40th Anniversary Season of Music & Adventure 23-24
NEWS CONTACT:
Jennifer Brink, Executive Director
Phone: (518) 793-1348
E-mail: exdir@gfso.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 2, 2023
Glens Falls Symphony 40th Anniversary Season starts this Sunday October 8, 2023 Featuring Metropolitan Opera Star, Mezzo-Soprano MaryAnn McCormick
The Glens Falls Symphony, begun as a community amateur orchestra in 1977 at the then-named Adirondack Community College, begins its 40th anniversary season on Sunday, October 8 at the Glens Falls High School Auditorium. It will mark the beginning of the fourth decade of music-making by the orchestra, fully professional since 1990.
“This concert is a benchmark that expresses our community’s love of music and magic,” shares the Symphony’s Executive Director Jennifer Brink. “The Glens Falls Symphony provides a wide range of performances for audiences all throughout the year: regular season concerts between September and May (including the extremely popular Holiday Pops concert on December 10, 2023); children’s performances for over 1,500 school students from Warren/Washington Counties and Adirondack schools like Crown Point, Warrensburg and Ticonderoga; and, of course, everyone’s favorite Independence Day celebration on July 3 at Crandall Park for 4-5,000 people. Thanks to meaningful support from the community businesses who advertise in our program book, local businesses who sponsor events, individual donors, foundations, our municipal and state agencies, and an incredible group of volunteers on the Board and elsewhere, this magnificent orchestra provides powerful musical experiences for all ages and interests.”
The adventure starts with a Short Ride on a Fast Machine by American composer John Adams. Asked about the title, Adams said, "You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?" Second on the program is a dramatic and moody work by English composer Edward Elgar called Sea Pictures. The poems of Sea Pictures provide five different perspectives on the sea by five diverse speakers. This work features Metropolitan Opera Mezzo Soprano MaryAnn McCormick, who returns to the Glens Falls Symphony stage for the second time.
The orchestra will round out the evening by dancing through time and space with Symphonic Dances, by Russian composer Sergey Rachmaninov. 1873-1943. Composed in 1940 and dedicated to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Symphonic Dances are Rachmaninov’s last work and is often considered his best orchestral composition. Surprised by its favorable reception, Rachmaninov commented: “I don’t know how it happened. It must have been my last spark.”
About MaryAnn McCormick
Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano MaryAnn McCormick has been hailed in the press as “charismatic”, “spell-binding”, and “elegant”. She has performed at top theaters all over the world for more than 25 years. She has sung with the Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 seasons, as well as with La Scala in Milan; Rome Opera; Turin Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and others. The recipient of a 2012 Grammy award for her participation in Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. McCormick has performed many roles there in more than 118 performances most recently as Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro.In 2015, Ms. McCormick was honored to join the voice faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Glens Falls Symphony asks: MaryAnn McCormick
· GFS: Welcome back to Glens Falls, NY! What are you most excited about in coming to sing with the Glens Falls Symphony?
· MM: I remember still the wonderful sense of community with the musicians and the enthusiastic audience. In particular the dedicated public stayed with me a long time afterward. We perform for others and this is the greatest gift to a performer, to have their work appreciated and loved. I was so impressed to see a full venue and such an involved audience.
· GFS: Tell us a little about Elgar’s “Sea Pictures”, and what you like about this special work.
· MM: Maestro Pelz asked me personally to sing these pieces having told me that many years ago when he first heard me in concert in Glens Falls that he thought they would be perfect for me. I always admired the songs but they had not come my way until now. I suppose what I like is the grandness of Elgar's orchestration. And now I spend a good deal of time on the North Shore of the Boston area since I live here while I'm teaching at NEC. My place overlooks the Gulf of Maine and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. So, I observe constantly this view and the power of the ocean and these songs resonate in a new way with me.
· GFS: We know that you sing in many places in many different settings. Is there a place that you consider to be your performance home?
· MM: I wonder if there is a home for an artist. We spend so many years as vagabonds traveling the globe and our hearts are mostly consumed with the music we are ingesting at the time. But for many years I sang with the Metropolitan Opera. I consider the NY area my home so perhaps this would have been one of them.
· GFS: What was the first role you sang professionally, and how was that experience?
· MM: The very first solo I sang professionally was a fisherwoman in the opera "Peter Grimes". It was a three bar solo and I was in the chorus of Opera Theater of Saint Louis at 23 years of age. That summer in many ways launched my career. The first lead role was Cenerentola in Rossini's work with the Boston Lyric Opera at the age of 25.
· GFS: What role/opera did you debut most recently?
· MM: This question is tricky of course due to the pandemic and my level of experience, but I would say a debut role, meaning a new one, would have been in Il Trittico at the Met in December of 2018. I performed the role of La Frugola in "Il Tabarro", a wonderful older character who sings an aria about her meaningful relationship with a cat.
· GFS: Who was the greatest influence on your operatic/vocal life?
· MM: There have been many of course. But the first greatest influence was my dear classmate and closest friend Tom Dewey. I met Tom as a freshmen and he had a full on fire love for classical music and vocal literature. He also had an extensive record collection at the time lined up all around the wall of his dorm room. We would sit in there and listen to records for hours every night. I will never forget hearing for the first time the Act One finale of Cosi Fan Tutte and the Final Trio from Der Rosenkavlier. On top of those great works he was a champion of the songs of Schubert and he introduced me to this great song literature for which I am still enthralled. In fact I sang an all Schubert recital at NEC in 2018, 17 lieder, and I dedicated the recital to Tom. Tom died very young tragically and I still miss him and thank him with all my heart. Giving the gift of music changes lives. That's what we hope to do in this concert.
· GFS: You joined New England Conservatory (NEC) faculty in 2015. What has been most rewarding about this position so far?
· MM: I suppose because I graduated from NEC, it would be the sense of accomplishment to come back and teach there. There is a very fond place in my heart for the school and I hope to influence the next generation.
· GFS: You and Charles Peltz have been colleagues at NEC with Maestro Peltz. Is there anything you would like to share about your collaborations?
· MM: Maestro Pelz is one of most gracious conductors. He is very accommodating and flexible and passionate about the music. So, it is a really pleasure to work with someone like this. I'm very grateful that he has asked me twice to sing with this orchestra. I hope there will be many more chances.
· GFS: What’s next for you?
· MM: Handel's Messiah in December in Columbia, MD and continued renovations on my 135-year-old home in the Hudson Valley.
About Glens Falls Symphony
Since Maestro Charles Peltz’ arrival in 2000, the fully professional Glens Falls Symphony has performed a dynamic repertoire, regularly including musical premieres and world-renowned guest artists while expanding musical offerings to include family concerts, summer pops programs and more. Cited as “one of the great orchestras of our country” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner, the orchestra comprises professional musicians who come from all over the Northeast to perform.
Glens Falls Symphony
2023-24 Season
All concerts on Sunday at 4pm
Glens Falls High School Auditorium
Free Pre-Concert Talk at 3pm (FREE with price of Ticket)
TICKETS
Season and single tickets are priced in three tiers: (Tier 3/2/1)
Season Tickets: $120/$150/$175
Adult: $26/$33/$39
Student: $10
NEW! Family Season Ticket: Two Adults and Two Children: $250 for all five concerts.
Location: Glens Falls High School Auditorium, 10 Quade St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
For information regarding ticket pricing and seating for season, visit www.theglensfallssymphony.org, call the Symphony office at (518) 793-1348 or stop by the office, upstairs in the LARAC Gallery building: 7 Lapham Place in Glens Falls. Office hours are Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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