Welcome to True Concord’s 16th season, a time to be
In Genius.
“Beauty is a form of Genius – is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation.”
-Oscar Wilde
Critically acclaimed True Concord returns for its 16th season with an innovative combination of great masterpieces and thought-provoking newer works created and inspired by brilliant minds.
Humankind has relied on creative minds, inventors and problem solvers – and we need them today as much as ever. Being able to see things differently, expand others’ horizons, and bring a new focus to our reality is a gift beyond measure. And these geniuses have added beauty and quality to our lives. In 2019-20, True Concord invites you to immerse yourself In Genius.
Open the season by stepping in to the world of arguably the greatest genius of the English language, William Shakespeare. The cornerstone of the concert is English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams’s Serenade to Music for 16 vocal soloists, a work said to have reduced Sergei Rachmaninoff to tears by its beauty. The concert also features the winner of the third annual Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition, with text from Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 8, the inspiration for True Concord’s name.
In November it will be hard to contain the brilliance with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s gorgeous “Solemn Vespers”, plus the Arizona premiere of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Jocelyn Hagen. Inspired by words and drawings in his personal notebooks, this multi-media art work explores the mind of da Vinci with choir, orchestra and video projection.
This December, give the gift of peace, love and beauty to your loved ones and yourself with Lessons and Carols by Candlelight – Songs of the Magi. Surround yourself with warmth, the light of candles, the velvet sound of voices and the community of people joined together through music.
In January, experience the diverse voices of America through folk song and spirituals to musical theater and jazz. Tucson Desert Song Festival joins with True Concord to present the rich and powerful voice of Morris Robinson, bass, singing songs by Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster and more.
February brings you a triple feature of genius: Beethoven, Brahms and Goethe. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, TCVO performs the Mass in C Major, plus the beautiful and inspirational Choral Fantasy, the forerunner to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Pianist Jeffrey Biegel takes on the role played by Beethoven himself, giving us a glimpse of the genius’ creative improvisational style. Alto Emily Marvosh is featured in the gorgeous Alto Rhapsody by Brahms with text by polymath and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poem tells of the writers’ climb of the Harz mountains, taking the listener through deep snow to a cloud-enshrouded peak of passion and angst.
In March, hear why the world’s greatest musicians, creators and philosophers have uniformly marveled at the genius of J.S. Bach, the genius of geniuses. The monumental B-minor Mass for choir, soloists and orchestra is one of Bach’s “cathedrals in sound,” the pinnacle of his life’s work. Experience for yourself the genius’s masterpiece, the perfect finale for True Concord’s season In Genius.
Make this the year you subscribe! Several flexible subscription packages are available, starting at $74.
“True Concord Voices & Orchestra has created something truly spectacular”
-Arizona Daily Star