SAN FRANCISCO
2016 PREMIERE PERFORMANCE:
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
April 22, 2016
IRELAND'S POET-PATRIOTS World Premiere
performance was a smashing success
The capacity crowd filled historic Grace Cathedral and thrilled to the singular performances of the soloists, choir, orchestra and Irish Trad ensemble under Maestro Kim Allen Kluge’s direction. The audience was an engaged participant in this moving, heartfelt evening.
The concert featured the Celtic Voices choir of 35 singers, two sean nós (old style) musicians directly from Ireland, a 25-piece orchestra, 3 operatic soloists, an ensemble of Irish Trad musicians, and 10 narrators from the San Francisco community, including leaders in business, government, and the arts.
A MUSICAL TRIBUTE
A concert of the writings of 12 of Ireland’s great poets and patriots set to original classical crossover and Irish Traditional music – composed, adapted, arranged and written by Richard B. Evans.
A 2.5 minute video preview –
Featured Irish, Irish-American, and American musicians in the San Francisco concert included:
Muireann nic Amhlaoibh, Irish sean nós singer and Irish flute
Christy O'Leary, Irish sean nós singer and uilleann pipes
Derek Ryan, Irish classical bass-baritone
Nicolle Foland, Operatic Soprano
Chester Pidduck, Operatic Tenor
Colm O'Riain, Irish fiddle
Diana Rowan, Celtic harp
Todd Denman, uilleann pipes
April 22, 2016
Commemorating the Birth of the Irish Republic
Maestro Kim Allen Kluge
Conductor
Maestro Kluge's legacy includes 28 years as Music Director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. In 2012-2013, Maestro Kluge led a historic performance at the National Gallery of Art in honor of the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Kluge also developed a wide range of programs at the ASO, including many in music education for both children and adults. Innovative programs include the Children's Art Festival featuring inter-arts activities, workshops and performances for young children, the Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship Competition, the Kluge Young Composer's Competition, and the "ASO Sympatico" before- and after-school music program.
Kluge and wife Kathryn Vassar Kluge have recently scored Martin Scorsese’s new passion project, the film “Silence,” released on December 23, 2016. The score incorporates a variety of Japanese period instruments, choral voices, bells, taiko drums with the ambient sounds of wind, rain, crashing waves and the rhythmic click of Japanese cicadas to create a sound world of subliminal moods, solitude, and nature in 17th-century Japan.
