True Concord Voices & Orchestra is gearing up for a busy weekend that kicks off Thursday, Jan. 16, with a recital from a Metropolitan Opera regular and includes a trio of performances of two Baroque works that history almost forgot.
Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes his Tucson debut on Thursday as part of the Tucson Desert Song Festival. His recital at the University of Arizona’s Holsclaw Hall, 1017 N. Olive Road, will include works by Mahler, Liszt, Schubert, Wolf and Mussorgsky.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra is hosting a Tucson Desert Song Festival recital with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, a regular with the Metropolitan Opera.
On Friday, Jan. 17, True Concord takes the first of its three performances of “Handel & Vivaldi: The Best of Baroque” to Green Valley’s Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino Del Sol. On Saturday, Jan. 18, and Sunday, Jan. 19, the ensemble will perform the concert at Catalina Foothills High School Music Hall, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive.
The concert opens with Handel’s “Dixit Dominus,” a work the German composer wrote when he was 22 years old and one that True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan says is rarely done largely because of the demands it puts on the orchestra and choir.
“It’s a virtuosic piece for the orchestra and vocalists, which is probably why it is not performed very often,” he said; True Concord, now in its 21st season, has performed it only once, in January 2010.
Handel set the text of Psalm 110 — “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” — which describes the defeat of the Lord’s enemies and the rise of the messiah.
Holtan describes Handel’s writing as “fun and colorful text painting.”
“These arias could very well have come out of an opera in terms of their virtuosity and dramatic character,” Holtan said. “But that dramatic character comes out through the whole piece. It’s an incredible piece of music by one of the great composers of the Baroque.”
True Concord Voices & Orchestra is hosting a Tucson Desert Song Festival recital with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, a regular with the Metropolitan Opera.
True Concord will have an 18-piece orchestra accompanying a 30-voice choir, with 13 different soloists between the Handel and Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” which anchors the program.
“Gloria” is “one of those pieces that’s part of the repertoire that should be done every few years because it’s a classic,” Holtan said describing the work, last performed by his group in 2014, as a masterpiece that has “infiltrated the public consciousness.”
Vivaldi drew the “Gloria in excelsis deo” texts from Luke 2:14 — “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
“It is very familiar to even the most casual classical music fan because of its energetic, upbeat message,” Holtan said. “Vivaldi’s setting of those words is the most popular among concertgoers. It’s a piece people love to hear and we love to perform it.”
Pianist Adam Nielsen will accompany Green on Thursday, beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 through ticketmaster.com and his concert is a preview of his upcoming Carnegie Hall debut.
Tickets for “Handel & Vivaldi” are $23.50-$63.50 through trueconcord.org. The Friday concert begins at 4 p.m. in Green Valley. Saturday’s concert begins at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s starts at 3 p.m.
