The Collegiate Chorale, led by Maestro James Bagwell in his inaugural concert as The Chorale's newly appointed Music Director, presents A JUBILANT SONG, a celebration of the organization's remarkable history of exceptional conductors, noteworthy commissions and premieres, and multi-faceted choral programming on December 1, 2009 at 7pm at Carnegie Hall. Tickets are $25-$125 and are available through CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, or online at www.carnegiehall.org. For more information, visit www.collegiatechorale.org.
"Before coming on board with The Chorale, one of the things which attracted me the most was its rich history of musical and programming diversity, going all the way back to the ideals of founder Robert Shaw and continuing steadily through the tenures of all subsequent Music Directors, particularly the late Robert Bass - and so I wanted this first concert under my baton to capture the essence of that diversity. We will perform works from Gabrieli to Dello Joio, and from Kopylov to Bernstein and Lerner. The programming will include Verdi and Meyerbeer arias, the beloved Beethoven Choral Fantasy, a couple of exquisite a cappella choral pieces, and musical theater excerpts from Bernstein and Lerner's A White House Cantata. Many of the works we will perform hearken back to earlier concerts, including the Kopylov Heavenly Light, which was on The Chorale's very first public program in 1942," said James Bagwell, music director of The Collegiate Chorale.
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. Since 2003 he has been Director of Choruses for the Bard Music Festival, conducting and preparing choral works during the summer festival at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. 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), all in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In 2005 he was named Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs in New York, who under his leadership have made numerous appearances at Carnegie Hall in addition to their regular season. In 2009 the Dessoff Symphonic Choir appeared with the New York Philharmonic performing both Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Britten's War Requiem for Lorin Maazel's final concerts as Music Director.
James Bagwell has trained choruses for a number of major American and International orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Japan), St. Petersburg Symphony, The American Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He has 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.
For eleven seasons, he has been Music Director for the May Festival Youth Choir in Cincinnati, which was recently featured on the radio program From the Top. He has conducted some 25 productions as Music Director of Light Opera Oklahoma, including Candide, Sweeney Todd, and The Merry Widow, among others. 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. For three seasons he was Artistic Director of The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. He holds degrees from Birmingham-Southern College, Florida State University, and Indiana University. He has taught since 2000 at Bard College, where he is Director of the Music Program.
For more information, visit www.collegiatechorale.org.
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