FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Lydia Consilvio, Marketing and Community Programs Manager, lconsilvio@cantatasingers.org
Cantata Singers Announces Boston Choral Festival: Monteverdi Vespers
Boston Choral Festival: Monteverdi Vespers
Fri, October 25, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Cyclorama (Boston Center for the Arts)
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
Noah Horn, Music Director
Vespers of 1610, Claudio Monteverdi
In celebration of Cantata Singers’ 60th anniversary, experience the grandeur of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers in the unique circular splendor of Boston’s Cyclorama. As part of the inaugural Boston Choral Festival, this collaborative performance will bring together choral ensembles from Nipmuc, Arlington, and Westborough High Schools, creating a unique experience for all involved. The Cyclorama’s distinctive acoustics will enhance the work’s antiphonal effects, allowing listeners to be fully immersed in Monteverdi’s groundbreaking masterpiece. This performance will be recorded and available for purchase on Access Cantata Singers. Supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England.
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History of the Monteverdi Vespers
Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 collection of music for Vespers is a pivotal work in the classical repertoire. In Monteverdi’s era, Latin Vespers was a central evening service in the Catholic Church, alongside the Mass, which drove composers to create their most intricate sacred music. Vespers consisted of a versicle and response, five psalms, a hymn, and a setting of the Magnificat, a canticle sung during which the church altar was ceremonially censed. Each liturgical piece of Monteverdi’s Vespers integrates a plainsong melody, either as a psalm tone, hymn, or Magnificat melody. The work remains a monumental achievement, illustrating his innovation and versatility within the sacred music tradition.
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Quotes from Leadership and Collaborators
“Partnering with these high school programs is the culmination of a lot of dreaming and work behind the scenes. We couldn’t be more grateful to Nipmuc, Arlington, and Westborough High Schools – and their directors – for their participation. We can’t wait to see how the concert turns out!”
— Nick Adams, Executive Director at Cantata Singers
“The Boston Choral Festival is a chance to bring together 170 musicians, most of whom have never met each other, for one festive day performing the beautiful Monteverdi Vespers. The piece is from 1610 – over 400 years ago – and it is just awesome. There’s something in it for everybody; there are loud trumpets and cornetti, and there are intimate moments that require incredible virtuosity from the singers and instrumentalists.”
— Noah Horn, Music Director at Cantata Singers
“The students and I are honored to join the Cantata Singers in a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers for the first ever Boston Choral Festival. The high school singers are excited to perform alongside the talented Cantata Singers and orchestra, and they appreciate the opportunity to learn and perform such an outstanding, historic choral work.”
— Mara Walker, Choral Director at Arlington High School
“We are excited to experience the Monteverdi Vespers alongside the Cantata Singers, a work that we would not be able to undertake on our own. The students are looking forward to collaborating with other high school singers and the opportunity to work with conductor Noah Horn.”
— Whitney Simmonds, Choral Director at Nipmuc Regional High School
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Tickets
Tickets are available for purchase here.
– Tier 1: $69
– Tier 2: $49
– Tier 3: $29
Cantata Singers is proud to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program to broaden cultural programming accessibility. Cantata Singers will offer 95% off the cost of tickets for EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare holders. For details on how to redeem, please visit the corresponding program’s website, email hello@cantatasingers.org, or call (617) 868-5885. Participants utilizing the codes may be asked to show their valid EBT, WIC, or ConnectorCare card when checking in at the concert. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
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About Music Director Noah Horn
Noah Horn, whose work has been praised as “superb” (The New York Times), “well-prepared and joyful” (Detroit Free Press), “excellent,” and “fluent and fresh” (Opera News), began his role as Music Director of Cantata Singers in 2022. He comes to the ensemble having directed choirs and orchestras at the professional, collegiate, and community levels. He has worked with ensembles in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Canada, and the Philippines.
As a tenor, Noah has sung solo roles in much of the standard oratorio and concert repertoire. His singing has been featured on America’s Got Talent, MLB.com, and YouTube’s homepage. Also an organist, Noah has served as music director at a number of churches, and currently works in that capacity at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, CT. He recently won the nationally competitive AAGO and S. Lewis Elmer Prizes from the American Guild of Organists. In his younger years he enthusiastically pursued trumpet, and played principal trumpet for several orchestras, bands, and jazz ensembles, along with having the opportunity to play solo jazz trumpet for President Bill Clinton during his time in office.
Noah holds the D.M.A., M.M.A., and M.M. degrees from Yale University in choral conducting, and the M.M. and B.Mus. degrees from Yale and Oberlin College in organ performance. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and three children.
