KRISTOFER HARRIS
Staff Writer
This upcoming Sunday, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra (WNYCO) will be performing “Chords and Cords” at 4 p.m. in King Concert Hall within the Rockefeller Arts Center.
The name of the concert comes from conductor, Dr. Glen Cortese. “Chords and Cords” is a play on words, as this concert features violin chords, harmonic chords and human vocal cords.
Three works will be performed during the concert, the first being J.S. Bach’s concerto for two violins in D minor. Michael And Rachel Ludwig will be the two featured soloists for this piece.
Cortese’s “Concerto for String Quartet and String Orchestra” is next on the program. Cortese is an accomplished conductor, traveling around the world working with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Mexico City Philharmonic and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, to name a few.
“As this is a composition by our own conductor … this makes the rehearsal process even more exciting,” said Julie Newell, a vocal professor at Fredonia and executive director of WNYCO. “Any musician is thrilled to have a chance to work with the actual composer of a musical work — as that individual brings a truly ‘one of a kind’ insight to the technical aspects and performance goals.”
It’s sure to be a treat to see this work brought to life on King’s stage. The Ludwigs will be joined by the WNYCO principal violist, Brian Walnicki, and the principal cellist, Bryan Eckenrode, in this work.
The last song prepared is “Missa Sancti Aloysii,” composed by Johann Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Franz Joseph Haydn. For this work, WNYCO will enlist the help of Fredonia’s Women’s Choir to work with them on the piece, with the choir being lead by Dr. Vernon Huff.
“It is always exciting for a student ensemble to participate in a professional rehearsal process. Everyone needs to be at their best and ready for the rehearsal to move quickly with many new musical ideas being suggested in the rehearsals,” said Newell.
The work, which goes through five movements, has the choir singing in Latin, complementing the melodic lines played by the orchestra. The piece will feature student vocal soloists Lucille Horn and Marie Karbacka, sopranos, and Meredith Smietana, mezzo-soprano.
“After we were approached by the orchestra to sing with them, I did some extensive research and ‘discovered’ this piece. Now I have fallen in love with it, and the members of the Women’s Choir have as well. The audience is in for a real treat,” said Huff.
The members of the choir truly do admire the piece, after some convincing though.
Dianna Hawryluk, a senior double major in audio/radio and video production, said that it took some time for her to warm up to the piece, but eventually, she found the chance to give it the love it needed.
“Initially when I saw the score, I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t sticking with me like other works in the past. But I think what solidified my love for this piece was [that] last week Huff took us in the process of writing in all the translations for the entire text of the piece, and that’s what solidified it for me: [learning] how to make to the work come out like it’s supposed to, in the Latin language,” said Hawryluk.
In addition to performing “Chords and Cords” in Fredonia, WNYCO and the Women’s Choir will be performing these pieces on April 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Buffalo.
Tickets are $22 to the general public and free for Fredonia students with ID.