BALTIMORE — Made in Baltimore is Handel Choir’s tribute to Charm City and its long and vibrant history of poetry and song.
Composers and poets have lived in our neighborhoods and their guest artists live and perform here.
The March 5, 2022 program is centered around choral works by widely celebrated Baltimore composers, including the World Premier of Bornfield's Houses of Peace.
- James Lee III (Morgan State)
- Joshua Fishbein (variously: Peabody, UMBC, Towson)
- Kevin Puts(Peabody)
- Jasmine Barnes (graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic)
- Joshua Bornfield ( Peabody)
- Stephen Caracciolo (UMBC) [arranged I Got a House in Baltimore]
- Brian Bartoldus (HCB) new arrangement of Rachmaninoff setting of "The Bells"
Two of the pieces are settings of famed Baltimore poets: Tupac Shakur and Edgar Allan Poe.
The late Tupac Shakur was a graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts. They will perform his heartfelt poem Sometimes I Cry, set to music by Jasmine Barnes. Poe's poem "The Bells" delighted Rachmaninoff, who wrote a choral symphony based on it.
Local personality "Downtown" Kevin Brown will read "The Bells" as part of the concert, before they sing it in Russian and guest organist Christopher Schroeder and Thomas Hetrick will premiere a new arrangement of the first movement for voices and virtuosic organ duet.
As part of a world premier, Joshua Bornfield’s Houses of Peace, commissioned by Handel Choir, will celebrate the return of love and light after very dark times. Composed for chorus and solo cello, it features Peabody’s internationally celebrated cellist Amit Peled in the dynamic cello part.
The piece reflects on healing from the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica early in World War II and includes quotes from Song of the Birds.
The concert will also include a short video of Pablo Casals speaking to the UN.
The concert is 7:30 p.m. this Saturday night at Grace United Methodist Church on the corner of Northern Parkway at Charles.
For more information, click here.
