“Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra will debut its SASO Chorus this weekend in a season finale that people will likely still be talking about when the volunteer orchestra picks up next season,” writes Cathalena E. Burch in Friday’s (5/9) Arizona Daily Star. “The orchestra has assembled a volunteer chorus of 50 voices—vocalists moonlighting from other community and professional choirs and church ensembles—for its first-ever performance of Beethoven’s seminal Ninth Symphony … The newly christened SASO Chorus will share the stage with 70 instrumentalists and four guest vocal soloists from Mexico. The soloists were winners of the 2013 Oaxaca Opera Festival, which [SASO Conductor and Artistic Director Linus] Lerner founded and directs in Oaxaca, Mexico. SASO was part of last August’s inaugural festival and will return this year, Lerner said. ‘The idea we are developing is that we will have a chorus we can call on for some seasons,’ said [longtime SASO violist Tim] Secomb, who has also served for years on SASO’s board. This weekend’s concerts mark the first time either Lerner or Secomb have ever performed the Ninth, which Lerner paired with Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. The program also includes Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez featuring guitarist Roberto Capocchi.”
Posted May 12, 2014
