Symphony of a Thousand
For the past year, music lovers in Philadelphia and New York have been anticipating the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performances of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Known as the “Symphony of a Thousand,” this monumental work is rarely performed because it calls for such large forces – orchestra, organ, four choruses and eight soloists.
Students in the Westminster Symphonic Choir spent most of the spring semester preparing with conductor Joe Miller for their part in these historic performances at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall in Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall in New York from April 30 through May 6. Their time was well spent. Under the baton of Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, the orchestra and choruses were part what the Philadelphia Inquirer described as the “biggest nonamplified workout of (Verizon Hall’s) history.” Each performance garnered thunderous applause and several curtain calls.
“It was amazing,” said junior Ryan LaBoy, incoming Westminster Student Government Association president, who said that the performance was a high point in his musical life. “I wish I could go back and do it again!”
In addition to the eight soloists, the performances also featured two choirs from Philadelphia and the American Boychoir from Princeton. Its theme focused on life’s challenges, faith’s strength, and love’s power for redemption.
In addition to the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Westminster was also represented by organist Michael Stairs ’67, who literally shook the hall performing on the Kimmel Center’s Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, the largest concert hall organ in the United States. In the audience were many parents, faculty, staff, alumni, students and friends of Rider. Some Westminster alumni even carried scores from their 1965 performances of the work with Leonard Bernstein, with a few even signed by the conductor who was renowned for his interpretations of Mahler’s works. “I’m ready to step in if they need an extra tenor,” quipped John Gamble ’68.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to participate in this series of performances,” Westminster Choir College Dean Robert Annis said prior to the concerts. “Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 presents an artistic challenge that I know they will meet, one that will profoundly touch their lives as musicians.”
This was the Westminster Symphonic Choir’s first performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra since it collaborated to present another choral masterwork – Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis – in 2001, and this year’s performances were recorded for possible release on the Ondine label.
Composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the Westminster Symphonic Choir has performed and recorded with virtually every major conductor and orchestra over the past 70 years. In addition to this series of performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this season the ensemble opened Carnegie Hall’s season with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. It also performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cleveland Orchestra, also at Carnegie Hall, and with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In March it performed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the New York Philharmonic.
Submtted on May 9, 2008
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