Artistic Director & Conductor
Napa Valley Chorale
The Napa Valley Chorale's performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and René Clausen's Crying for a Dream on Sunday, May 5, at 4 p.m. at Chardonnay Hall at the Napa Town & Country Fairgrounds promises to be a spectacle of sight and sound. With four choirs, professional soloists, five percussionists, a myriad of percussion instruments, and two pianists playing matching Steinway grand pianos, the Napa Valley community will resound with an exciting program of great music. Thanks to the cooperation of the Napa Valley Symphony, their theater seating and improvements to Chardonnay Hall will remain in place for this performance.
Conducted by Jan Lanterman, the Chorale will be joined by the Vintage High School Womens Ensemble and professional soloists Carol Kessler, soprano; Bill Leigon, tenor; and Theodore Weis, baritone, for the popular choral work Carmina Burana. This beloved piece will be accompanied by Chorale pianist Ellen Patterson and Kathy Quain, at matching grand pianos, and five percussionists on a large variety of percussion instruments.
Carmina Burana is Latin for "Songs of Beuern." It refers to an anthology of more than two hundred medieval secular songs - chiefly in Latin, but also some middle German and a smattering of Frankish - discovered in the Bavarian monastery of Benediktbeuern during the disestablishment of monasteries in 1803.
It is understandable that the collection was discreetly tucked away for a few hundred years from the eyes of the pious: It comprises an exuberant hodgepodge of poems, simple and sophisticated, good verse and bad, in robust celebration of very earthy delights. These were songs of the Goliards, those bands of scholars and disillusioned monks who merrily thumbed their noses at the strictures of medieval Christianity and roamed Europe in quest of secular diversions.
The poems - which remain the greatest single source of twelfth - and thirteenth - century verse - moralize and satirize, lament the abuses of church and state, the fickleness of fortune (especially as it falls upon lovers and gamblers), and extol the pleasures of bed, bottle, and table. A generally sturdy and optimistic view of the human condition prevails, despite a wary eye upon Fate, looming with massive indifference over all.
Orff set 24 of the poems as a sort of cantata/theater piece, whose title translates "Songs of Beuern: Secular Songs for Soloists and Choruses, Accompanied by Instruments and Magic Images." All the music was Orff's own composition, as the few original melodies preserved in the manuscript, in the form of staffless neumes, were nearly indecipherable. The songs are arranged in three sections. First a celebration of nature itself, notably the rising of the social sap in spring, with plenty of dancing maidens and appropriate festivities; then an acknowledgment of nature's bounties to man, most particularly that bounty which makes its way from vineyard to tavern, with a raucous, comprehensive cataloguing of the varieties of imbibing. Third, of course, there is the section on love - its assaults to the heart and delights to the flesh - called, after the Burgundian tradition of courtly love, Cours d'amours.
The whole is set off and defined by the monumental beginning and ending chorus, "O Fortuna!" Commonly, the setting is dominated by a vast wheel: Fortune, to whose utterly impersonal rotations man is tied, now rising, now descending, helpless as a bird on a spit.
Melismatic plainsong, German dances, drinking songs, Baroque ariosos, all and more, sweep together headlong in linked chains of intoxicating rhythms and hypnotically repeated phrases. Simple sensuousness, belly laughs, a celebration of the life force and the immutability of Fate: Orff's own nose-thumbing at romantic illusions, and an exhilarating listening experience.
Carl Orff wrote Carmina Burana in 1935 and 1936 and premiered it in the Frankfurt Opera House on June 8, 1937. It was first performed in the U.S. by the University of San Francisco Schola Cantorum at the War Memorial Opera House in 1954. In 1956 Orff produced the version to be performed in this concert for voices "accompanied by two pianos, timpani, and percussion . . . for production in schools and in music societies which have no orchestra."
Soprano soloist Carol Kessler is an international artist who has performed throughout the United States as well as in Germany and England. She earned the bachelor of science degree at Indiana University and has studied voice with Jim Toland, Nancy Stokes Milnes, and Carol Smith. Her coaches have included Alessandro Misciasci of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Steve Hess of the Staatstheater in Stuttgart, and locally Monroe Kanouse. In addition to solo recitals, she has performed soprano solos in St. John's Passion, Messe in B-moll, St. Matthew Passion, and Weihnachts Oratorium by J. S. Bach; Mozart's Mass in C-moll and Requiem; Honegger's King David; Orff's Carmina Burana; Haydn's Creation and The Seasons; Brahms' Requiem, Liebeslieder Walzer and Neue Liebeslieder; Mendelssohn's Elijah and Samson; Handel's Messiah; Beethoven's Missa Solemnis; Schumann's Spanisches Liederspiel; and Poulenc's Gloria. This past December, she was the soprano soloist for the Napa Valley Chorale's performance of the Saint Saëns Christmas Oratorio and Charpentier's Christmas Cantata.
Bill Leigon, tenor, studied voice with E. Randolph Mickelson in New York and has sung professionally since the age of 18, including appearances in several musical productions off-Broadway. He has also studied voice locally with Lisa Raboy. He has been tenor soloist in Dave Brubeck's La Fiesta de la Posada and Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury with the Napa Valley Chorale, performed the role of Billy in Napa Valley College's Anything Goes, has appeared in The White Barn's productions of Kiss Me Kate, The Fantastiks, Die Fledermaus, and Kurt Weill Kabarett, and was Hank in David Wolper's production of The Most Happy Fella. Most recently he performed as guest artist in the Napa Valley Repertory Theatre's inaugural production of An Evening with Noel Coward. A native of Houston, he is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin, in theater arts. He is a member of Actors Equity and Screen Actors Guild. Locally, he is a past president of the Arts Council of Napa Valley and the Napa unit of the American Cancer Society. He is owner of Wimbledon Wine Company.
Theodore Weis, baritone, has been performing with Bay Area opera companies, symphonies, choruses, and musical theatre companies for thirty years. He was the baritone soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Napa Valley Chorale in 2001 and has performed the baritone solos in Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel's Messiah, Brahms' German Requiem, and Orff's Carmina Burana with other Bay Area choruses. On stage he recently performed the role of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in Modesto, has been featured in roles as diverse as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Tony in Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella. He was a member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus for two seasons before retiring to Napa in 2000. Dr. Weis is a nephrologist who now practices part time at Queen of the Valley Hospital. He was also the founder and first president of Arizona Opera (1971) and Festival Opera of Walnut Creek (1991).
Mark Teeters will conduct the second work of the program, Crying for a Dream by René Clausen. Based on native-American texts from the Teton and Lakota Sioux and Chief Seattle, Crying for a Dream reminds listeners of humanity's connection to the earth. This work features four choirs-the Vintage High School Chamber Singers and Womens Ensemble and a double chorus from the Napa Valley Chorale-the matching grand pianos, flute, and narrator Tom Illgen, executive director of the Napa Valley Symphony.
Crying for a Dream was commissioned for the 1994 North Central Division American Choral Directors Association convention in Rapid City, South Dakota. There are three sections: "Hear Me, I Will Live!," "War Song," and "How Can you Buy the Sky?," which is paraphrased from Chief Seattle. The first two sections are from "Song of the Final Visit to the Vapor Lodge" by Frances Densmore and include "Wakan'tanka Hears Me," "Lakota Pipe Song," "At the Wind Center I Stand," "A Wolf I Considered Myself," "The Earth Only Endures," "Even the Eagle Dies," and "Song of Sitting Bull."
Tom Illgen, narrator, received his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in theatre arts and was a University Fellow at Northwestern University, where he received his graduate degree in theatre history and criticism. He also studied with ACT's summer and advanced training programs. He appeared in ACT's productions of Anthony and Cleopatra, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Glory! Hallelujah! at the Geary Theater. With ACT's training program he acted in Saved, Private Life of the Master Race, and as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. He has worked with some of the most important performing arts organizations in the United States, including the Theater Guild-American Theater Society, New York City Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Opera. He has recently directed two productions for The White Barn in St. Helena. He is executive director of the Napa Valley Symphony.
With this concert, the Napa Valley Chorale completes its 39th year of providing the opportunity for study and performance of major choral literature in the Napa Valley. Singers meet weekly during the fall and spring seasons for stimulating rehearsals with Artistic Director & Conductor Jan Lanterman, Conductor Mark Teeters, and Accompanist Ellen Patterson. Interested singers are invited to audition for the chorus. Audition appointments can be made by calling the Chorale at (707) 261-6165 or by going online at www.napavalleychorale.org.
Artistic Director & Conductor Jan Lanterman has conducted the Napa Valley Chorale since 1984. She is a graduate of California State University, Chico, where she studied voice with Ralph Wadsworth and sang in the A Cappella Choir. She has studied music postgraduate with Jane Marshall, Carlton Young, Louis Magor, Alice Parker, and Ren‚ Clausen. In addition to her work with the Napa Valley Chorale, she assists in the Choral Music Department at Vintage High School in Napa. She serves as Director of Music at Napa's First United Methodist Church and the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of the North Bay and is founder/conductor of Aurora Voce. She is executive secretary of the California branch of the American Choral Directors Association and is the Chair of Repertoire and Standards for Community Choruses for the State of California.
With this concert, Conductor Mark Teeters, who is Director of Choral Activities at Vintage High School in Napa, completes his first year as conductor of the Napa Valley Chorale. He holds a master of music degree from University of Oklahoma, where he studied with Dennis Shrock and co-conducted the University Chorale and the University Chorus. He did his undergraduate work at Northern Arizona University, where he studied with Jo-Michael Scheibe and Edith Copley. He also taught for four years in San Francisco. He serves as Director of Music at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Napa and is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the California Music Educators Association.
This is Accompanist Ellen Patterson's first season with the Napa Valley Chorale. Employed since 1986 as a music therapist at the California Veterans Home in Yountville, she is pianist and vocalist with "The Heartbeats" and is band leader for God's House Band at First United Methodist Church in Napa. She maintains a private piano studio and teaches music at River Middle School. She is in great demand as an accompanist and has performed in productions of Napa Valley College, The White Barn, Dreamweavers Theater, and Silverado Singers. She holds a master of music in piano performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a bachelor of music in music therapy from Willamette University.
Pianist Kathryn Quain attained her bachelor of music in piano performance from Northwestern University and her master of music education in music therapy from the University of Kansas. In addition to teaching piano and performing, she provides music therapy to at-risk youth in Napa.
The public is cordially invited to attend the concert on Sunday, May 5, 2002, at 4 p.m. at Chardonnay Hall on the grounds of the Napa Town & Country Fair. [...]
Jan Lanterman
Artistic Director & Conductor
Napa Valley Chorale