One of Britain's most distinguished composers, Thea Musgrave celebrates her incredibly prolific seventy-year career with a 90th birthday concert on May 27 at The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City. A pioneer of the "dramatic-abstract" in the contemporary musical landscape, Musgrave's oeuvre is comprised of more than 160 pieces, including 13 operas, 11 choral works, and 21 orchestral works.
For her birthday concert, Musgrave will be joined by Dr. Harold Rosenbaum and The New York
Virtuoso Singers for an evening of choral music, solo music, and excerpts from Musgrave's grand operas. The program opens with the U.S. premiere of Musgrave's oratorio for chorus, organ and brass quintet, The Voices of Our Ancestors, performed by The New York
Virtuoso Singers and the American Brass Quintet. The piece sets the creation hymn from the Rig Veda, an ancient Sanskrit verse dating in its written form from 1500-1200 BC, and eleven other poems translated from almost as many languages, in an extended meditation on the nature of existence.
World-famous oboist and frequent Musgrave collaborator, Nicholas Daniel, will perform the U.S. premiere of Dawn, which Musgrave wrote for him in celebration of his 50th birthday.
The New York
Virtuoso Singers will perform Musgrave's challenging choral work written for the BBC Singers, Rorate Coeli for unaccompanied chorus, inspired by the poetry of William Dunbar which harkens back to her Scottish heritage.
The program continues with the world premiere of La Vida es Sueño, performed by Mexican baritone, José Adán Pérez. The work for baritone and piano is set to a soliloquy from a play written in 1635 by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Translated as "Life Is a Dream," the piece focuses on the theme of dream versus reality, with the prince Segismundo (believing himself to be king) pondering his life and his luck.
The concert will conclude with excerpts from three of Musgrave's dramatic and historically charged grand operas, tied together with narration by Tadeusz von Moltke, and featuring three heroines from three continents. Finnish soprano Jenny Sandelin will perform Manuela's Aria from Simón Bolívar, in which Simón Bolívar's mistress, Manuela, contemplates whether or not to go to join him and leave the safety of her life. Marsha Johnson and Geraldine McMillian will present the Duet and Lament from Harriet, the Woman Called Moses, an opera based on the life of the American abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman. The program culminates with an ensemble from Mary, Queen of Scots: Mary, performed by Jenny Sandelin, asserts herself against her half brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray, portrayed by José Adán Pérez, who is scheming to take the throne for himself. Michael Fennelly will play the piano for La Vida es Sueño as well as all opera excerpts.
Over the next two seasons, orchestras, choirs and conservatoires across Europe and the US will be performing her work to mark the occasion of her 90th birthday.
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