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Celebration choral concert at the LinderJames Ridley06/11/2012 15:18:48 
The Symphony Choir of Johannesburg will perform Hiawatha's Wedding Feast at 15:00 on Sunday 24 June 2012 at the Linder Auditorium. Join the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg for a Celebration concert at 15:00 on Sunday 24 June 2012 at the Linder Auditorium. The major work will be a performance of "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, who died 100 years ago. Also on the programme will be music to celebrate Prof Mzilikazi Khumalo's 80th birthday and Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne. The Symphony Choir of Johannesburg will be accompanied by the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and conducted by Richard Cock. Tickets cost R80 – R200 at Computicket on 011 340 8000 or at www.computicket.com. Samuel Coleridge Taylor (not the poet STC!) was born in 1875, the son of a Sierra Leonean doctor (who never knew of him) and an English woman. He lived in England until his early death at age 37. He was very highly regarded by musical luminaries of the time, including Sir Arthur Sullivan, Sir Hubert Parry, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (who conducted the first performance), and Sir George Grove (to whom the score is dedicated). "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" was completed in 1898 and published by Novello even before its first performance later that year. It is a setting of part of Longfellow's epic poem about Hiawatha, an Amerindian brave, and his beloved Minnehaha (Laughing Water). The music is immensely colourful and evocative of the idyllic period so lovingly described by Longfellow, before the life of the Native Americans was affected by the arrival of the European settlers. The success of the work was immediate and international: by 1904, it had been performed 200 times in England alone, and since then it has received hundreds more performances throughout the English-speaking world. The exquisite tenor aria "Onaway! Awake, beloved", expressing Hiawatha's love for Minnehaha, was part of most tenors' repertoires for fifty years, and will be sung by the exciting young tenor Siyabonga Maqungo. Although for many years "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" rivalled Handel's "Messiah" and Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in the public's affections, in recent years it has undeservedly fallen out of fashion. This performance presents a unique and ideal opportunity to experience one of the most tuneful and accessible works in the choral repertoire, and should not on any account be missed. Enquiries to Debbie on 082 853 9709 or scj@worldonline.co.za or Caroline on 011 447 9264 (during office hours). Artslink.co.za Account: James Ridley james.ridley@mweb.co.za 082 296 5677 Symphony Choir of Johannesburg Related Venue:
Linder Auditorium, 27 St Andrews Road Parktown Johannesburg Gauteng South Africa
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