Concert features Beethoven tour de force

t's not every day that Rochester audiences get the opportunity to hear a live performance of Beethoven's choral masterpiece Missa Solemnis, but at 8 p.m., Friday, April 16, in Eastman Theatre, they will have that chance, thanks to the Eastman-Rochester Chorus.

The work, considered one of the most significant settings of the mass text, alongside Bach's B-minor Mass, will unite the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra with the Eastman-Rochester Chorus in the large-scale production involving more than 200 performers. (The 55-member Eastman Chorale also will lend their voices for the performance.)

William Weinert, professor of conducting and ensembles at Eastman, will conduct the free concert. Featured soloists include Eastman graduate students Mari-Yan Pringle, soprano; Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano; Min Jin, tenor; and Ted Christopher, bass-baritone.

"Missa Solemnis is a supreme challenge for choruses, soloists, and orchestras," says Weinert. "Beethoven viewed the writing of this work as a chance to revisit and challenge the ideas of traditional Christianity late in his life and to probe their essence through music."

The community-based Eastman-Rochester Chorus presents several major choral works each year in collaboration with Eastman orchestras as well as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The 150-member chorus unites individuals from the Rochester community with students from the Eastman School. Recent performances include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Brahms' German Requiem, and Haydn's The Seasons.

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