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Denver Phil invited to St. Elizabeth Church
Contributed by: Robin McNeil on 11/8/2007

Dr. Horst Buchholz and the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra have been invited to perform at the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in celebration of the 800th birthday of Elizabeth of Hungary. The orchestra, in partnership with three choirs - the choir from the cathedral of The Immaculate Conception, the choir from St. John's Episcopal Church, and the choir for the St. John Vianney Seminary will perform excerpts from Franz Liszt's large oratorio, The Legend of St. Elizabeth. The performance will take place at 7:30 PM, Friday, November 16.

The soloists for this performance will be the soprano, Dr. MeeAe Nam, and baritone, Bradley Thompson.

Soprano MeeAe Cecilia Nam has appeared as soloist in operas, concerts, and recitals in the United States, Germany, Austria, and her native South Korea. Her artistry encompasses a wide range of voGyorgy Kurtagcal repertoire that includes composers as diverse as J. S. Bach, or the avantgardist

She has performed as guest artist with numerous ensembles including Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra, the Jefferson Symphony, the Ariel Trio, the DaVinci String Quartet, the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony and Colorado Chamber Players. She also sang "Pamina" in The Magic Flute and "Clori" in L'Egisto with the CU Lyric Theatre.

Recent appearances as guest soloist were with Colorado Symphony Orchestra in the Most Romantic Classics, the Larimer Chorale and the Fort Collins Symphony in Mozart's Grand Mass in C minor, the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra in Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne, the Colorado Chamber Players in Kurtag's Kafka-Fragmente, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Mozart's Coronation Mass and Exultate, jubilate during the Salzburg International Summer Festival.

Dr.Namearned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance and pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is Assistant Professor of voice at Metropolitan State College of Denver where she serves as chair of the vocal studies program.

A native of Norcross, Georgia, Mr. Thompson received his undergraduate degree from Furman University (magna cum laude) where he was inducted into the national society of Phi Beta Kappa. His post-graduate education continued at Florida State University, the University of Georgia, and the University or Colorado. He received training as an apprentice both with Opera Colorado and the Utah Festival Opera. Bradley Thompson currently resides in Colorado where he serves as the choir director of Mt. Zion Lutheran church and is a member of the studio voice faculty of Metropolitan State College.

Bradley Thompson's repertoire displays a great deal of versatility in a wide range of both comic and dramatic roles. He recently impressed audiences with his gifted lyric baritone voice as Morales in Opera Colorado's production of Carmen. His operatic roles span the charm of Dandini in La Cenerentola and the dash of Puccini's Marcello.

He has also appeared with Capitol City Opera Company of Atlanta, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Fort Collins, and Opera Theatre of the Rockies. Mr. Thompson has performed as Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Marullo in Rigoletto, Morales in Carmen, Ping in Turandot, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the title role in Verdi's Falstaff. He is especially at home performing the baritone roles of Mozart, having sung the roles on Figaro, Guglielmo, Masetto, and Papageno as well as covering Don Giovanni.

The Franz Liszt (1811-1886) oratorio, The Legend of St. Elizabeth, is not well known today. Probably the main reason for its obscurity is that the legend of Liszt the pianist has overshadowed the life of Liszt the composer. His Requiem Mass is rarely, if ever performed, let alone known, and the same applies to his The Bells of Strasbourg which is based on Longfellow's poem The Golden Legend. But St. Elizabeth was performed quite often when Liszt was still alive, and these performances resulted in some of the most tumultuous ovations for the composer that he had seen since his reigning days as a piano virtuoso. There was a huge audience in London at the performance in 1886, conducted by A.C. Mackenzie, and the elderly Liszt was taken to many festivals, receptions, and ceremonials by his young card playing companion that he met in Leipzig, Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame).

The Legend of St. Elizabeth was written in 1864 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Budapest Conservatory - which Liszt had helped establish - and it was performed there on August 15, 1865. Briefly, the legend is as follows: Elizabeth was born in 1207, the daughter of King AndreasII of Hungary. At the age of four she was engaged to Ludwig of Thuringia - also a child - and the two were raised at the Wartburg Castle. While still in their teens, the two were married.

Ludwig became jealous of her constant attention and caring of the poor and ill, and as she was walking through the forest, he saw her carrying a basket of food for the poor. He asked her what was in the basket, and Elizabeth in her surprise, stammered that she had been picking flowers. Ludwig seized the basket and pulled off the cover. To his amazement the food and wine the basket had contained had been turned to roses (thus, the Miracle of The Roses). Ludwig, remorseful, begs Elizabeth's forgiveness. They renew their pledge of love to each other. Shortly after, Ludwig joins the Crusades, but he dies on the way to the Holy Land. His mother, whose ambition is to rule in her son's stead, drives Elizabeth from the castle. Elizabeth and her children take refuge in a hospital which she founded during her period of prosperity, and she remained there caring for the ill and the poor until her death at the age of 24 years.

I am not sure why, but several conductors have thought that this oratorio lent itself to stage production. When St. Elizabeth was premiered in the United States in 1917, it was performed on stage as an operatic production at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition there were several conductors in Europe who performed the work on stage while Liszt was alive and present at the performances. He appeared not to object to this change of his original intent.

Also on the program will be Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony. In December 1829, Mendelssohn began work on the Reformation Symphony. Mendelssohn had been raised as a Lutheran to escape the anti-Semitism that was so prevalent and hoped to have the work performed at the Augsburg anniversary of Martin Luther's Confession. The date of 1829 is important, because that makes it quite clear that this was Mendelssohn's first symphony and not his fifth. The confusion stems from the fact that it took longer for Mendelssohn to complete the work because he became ill, and combined with the duties of touring and composing other works he put off finishing this symphony in time for the celebration in Augsburg. It is not clear when Mendelssohn gave up, but he eventually completed the work in 1830 - at the age of twenty-one - only to face rejection from several publishers who, incredibly, thought that it contained too much counterpoint. Mendelssohn was able to have it performed in 1832 in Berlin after he revised it, but at some point he set it aside having lost interest in it. It was finally published in 1868 after his death. This symphony is a good work, and the listener will recognize the Dresden amen, and in the last movement the hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church is on Speer Boulevard and Arapahoe on the Auraria campus. Tickets are $20 for adults, $14 for seniors 65 and over and $8 for students and free for children 12 and under. For more information, log onto the www.denverphilharmonic.org.



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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Robin McNeil

Littleton , CO

Robin McNeil has posted 698 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Robin McNeil 's average story rating is 5.
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