The Collegiate Chorale Hosts a Panel Discussion 2/10

The Collegiate Chorale presents a panel discussion, Music as a Means of Hope and Resistance: A Panel Discussion on Choral Singing and Composition in the Camps and Ghettos, on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 6pm at Central Synagogue, 652 Lexington Avenue at 55th Street, NYC.

As a prelude to The Chorale's concert We Remember Them: Choral Music from the Camps and the Ghettos, on March 10, 2011, the panel discussion will focus on the historical and cultural implications of music-making in the camps during World War II. In addition it will explore the impact of music and its healing powers during time of extreme stress and duress.

Panelists include:
Dr. Michael Beckerman, Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Music, New York University
Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Cantor, Central Synagogue
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Therapist, Author and Holocaust Orphan
James Bagwell, Music Director, The Collegiate Chorale, Professor of Music, Bard College

Tickets are $10 and are available at http://www.collegiatechorale.org/concert_schedule. Admission is FREE for The Collegiate Chorale Friends and Maestro's Circle Donors, members of Central Synagogue, and for ticket holders for the March 10 concert. Please RSVP by email to lectures@collegiatechorale.org to confirm attendance and/or request an e-ticket.

The Collegiate Chorale will present a concert, We Remember Them: Choral Music from the Camps and the Ghettos, hosted by Cantor Angela Buchdahl, featuring pianist Kenneth Bowen and conducted by James Bagwell on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 7pm at Central Synagogue, 652 Lexington Avenue at 55th Street, NYC. Single tickets start at $25 and are available online at www.collegiatechorale.org, or by phone at (646) 202-9623.

From within the camps and ghettos of the Holocaust came a great deal of music, passed along secretly and embraced by the entire community. For obvious reasons, much of it was choral, and included songs of great power, depth, and beauty. In this concert of choral works by composers who perished in the Holocaust, as well by contemporary composers who wrote to sustain the memory of all who suffered in the camps and ghettos, Maestro Bagwell will lead The Collegiate Chorale in a program entitled We Remember Them. The concert will be held in the magnificent sanctuary of Central Synagogue.

The Collegiate Chorale's 69th season continues with Something Wonderful - A Night of Broadway with Deborah Voigt, conducted by Ted Sperling,on May 19, 2011 at 7pm at Carnegie Hall. Deborah Voigt will be joined by featured guest artist Paulo Szot. The company's 2010/2011 Season began with Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, and A German Requiem at Carnegie Hall in October and continued with Knickerbocker Holidayin January at Alice Tully Hall.

Single tickets for all concerts can be purchased by calling The Collegiate Chorale at (646) 202-9623 or by visiting www.collegiatechorale.org.

For more information, visit www.collegiatechorale.org.

The mission of The Collegiate Chorale, led by Music Director James Bagwell, is to enrich its audiences through innovative programming and exceptional performances of a broad range of vocal music featuring a premier choral ensemble. Founded in 1941 by the legendary conductor Robert Shaw, The Chorale has established a preeminent reputation for its interpretations of the traditional choral repertoire, vocal works by American composers, and rarely heard operas-in-concert, as well as for commissions and premieres of new works by today's most exciting creative artists. Among the many guest artists with whom The Chorale has performed in recent years include: Bryn Terfel, Nathan Gunn, Victoria Clark, Stephanie Blythe, Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, and Deborah Voigt. Last season's highlights included the world premiere two-act concert version of Ricky Ian Gordon's opera The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall. In addition to The Chorale's presentations, the chorus is performing in five programs during the American Symphony Orchestra's 2010-11 season and will return to Verbier in the summer of 2011; The Chorale will perform with the Israel Philharmonic in Salzburg and Israel in July 2012.

Music Director James Bagwell maintains an active schedule throughout the United States as a conductor of choral, operatic, and orchestral music. He has recently been named Principal Guest Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York and is Director of the Music Program at Bard College. At Bard SummerScape, he has led numerous theatrical works, most notably Copland's The Tender Land, which received unanimous praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Opera News. He frequently appears as guest conductor for orchestras around the country and abroad, including the Jerusalem Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He has also prepared The Concert Chorale of New York for performances with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Mostly Mozart Festival, broadcast nationally in 2006 on Live from Lincoln Center. He has trained choruses for a number of major American and international orchestras and worked with noted conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Louis Langrée, Leon Botstein, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Raymond Leppard, James Conlon, Jesús López-Cobos, Erich Kunzel, Leon Fleischer, and Robert Shaw.