Viva La Musica! Spring Concerts April 21, 2007

Sat Apr 21 at 8 pm, Sun Apr 22 at 3 pm

Viva la Musica! Choir and Orchestra presents concerts entitled "Drumbeats and Heartbeats" on Sat, Apr 21, 8 pm, and Sun, Apr 22, 3 pm, Cunningham Chapel, NDNU, 1500 Ralston Ave, Belmont.

The featured work is Franz Josef Haydn's masterpiece Mass in Time of War, written in 1795 as the Napoleonic wars threatened Europe and is as pertinent to our times as it was when Haydn wrote it. This dramatic major work has special meaning for Viva. Phil Velarde, the son of one of Viva's own members, Pat Velarde, has recently returned safely to his family in San Mateo after a tour of duty in Iraq. The choir celebrates his return and especially remembers all soldiers from the mid-Peninsula area now serving in Iraq. Haydn's work also has special significance to Viva because in December of 2006, choir members traveled to Austria, visiting the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, where Haydn worked, and the Berg Church where this music was premiered.

Haydn's music pulses to the drumbeat of war, but in the second half of the program the choir pulses to the heartbeat of love, performing Carl Orff's passionate Carmina Burana and contemporary love songs from around the globe. Brahms' romantic "Liebeslieder" Waltzes for piano, four-hands, adds a rich chamber-music dimension to these performances.

Hear this exciting ensemble of voices and instrumentalists, under the dynamic baton of Viva founder and director Shulamit Hoffmann, right in the heart of the Peninsula. Come half an hour early to enjoy a lively pre-concert talk, featuring an introduction to the music and images from Viva's European trip that give a sense of time and place to the music to come.
Tickets $25/reserved; $20/general seating; $17/students and seniors; $16/group rate for 10 or more. Send ticket orders and checks to Viva la Musica, P. O. Box 4041, Foster City, CA 94404. Tickets will be sent to you via return mail.

Call (650) 281-9663 for more information. Driving directions at www.vivalamusica.org.

Official Website: http://vivalamusica.org