Northern Virginia Chorale's Past Concerts: Past 2007-’08 Concerts: • May 2, 2008 at 7:30 PM: “The Three B's: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms” — Our Spring 2008 concert consisted of the following choral works by these three composers: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sanctus in D Minor Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring Ludwig van Beethoven’s Hallelujah from “Mount of Olives” Mass in C Major – Opus 86 Johannes Brahms’ Schicksalslied “Song of Fate” – Opus 54 • December 16th, 2007 at 4:00 PM: “Holiday Dessert Concert” — Our annual holiday concert featured a medley of holiday songs from Broadway shows designed to rid us of any Bah Humbug thoughts and set us on the path of yuletide merriment. These Broadway showstoppers included such songs as: “God Bless Us Everyone, It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas, March Of The Toys, My Favorite Things, Pine Cones and Holly Berries, Toyland, and We Need A Little Christmas.” Additionally, the concert included other holiday carols and selections from Handel’s “Messiah.” Piano, brass and drums accompanied the chorale's joyful celebration of the season. Refreshments followed the concert. Note: Members of the chorale joined the Met Chorus at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall for Handel’s “Messiah Sing-Along” concert on December 9, 2007 at 2:00 PM. Join us in song as members of the audience.   • October 27th, 2007 at 7:30 PM: “A Concert of Remembrance” — Dedicated to the late Bill Braun, a longtime member of the chorale, this concert featured the classic choral work of Fauré’s “Requiem.” The French composer Gabriel Urbain Fauré completed this work in 1890. In describing his composition, he said, “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.” Additionally, the chorale performed Randall Thompson's “Testament of Freedom.” This work was composed by Thompson in 1943 while he was teaching at the University of Virginia. An orchestra accompanied the chorale honoring our beloved Bill Braun. • March 3rd, 2007 at 8:00 PM: Annual Dessert Concert — “An Evening with Lerner and Loewe” — The artistry of Frederick Loewe’s romantic melodies coupled with the moving lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner produced some great Broadway musical hits from 1947 to 1960. Recall the moving lyrics from the musical Camelot: “Your hair streaked with sunlight, your lips red as flame, your face with a luster that puts gold to shame.” This concert lifted spirits with a medley of songs from that memorable show as well as “Brigadoon,” “My Fair Lady,” and “Paint Your Wagon.” Audience memebers were invited to join the chorale after the concert for the annual dessert reception. Past 2006/’07 Concerts: • May 5th, 2007 at 8:00 PM: “Our American Heritage” — A Tribute to the Founding of Jamestown Virginia will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of America’s first permanent English colony by the landing of 104 Englishmen on the banks of James River on May 14th, 1607. Composer Randall Thompson’s “Ode to the Virginia Voyage” captures this piece written by Michael Drayton in 1606 as an exhortation for English settlers to go forth and subdue new lands. The Jamestown settlers reportedly sang the Ode during their four-and-a-half month voyage to the New World. While history preserved the Ode’s text, it provides no record of the original music. Randall Thompson orchestrated the Ode for its first performance in 1957 at Jamestown, commemorating the settlement's 350th Anniversary. The concert will include songs from the 17th Century, and some madrigalian Celtic pieces sung by students of the Northern Virginia Community College's Music program. It will also include “Shenandoah” one of America's most well known folk songs. It will conclude with two songs from Aaron Copland’s opera “The Tender Land.” The songs “The Promise of Living” and “Stomp Your Foot Upon the Floor” are set in the American heartland during the Great Depression. This work evinces the feelings of a high school senior farm girl deciding how best to live her life. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II commissioned Copland to create this work for its opening performance in 1954. back to top