What will bring a chorus to Modesto Symphony Orchestra’s next program?
The Modesto Symphony Orchestra will be joined by its chorus for its next program at the Gallo Center for the Arts.
Music Director David Lockington will lead the MSO in Fauré’s Requiem featuring the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Chorus on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, at the Gallo Center.
Daniel R. Afonso Jr. will direct the chorus for the requiem, featuring soprano Carrie Hennessey and baritone Joseph Wiggett, according to a press release from the MSO.
The symphony’s program will conclude with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
“Fauré’s Requiem is the best known of his large works and is unique in that its focus is on eternal rest and consolation,” the MSO release said.
“This will be the first time the MSO has performed Fauré’s Requiem and we are excited to be able to showcase the MSO Chorus on such a beautiful piece,” Caroline Nickel, president & CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Association, said in the release. “We are extremely proud of the MSO Chorus and can’t wait for the community to be able experience this piece come together.”
Hennessey makes concert appearances around the world. Her performance in the title role in the West Coast premiere of Tobias Picker’s opera “Emmeline” earned her a nomination for a Bay Area Broadway World Award for best leading actress in a musical, the MSO release said. She made her debut with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
Wiggett is a professor of voice at California State University, Stanislaus, where directs an opera workshop and maintains an applied voice studio in addition to his teaching duties, according to the release. He is the former director of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Stanislaus State, as well as a past artistic director and principal stage director for Townsend Opera — now Opera Modesto. In 2012, he was awarded the Stanislaus Arts Council Excellence in Arts award for excellence in music.
Modesto Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 10-11
WHERE: Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto
TICKETS: $19-$94
ONLINE: modestosymphony.org