A Special Holiday Event

Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 at 8pm at
F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre
Rockville Civic Center Park
603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville, MD  20851

Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 at 8pm at
Thomas Jefferson Theater
125 South Old Glebe Road, Arlington, VA, 22204

Maestro Sorge and the VLOC orchestra will join with the Metropolitan Chorus of Arlington, Virginia, and their artistic director, Maestro Barry Hemphill, in a holiday concert. The program will include choral and instrumental music of the season, plus The Many Moods of Christmas, a series of four suites of Christmas carols for chorus and orchestra, arranged by the renowned conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Shaw.

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About The Victorian Lyric Opera Company Orchestra

The Victorian Lyric Opera Company orchestra is an all-volunteer group of amateur musicians who normally play for three company productions a year...a semi-staged, concert format show, for one weekend in September; and two fully staged and costumed productions in February and June, each running two weekends. Although considered an amateur group, several of the musicians are retired from military bands, and several others teach their respective instruments.  The orchestra usually numbers about 25 members for stage productions, but for this special “Many Moods of Christmas” joint concert with the Metropolitan Chorus, of Arlington, Virginia, the group has been enlarged to 40 players in order to accommodate the symphonic orchestration of the score.

Many of the orchestra members have performed with the company for many years especially since the appointment in 2003 of Maestro Joseph Sorge as artistic director and conductor. In the last ten years, in addition to the usual Gilbert & Sullivan fare, Maestro Sorge has introduced operettas by Offenbach, Donizetti, Lehar, Strauss, Victor Herbert, and even John Philip Sousa, to critical acclaim and success.

Maestro Joseph Sorge

Joseph Sorge (Artistic Director, The Victorian Lyric Opera Company) first joined VLOC in February 1996, when he went on stage as Count Raoul de St. Brioche in The Merry Widow. He has performed on stage or been the music director for every VLOC production since then—except H.M.S. Pinafore in 1999. He is responsible for starting the September concert series, bringing rarely performed works to the Fitzgerald stage, such as Mlle. Modiste, The Desert Song, Naughty Marietta, The Grand Duke, and John Philip Sousa’s first operetta, Desirée. He has also broadened the repertoire of VLOC in its fully staged productions outside the standard Gilbert & Sullivan canon by introducing works by Offenbach (La Belle Helene, La Vie Parisienne), Strauss (The Gypsy Baron), and Donizetti (The Elixir of Love). Prior to joining VLOC, Joe performed leading roles for over 25 years in many of the community theaters in and around the Washington, DC, area. He retired in 2003 from the National Education Association’s Data Processing Division after a 35-year career. He is currently the Director of the traditional choir at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in College Park, MD. Maestro Sorge was recently selected to participate in the Rusty Musicians Master Class for Conductors sponsored by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and led by their music director, Marin Alsop. In 2011, Maestro Sorge was awarded “Best Conductor” for The Mikado at The Gettysburg International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.

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About The Metropolitan Chorus

Established in 1966 and recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record, The Metropolitan Chorus makes its home in Arlington, Virginia. The Chorus provides Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia residents an opportunity to hear great choral works...and perform! Today, the 100-voice Chorus presents concerts featuring music of all ages, from the renaissance to the 21st century, with a strong emphasis on American composers.

The Metropolitan Chorus regularly performs in venues throughout the D.C. area, including the Kennedy Center, Constitution Hall and the National Building Museum. They also join forces with other musical organizations for unique performances and presents several free concerts each year as a special service to the community.

Maestro Barry S. Hemphill

Barry S. Hemphill has been the Artistic Director of The Metropolitan Chorus since 1977. A native New Yorker, Mr. Hemphill graduated from Manhattan School of Music in New York City where his specialties were conducting, theory, and voice. He is the son of Shelton "Scad" Hemphill who played first trumpet for Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and Duke Ellington, among others, and he claims Billie Holliday as one of his babysitters.

Mr. Hemphill has a wide variety of musical experience to his credit including conducting singing, composing and arranging for voice and instrumentation. He retired from the United States Army (U.S. Army Band & Chorus) in 1991, ending his career as Sergeant Major of the Chorus after nearly 23 years of service as baritone soloist and conductor. Upon retirement he was presented with the Legion of Merit -- awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

Mr. Hemphill has conducted the massively popular and annual Messiah sing at the Kennedy Center since 1994. This yearly Washington event attracts more than 3,000 amateur and professional singers worldwide. He also serves as an adjudicator and clinician throughout the United States. Since 1983 the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington has benefited from his direction where a strong music program contributes to a growing congregation with significant community involvement.

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T.L. de Victoria (1548 - 1611)

Victoria began his musical life as a choirboy at Avila Cathedral, then moved to Rome to study at the Jesuit Collegio Germanico; he may have received tuition from Palestrina. He was made director of music at the Collegio in 1573, and was ordained priest in 1575. In 1576 he joined St. Philip Neri’s community, later taking chaplaincies at two Roman churches. Despite growing European fame from his compositions (all of them sacred) he wanted to return to a quieter life in Spain, and in 1587 he accepted Philip II’s offer to become chaplain to his sister, the Dowager Empress Maria, who lived in retirement at the convent of Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Victoria remained at the convent, first as choirmaster and later as organist until his death. O magnum mysterium, which was included in Victoria’s first published collection of 1572, is one of the best-loved of all Christmas motets, a succinct expression of both the mystery and the joy of the Nativity.

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Program

O magnum mysterium
T.L. de Victoria (translation below)

Many Moods of Christmas
arr. Shaw/Bennett

Suite 1
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Silent Night
Patapan
 O Come, All ye Faithful

Suite 2
O Sanctissima
Joy To The World
Away In A Manger
Fum Fum Fum
March of the Kings

O magnum mysterium
William Byrd

Many Moods of Christmas
arr. Shaw/Bennett

Suite 3
What Child Is This?
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella
Angels We Have Heard on High

Suite 4
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
The First Nowell
Little Town of Bethlehem
I Saw Three Ships
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

Translation:  O marvel and mystery, and wondrous sacrament O most holy, that in a humble crib the ox and ass should see our Lord and our Savior among them in a stable laid. Most blessed virgin, who in purity bore by God’s will our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Hail Virgin Mary, full of grace art thou: God is with thee.

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Chorus

Soprano
Elizabeth Ballentine
Cynthia Fagnoni
Susan Gorsky
Kathleen Hardt
Amy Josephson
Betsy Keenan
Teresa Kloster
Cheryl Lovinsky
Liz Martin
Janis McCollim**
Mary Lou McIntyre
Michelle McLaughlin
Linda Phillips
Jackie Quigley
Sasha Puldeski
Josephine Schuda*
Mary Ann Setton
Andrea Shoham
Terry Stackley
Doris P. Summey
Katharyn Wheeler
Elizabeth Winn
Laurie Young

Alto
Gwen Blakeman
Diane Carrier*
Debbie Clapp
Julia Coombs
Abigail Dosch
Karen Dosch
Carole Dotterweich
Martha Duggan
Diane Ekonomou
Joanne Erickson
Karen Erickson
Betsey Fountain
Sue Kelly
Sue Nogas
Ella Merritt
Sandy Mori
Lynn Robinson
Nancy Ruel
Deb Sager
Marge Stevens
Elizabeth Yaffe

*Section Leader
**Chorus President

Tenor
David Boomsma*
Jeff Copp
Gae Fasold
Philip Hart
Jim Howell
John Meredith
Ray Meyer
Fred Thielke

Bass
John Becker
Charles E. Day, Sr.
Don Dosch
Carl Elefante
Doug Gage
Vic Glasberg
Rick Johns
Webb Nass
Dick Pellerin
David Permut
Cody Pfau
Jim Reed
George Stevens
Randy Sukow
Chris Tscharner*

Orchestra

Violin 1 - Steve Natrella (CM), Bonnie Barrows, Carolyn Larson, Audrey Chang
Violin 2 - Peter Mignerey, Laura Yackley, Erin Grace, Edwin Schneider
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Andrew Nixon
Cello - Michael Stein
Bass - Alice Mignerey, Fred Talcott
Flute - Jackie Miller, Louise Hill, Juliana Baioni
Oboe - Gwen Earle, Linda Eagleson
English Horn - Ava Oaxaca
Bassoon - Steve Weschler
Clarinet - Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft, James Bensinger
Horn - Lora Katz, Joe Cross, Brittany Iler, Kathy Bartolomeo
Trumpet - Curt Anstine, Rick Pasciuto, Tom Gleason
Trombone - Steve Ward, Frank Eliot, Al Potter
Tuba - Steve Williams
Percussion - George Huttlin Joe Espineira Janet Thompson
Harp - Meghan Gwyer
Keyboard - Jennifer Bland