Alderman Rehearses at Messiah - Concert This Sunday

We're pulling out all the Stops!

Yesterday organist Tom Alderman rehearsed for several hours on Messiah's pipe organ in preparation for Sunday's 6 PM organ concert.  Alderman's recital will be the first concert of the 2015-2016 Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series and the first to feature Messiah's recently installed pipe organ as a solo instrument.

Sunday's concert will feature a variety of beautiful music well suited to both Messiah's organ and the splendid acoustics of the sanctuary which was expanded in 2012.

The organ was custom built on site by George Miller and Miller Pipe Organ Services, Inc.  last summer and dedicated on Reformation Sunday, October 26th, 2014.   Mr. Miller is sponsoring this concert, arranging Mr. Alderman's trek across and over the Georgia-Alabama line  this Sunday after his morning worship services conclude at Roswell United Methodist Church where he is organist.

All are welcome to attend Sunday's concert.  While our concerts remain free of charge,  the series does take at the door and has donor recognition program.   Advertisements are also available in future programs.

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A "Barefoot Abbey" and the Brilliant Spanish Composer Thomas Luis de Victoria.

Music at Messiah's Classical Concert next concert will be Saturday evening, November 1st starting at 7:30 pm.  It will feature Huntsville Collegium Musicum's performance of Thomas Luis de Victoria's Officium Defunctorm.  

Researching Victoria's "Requiem" for relevant visuals for the poster and program artwork was an interesting journey.
  

The spanish composer was born in 1548, and evidence suggests he grew up a choir boy in the Cathedral in Avila. The Catholic Counter- Reformation that nearly paralled his years provide a historical backdrop for this young Catholic man with outstanding musical gifts. So promising were his talents that Philip II provided him a grant to travel to Italy in 1567. 

Victoria lived in Italy for the next twenty years; he canted, attended seminary, taught at the German College and was very well respected, holding a number of succeedingly impressive posts as a chapelmaster and organist.   By 1587 Victoria desired to return to Spain, and once again, Philip II responded, posting him to be the personal Chaplain of the Dowager Empress Maria.

The music itself is a funeral mass written for Empress María's death in 1603. She lived in retirement with her daughter Princess Margarita at the royal monestary The Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, literally the "Monastery of Barefoot Royals." Upon entry to the convent, these well heeled women would donate their dowry to the convent and vow to go shoeless. (Could it be expensive women's shoes have always been horribly uncomfortable?) The convent was tremendously well off and the Monastery allowed Victoria to produce gloriously rich and spiritual compositions until his death in 1611.

The Counter Reformation fueled  a revived spritualism in Catholic religious arts, and this is also evidenced by Victoria's contemporary, El Greco, whose Crucificion also appears on the poster artwork.  The intensity and palette of tones are emotional, and one cannot listen to Victoria's Requiem without feeling that same sense of spiritual awakening that is ever present in El Greco's work.

If you are intrigued by this, you'll really enjoy this Sacred Music program on Victoria produced recently by BBC on Victoria's music, featuring the choral group "The Sixteen." It's lengthy, but well worth an extended listening.  I hope this article, as well as the video pique your curiousity and compel you to attend the November 1st presentation of Victoria's Officium Defunctorium.

  - Meredith Kilby, for the Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series

Solar Winds "A European Tour" Concert Tomorrow at 4 PM

Solar Winds: Woodwind Quintet Concert this Sunday

Final preparations have been made for the first concert of the second season of Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series.

Sunday's concert features 'Solar Winds', a woodwind quintet comprised of five musicians from the US Army Materiel Command Band at Redstone Arsenal.

The quintet rehearsed Friday afternoon at Messiah Lutheran Church the pieces they will be presenting Sunday, September 21st. They familiarized themselves with the stage and the captivating acoustics of the sanctuary when filled with rich, beautiful sound.  Here's a sneak peek, an excerpt from the Rondo of Beethoven's Op 71.   

The Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series is delighted to feature this talented ensemble.  Oboeist Staff Seargeant Katherine Beyer leads the 'Solar Winds' quintet, and remarked that playing the Concert Series is a terrific opportunity for them to rehearse and perform classical music that's a bit outside of the typical military band repertoire.

SSG Beyer has only recently moved to the Huntsville area and gave high praise for the Madison/Huntsville area having an abundant offerings to enjoy great music.

We sincerely hope that you take this Sunday's opportunity to enjoy great music performed beautifully in a space so suited for small chamber ensembles such as 'Solar Winds'

Poster for April 27th Concert

Longing for sunshine and warmth? Our April 27th Concert will feature the musical flavors of Latin America.  "Sambas, Tangos and Dances" will be performed by 'Toot & Twang,' the performance duo of floutist Rosa Vidro Richardson and innovative classical guitarist Phil Weaver.

The concert takes place at Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison, AL.

Concert begins at 4 pm.  A light reception will follow the concert.

Concert is Free.  Donations will be collected to support the Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series.

Thank you for supporting Music at Messiah Classical Concert Series!