden on piano, will feature solo performances by several UMF students and prominent members of the greater Farmington musical community.
The featured work in this concert will be the “Missa in Tempore Belli” (Mass in Time of War) by Franz Josef Haydn. Many distinguished Haydn scholars today feel that the six Masses – “Mass in Time of War” among them – composed between 1796 and 1802, represent possibly the finest artistic legacy that the composer could have chosen to leave to posterity.
At the time of its composition, Austria was waging a losing war against France and Napoleon. It is very likely that Haydn was working on the “Agnus Dei” of this Mass at precisely the time when battles were raging literally within earshot. Much of the accompanying music has a distinctive military character and the beautiful closing section of this movement, “Dona Nobis Pacem,” is not only a prayer for peace, but becomes a shout for victory.
Soloists featured in the Mass will include sopranos Jane Parker, Lisl Fuson, and Sarah Sloane; altos Elaine Eadler and Mardie Porter; tenor Daniel Woodward and bass Paul Stancioff.
The concert will also offer several seasonal favorites, including, “Salmo 150,” a short composition by Ernani Aguiar; and “The Virgin’s Slumber Song,” composed by Max Reger, among others. Soloists featured will include sopranos Laura Grams, Carol M. Rámu, Andrea Bryant and baritone Alex Beloin.
Tickets for the concert are available at the door and are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, free for children under 12 and UMF students with I.D. For more information, please call 207-778-7072, or email robin.palmermosher@maine.edu.
