For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

200ob South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-sixth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Beiin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,678th Concert

The Choral Arts Society ofWashington Chamber Chorus

Joseph Holt, conductor

Leigh Ann Hinton, soprano

Marjorie Bunday, mezzo-soprano

Matthew Heil, tenor

KC Armstrong, bass

Nadia Pessoa, harp

David Lang, organist

June 1, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Program

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Inno a Maria Vergine (Hymn to the Virgin Mary) (1869)

Nadia Pessoa, harp

David Lang, organist

Ave Maria I

From Harmonies poetiques et religieuses (1842)

Sposalizio (Trauung) nach dem gleichsamen Bilde Raphaels

(Sposalizio [At the Marriage Ceremony], after the Eponymous

Painting by Raphael) (1883)

David Lang, organist

Marjorie Bunday, mezzo-soprano

Christas Oratorium, part 11—Nach Epiphania (After Epiphany) (1866-1872)

Beati pauperi spiritu (Blessed are the Poor in Spirit)

From The Beatitudes (1855-1859)

KC Armstrong, bass

Pater noster (The Lord’s Prayer) (1846)

INTERMISSION

Missa Choralis (1865)

Kyrie

Gloria

Credo

Sanctus

Benedictus

Agnus Dei

Leigh Ann Hinton, soprano

Marjorie Bunday, mezzo-soprano

Matthew Heil, tenor

KC Armstrong, bass

David Lang, organist

The Musicians

THE CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Now entering its forty-third season, The Choral Arts Society ofWashington, 

under the leadership ofits founder and artistic director Norman Scribner, is

one ofthe major symphonic choruses in the United States. Regularly called

upon to help inaugurate presidents, honor world leaders, celebrate national

holidays, and participate in televised performances, the Society presents a

four-concert season subscription series at the John F. Kennedy Center for

the Performing Arts and other DC area venues, and an annual choral tribute

to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In addition to regular performances with the 

National Symphony Orchestra, the Society has appeared with the orchestras

of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Israel, and the Paris Opera, 

under the direction ofrenowned conductors John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Loren Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Leonard Slatkin. The

chorus has performed in New York City with the New York Philharmonic

and has toured the northeast United States with the Cracow Philharmonic

Orchestra of Poland under the direction of Krzysztof Penderecki.

Frequently invited to tour internationally, the Washington Choral Arts

Society undertook an historic tour of Russia in 1993, joining forces with the 

National Symphony Orchestra and Rostropovich. The highlight ofthe tour

was an outdoor performance of Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky in Moscow’s

Red Square, which was attended by 100,000 people. In 1996 Scribner led

the chorus on a thirteen-day, six-concert tour of France with performances

at the Evian Festival, the Festival ofAuvers-sur-Oise, Notre Dame Cathedral, 

and the Sorbonne. In 2001 the ensemble returned to Italy to perform at the 

Spoleto Festival, having sung Rachmaninoffs Vespers there in July 1993. In

2002 the chorus embarked on a ten-day tour of England to perform in four

major music festivals, including the renowned Proms at Royal Albert Hall

in London. In 2005 The Choral Arts Society became the first Washingtonarea choir to tour South America, performing Carl Orffs Carmina Burana

at the world famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

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Recordings ofthe Washington Choral Arts Society include Johannes

Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, recorded live at the Kennedy Center under

the baton of Norman Scribner; John Corigliano’s OfRage and Remembrance

with the National Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin, which won

the 1996 Grammy for Best Classical Album; and Christmas with The Choral

Arts Society of Washington, a critically acclaimed and popular recording of

carols and other Yuletide favorites, ofwhich more than 10,000 copies have

been sold.

The Choral Arts Society has received numerous awards and honors for 

its artistic service to the nation, including the American Society ofComposers and Publishers Award for adventurous programming, the Mayor’s Art

Award (Washington, dc), and the Washington Post Award for Non-profit

Excellence. In keeping with the Society’s commitment to the community, it 

has implemented artsACCESS (Arts for Children Creates Educational Success

in Schools), a cutting-edge arts-integrated elementary school program, now

in its eighth year.

Members ofthe Choral Arts Society ofWashington Chamber Chorus:

Soprano

Julie Gilmore

Adriana Gonzales-Lozada

Rebecca King

Heather MacDonald

Theresa Severin 

Donna Simonton

Bonnie Williams

Alto

Jan Bexhoeft

Laura Bradford

Coleen Gatehouse

Anne Hall 

Anna Maripuu

Ann Stahmer

Tenor

Jeff Dauler

Jerry Haggin

Andy Henriksson

Tristan Jones 

Lynn Main

Matthew Schwartz

Bass

Peter Cornell

Ron Davies

Jim Evans

Tim Evans

Nathan Mitchell 

Joe O’Leary

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JOSEPH HOLT

Associate conductor ofthe Washington Choral Arts Society Joseph Holt enjoys

a wide-ranging musical career as an arranger, chamber music performer,

conductor, educator, and pianist. He has collaborated with many renowned

soloists, among them Denyce Graves, Jessye Norman, Roberta Peters, Richard 

Tucker, and Alessandra Marc, with whom he performed at the National Gallery

in 2001. A prizewinner in the WolfTrap Brahms Competition, the Washington

International Competition for Pianists, and the William C. Byrd Young Artists

Competition, Holt was also selected to participate in the La Gesse Piano 

Festival in France. He holds a bachelor ofmusic degree with distinction from

the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, a master ofmusic

degree from the Shenandoah Conservatory ofMusic in Winchester, Virginia,

and a doctor ofmusical arts degree from The Catholic University ofAmerica.

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The Program

Although many pianists have brought works of Franz Liszt to their recitals

at the National Gallery, this is the first time in the sixty-six-year history of

the concert series that a guest ensemble has brought selections from his

choral oeuvre. Music for the human voice, both sacred and secular, was an

important priority for Liszt throughout his life, as evidenced by the early 

date ofhis first choral work— a setting of Tantum ergo, now lost, which he

wrote in 1822 —and the number ofsuch works he composed (136). Liszt’s

unintended sojourn in Rome (1859 — 1864) was brought about by a prolonged and unsuccessful attempt to annul the marriage of his lover, Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, to a member ofthe Russian royal

family. Although it was a time offrustration and confusion for him, it led 

to an intensification of his interest in sacred choral music. He participated

enthusiastically in the musical life of Rome, paying regular visits to Saint

Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel, where he became fascinated by plainchant

and the music of Palestrina. Among the fruits ofthese visits were his

Evocation a la Chapelle Sixtine and transcriptions ofthe Confutatis and

Lacrymosa from Mozart’s Requiem. He began intensive research into the

history of church music, developed an interest in the Cecilian movement,

and became acquainted with its leader, Franz Xavier Witt (1834-1888).

Lizst’s drive to compose sacred music persisted until the mid-i87os, after

which time his works take on a darkly mystical tone; among the late works

he left unfinished are a setting of Psalm 25 and an oratorio based on the

life of Saint Hubert (c. 656 -c. 728).

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Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Anna Kijanowska, pianist

Music by Bacewicz, Chopin, and Szymanowski

June 8, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court